Francisco Lindor
If this was 2024, the New York Mets should have given everything they had to get Tarik Skubal. He is the best pitcher in the game, and when the best pitcher in the game potentially becomes available, you do all you can to go out and get him.
Short of Nolan McLean, there should not be one untouchable for the Mets in a pursuit of Skubal. He could be what Mike Hampton and Johan Santana were. He’s the left-handed ace that puts the Mets in position to make the postseason (yes, I know the 2008 Mets collapsed, but Santana was brilliant in Game 161).
That all said, the way the Mets have operated this offseason, there is no way this team should pursue Skubal. It would be a massive mistake.
Since taking over as the President of Baseball Operations, David Stearns has been restrained in handing out long-term deals. So far, the longest contract he has handed out to a pitcher has been the three year deal given to Sean Manaea.
Take Juan Soto out of the equation. He was a once in a generation free agent, and he was someone whose contract was handled at the ownership level in conjunction with Stearns. Soto was an outlier and should be treated as such.
Taking Soto out of the equation, Stearns has not handed out one contract longer than three years. Most of the deals have been two years with a player option.
Stearns holding to three years has been impacting the Mets this offseason. Pete Alonso left for a five year deal when the Mets wouldn’t go past three. The Mets unwillingness to go to four years was a reason Edwin Diaz went to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
If the Mets are stuck in that mindset trading for Skubal is a non-starter. He is going to have a prospect cost that will require you to sign Skubal to an extension. That is just not going to happen.
First and foremost, Skubal is represented by Scott Boras. Boras does not typically allow his free agents to sign an extension prior to hitting free agency. If you are going to convince Boras and his players to sign an extension, you are going to have to blow them out of the water.
Certainly, we saw with Francisco Lindor and Soto that Steve Cohen is willing to do that. However, we have also seen with Cohen he is willing to mostly sit back and let Stearns do what he wants.
That is not a criticism of Cohen. It is a strength. We see all the years other New York teams have been encumbered by ownership interference. Cohen’s willingness to open his checkbook and listen to the advice of those he employs is why we are lucky to have him running the Mets.
However, with Stearns, there are limitations. That limitation is signing marquee free agents who are not in their early prime. Looking at his entire history as a GM or president of baseball operations, Stearns is not going to give Skubal, a soon to be 29 year old pitcher who has had Tommy John and flexor tendon surgery, the 10 year deal Skubal is going to demand.
If you are not going to go all out to sign Skubal, why drain the farm system you’ve worked so hard to build? It simply doesn’t make sense.
Stearns has been inflexible not giving out more than three years. It’s at the point where they trade away five years of Brandon Nimmo for three years of Marcus Semien even if Nimmo will be the same age Semien will be when their contracts are over.
We an have the discussion over how prudent Stearns’ position has been. We can talk about how it helps or hinders the Mets. At the moment, we just have to acknowledge how that position should mean the Mets cannot pursue Skubal. ‘
Hopefully, with McLean, the Mets have the ace they need. We can envision a rotation led by McLean and buttressed by Brandon Sproat and Jonah Tong. With any luck, they can do what Jacob deGrom, Matt Harvey, and Noah Syndergaard did in 2015.
Just like in 2015, that group will need a veteran leader to lead the staff. They most likely won’t have a Skubal or other pitcher of that ilk as they would command too many years.
It’s time to abandon that pipe dream . . . at least until Stearns is ready to show some flexibility in his approach in dealing with giving out contracts.
When David Stearns had his press conference at the end of the season and conducted his public post mortem of the 2025 season, he indicated the New York Mets biggest issue was run prevention. Assuming he is correct, and he probably is, the question is how to improve the Mets run prevention.
We can and should talk about what players the Mets should acquire or better utilize. However, that is only part of the equation. A part of that is coaching.
After the 2025 season, the Los Angeles Angels announced they were parting ways with manager Ron Washington. If the Mets true goal is run prevention, they need to act quickly to hire him.
Washington is famous throughout baseball for how he improves players infield defense. As highlighted by Sam Blum of The Athletic, he runs his infielders through his Washington drills:
That is, in essence, the entire purpose of the drill. To work on mechanics for backhands, glove hands and up the middle. The drill forces you to take the most direct route to the ball, field it in the center of your glove and follow through properly to finish the play. Eventually the drill transitions to fungos, where footwork becomes paramount.
The famous story with Washington is his work with Scott Hatteberg. He took a catcher who could not longer throw, and he helped him become a capable defender at first base. This is no small feat.
The Mets need more help with their infield defense than most people realize.
Francisco Lindor had a drop-off defensively. He went from a 14 to a 3 OAA. We all saw he had a down year defensively, and the toe may have been a large part of it. IF the Mets want to get to the World Series in 2026, they will need Lindor playing at a Gold Glove level again.
For all the talk about Brett Baty’s defense at third, his OAA fluctuated through the year. His 2 OAA was positive, but he needs to develop more consistency and get to another level if he is going to be an everyday player.
There’s also the matter of Mark Vientos. Vientos, never an elite defender, went from a -6 OAA to a -7 in 324.1 fewer innings. Vientos was much worse than he had been in 2024.
Vientos is the interesting focal point. He is akin to Austin Riley, who was also known as a bat first third baseman likely destined to first base or DH. Working with Washington, Riley would be a Gold Glove finalist.
The Mets don’t quite know how they’re aligning their infield. We could see Vientos in the mix at first or third. Baty could be in the mix at second or third. Wherever either are, they will need Lindor to be at their best.
Possibly, there were will another first baseman or second baseman in the mix. At the moment, we don’t know how it will shake out. What we do know is player acquisition is only part of the equation.
The Mets need to get the best out of everyone on the roster. From a defensive standpoint, the Mets need to bring on Ron Washington. He is a perfect fit to accomplish their run prevention goals of 2026.
Go back to the 2024 season. We will forever tell tales of Francisco Lindor’s heroics, and the pitching feats of Sean Manaea, Luis Severino, and David Peterson. We will talk about the shrewd bullpen moves of Ryne Stanek and Phil Maton.
There was Grimace, and of course, Jose Iglesias and OMG.
All that is true, but we also need to discuss how the Mets allowed young players have an opportunity to prove themselves leading to the run the Mets had.
Mark Vientos became a slugging third baseman. The missing piece of the lineup. The Mets gave Jose Butto and Dedniel Nunez prove themselves, and they did. As much as anything, it was the youth that helped the Mets on their 2024 run.
Arguably, it was abandoning the youth that harmed the 2025 Mets chances.
Luisangel Acuna was the second baseman on Opening Day because Jeff McNeil was injured. Acuna was the National League Rookie of the Month for the first month of the season.
When he struggled, Acuna was put on the bench in favor of McNeil. Even if he struggled down the stretch, McNeil was good this year with a 2 OAA and 111 wRC+. He was a very good player, but that did not mean Acuna needed to be relegated to just a pinch runner and defensive replacement.
That is why players like Travis Jankowski, who had a brief stint with the Mets, exist. Acuna needed more playing time.
There was also the matter of Vientos. Vientos helped to save the 2024 Mets, and they nearly forgot all that he did for them. Yes, he struggled out of the gate (he’s always been a slow starter), and he had injuries which exacerbated his struggles.
That said, we know what he was capable of doing. This was the Mets best hitter in the postseason. When the DH spot opened up, he went on an absolute tear until they again decided to give him intermittent playing time.
Butto struggled part of this year, and he was shipped off as part of an overpay for Tyler Rogers. The Mets called up Dom Hamel multiple times and only used him once, and instead opted to continued burning out their bullpen when he could’ve eaten innings.
Ronny Mauricio was called up after a rash of injuries. Mauricio surprised by playing an excellent third base, which metrics best on the team. However, he struggled offensively with a 29.3 K% and 88 wRC+. Because of these struggles, he was placed on the bench, unused for much of the season instead of sending him back to Syracuse to develop.
Then, there’s the Mets waiting as long as they did to call-up Nolan McLean and Brandon Sproat. McLean was an ace as soon as he was called up, and Sproat showed real flashes.
Sure, you could justify waiting on them because you never know when a pitcher is truly ready. Jonah Tong’s struggles are evidence of that. Still, when the Mets needed a starter, they waited forever before calling up a trio of pitchers that earned the opportunity.
To sum up, the Mets sidelined a promising young second baseman and a third baseman that helped lead them to the NLCS. They took a talented third baseman and gave him no playing time. They didn’t use their young pitching as the also-rans faltered.
The Mets made a lot of mistakes in 2025. The biggest of them all was abandoning their young players and not allowing them to be a driving force like they were in 2024. That’s partially why they are home in 2025 while they made a run to the NLCS in 2024.
Weird things happen in the MLB postseason. Since the expanded postseason format, things rarely, if ever, goes as planned.
The first expansion was in 1969. The New York Mets shocked the world that year. Even though the Mets had won 100 games, they beat the favored Atlanta Braves in the first ever NLCS.
The Mets went on to shock the world by beating the 109 win Baltimore Orioles in the World Series.
Four years later, behind the Tug McGraw mantra of “Ya Gotta Believe!” the 1973 Mets won the NL East with only 82 wins. That team beat the Cincinnati Reds in five games (back when the NLCS was five games) to advance to the World Series.
To hear Howie Rose tell it, if Yogi Berra pitched George Stone in Game 6 instead of Tom Seaver, that team likely wins the World Series. Still, an 82 team in the World Series highlights how crazy things can happen.
In 2015, aided by a Washington Nationals choke job (insert Jonathan Papelbon–Bryce Harper joke), the 2015 Mets won the division. Daniel Murphy became Babe Ruth, and the Mets trio of Jacob deGrom–Matt Harvey–Noah Syndergaard led the Mets to the pennant.
If not for Terry Collins, the Mets win the 2015 World Series. He was as bad as you can be, and the Mets largely didn’t win because of him.
It’s also worked against the Mets.
The Mets dominated the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1988 season. However, Orel Hershiser would come up huge, and he’d help the Dodgers with a huge upset. Fueled by Kirk Gibson’s shocking homer in Game 1, the Dodgers beat what could’ve been seen as an all-time great Oakland Athletics team.
In 2000, the Mets had some luck with the St. Louis Cardinals beating the Atlanta Braves. That cleared the way for the Mets to beat the Cardinals and win the pennant.
In the World Series, they faced off against an 87 win New York Yankees team, who ended that season on the verge of an epic collapse to miss the postseason. If Todd Zeile’s ball bounces over the wall, or Armando Benitez throws a strike who knows?
The less said about that World Series, the better.
In 2006, the Mets were the best team in baseball and seemed destined to win the World Series. El Duque got hurt warming up the NLDS, Billy Wagner faltered in the postseason like he always does, and Carlos Beltran struck out looking.
Meanwhile, we watched on with horror as the 83 win Cardinals beat an imploding Detroit Tigers team to win the World Series.
No matter the win total, if the Mets make the postseason, they will be sputtering in. Who cares?
This is still a team who can win a World Series. Everything they need is here.
Nolan McLean is a real ace, and Edwin Díaz is the best closer in baseball. As we saw with the Dodgers last year, you can win getting 2-3 innings from everyone.
We’ve already seen that Clay Holmes–Sean Manaea piggyback work well. It can certainly work with the rest of the staff.
Pete Alonso and Juan Soto had series winning homers last postseason. Francisco Lindor led the way like he’s doing during the current stretch run. Mark Vientos shook off late season struggles to be the Mets best player last postseason.
This Mets team can win the World Series. They have what it takes. They just need to get there. Even if you’re still skeptical, just look at past postseasons to look at how crazy things get.
Due to injuries, the New York Mets had to recall Ronny Mauricio sooner than they wanted. That has led to them carrying him on the roster longer than they should’ve.
Over his last 20 games, he is hitting .217/.277/.417. Since the All-Star break, he is hitting .227/.277/.409. On the season, he has a 100 wRC+ and a 28.0 K%.
He’s been a pull hitter who hits a lot of ground balls. With him being a slow mostly left-handed batter, that’s a bad combination.
Truth is, like his first cup of coffee in the majors, he surprised before gradually declining in production. Digging through the metrics, he is only hitting the fastball, and his exit velocities are low.
We’re at the point that all he does well is play third. On that note, his OAA has slipped a bit. Even if you don’t subscribe entirely to that, the eye test confirmed that in Milwaukee. There was also the error against the Cincinnati Reds.
All told, Mauricio has been overmatched at the plate, and his defense is slipping. He still needs more work. If it was good enough for Francisco Álvarez, the Mets can and should send Mauricio to Triple-A Syracuse.
Sending down Mauricio would also allow the Mets to recall Luisangel Acuña. This team desperately needs Acuña back on the roster.
At the moment, Francisco Lindor is slumping and extremely frustrated. We’re now seeing him struggle a bit on the field and carry his frustrations into the dugout.
Lindor has slumped since breaking his toe. He’s not hitting, and he’s mentally frustrated. Problem is the Mets can’t give him a day off even to DH because there are no other shortstops on the roster.
It isn’t just giving Lindor a day. If Acuña was running for Starling Marte, Acuña scores. Same could be said for Tyrone Taylor. Perhaps Carlos Mendoza uses one if he had two sets of fresh legs instead of one.
Acuña presents more versatility and options. He plays up the middle (2B, 3B, CF) and third. He can run, steal bases, and bunt. He gives the opportunity to give Lindor a rest, and it also helps by giving the Mets less Brett Baty.
It’s a good time to recall Acuña too. Jett Williams was promoted to Syracuse. Promotion Acuña opens more games at SS for Williams. It’s also a good time because Acuña is 7-for-23 (.304) since being sent down.
The Mets need Acuña now to help Lindor and help clear a path for Williams. They need Mauricio to get out of the limelight and work on his holes like Álvarez did.
The Mets are in trouble. This is something that needs to be done immediately to help the team.
When you look at the New York Mets offense, it seems everyone is worse than they were last year. The fans are starting to point fingers at Eric Chavez again. As is usual with hitting coaches, they shoulder the blame . . . fair or not.
Chavez or not, two players make you question how good Chavez has been – Mark Vientos and Francisco Álvarez.
Vientos came up from Triple-A Syracuse and raked. He had a 133 wRC+. Among Major League third basemen, only Jose Ramirez was better offensively. That success carried into the postseason where Vientos was great.
That success hasn’t carried forward into this year. There’s a number of reasons including inconsistent playing time and injuries. All told, he’s at an 81 wRC+.
There’s enough there, including a sophomore slump, where you don’t have to even consider Chavez. That brings us to Alvarez.
Like Vientos, Álvarez struggled out of the gate. There were also reasons like a new swing and being injured entering the season. Being a first time father also shouldn’t be discounted.
Since Álvarez has options remaining (Vientos didn’t), he was sent down to Syracuse to work with hitting coach Rick Guarno to get his swing right. He was also there to get his defense back on track.
Álvarez fixed his swing and defense in Syracuse. Since being recalled, he’s hitting .278/.395/.500 with three doubles, a triple, homer, and four RBI.
It’s telling that Álvarez couldn’t get the help he needed at the Major League level. That’s not unusual for young players. That said, looking at him and Vientos, it should make you at least question what they’re doing right in Syracuse that’s not translating in Queens.
Again, it may not be Chavez’s fault. Different messaging helps. On that front, it’s notable Pete Alonso is having his best year since 2022.
The 2022 season was Chavez’s first as the Mets hitting coach. In the subsequent two years Alonso had a significant drop-off. He’s now back at his 2022 level of production. Part of the reason is his agent Scott Boras:
For the first time in his seven-year career, Alonso is using external help to assist him with research, digest data and create personal plans against pitchers. The information comes from people affiliated with his agent, Scott Boras, and from people at his Tampa, Fla.-based workout group, Diesel Optimization, among others. He explained it as something like a front office just for him.
The Athletic, Will Sammon
It’s telling Alonso went outside the organization to get the assistance he felt he needed to get back to his level of production. It’s more telling that it worked.
Seeing how the outside help brought Alonso back to his best, we should at least look at some of the Mets other hitters.
Juan Soto had a 181 wRC+ with the New York Yankees. He’s now at a 143. That 143 would be his worst season mark since his first full professional season.
Soto is still awesome. He’s just a little less awesome than he’s been over the past four years.
Brandon Nimmo was an elite leadoff hitter with a great walk rate. In 2022, he had a 132 wRC+ (down from the previous two years) and a 10.5 BB%. He’s now down to a 117 wRC+ and 8.0 BB%.
Francisco Lindor finished second in MVP voting in 2024. He had a career best 137 wRC+. Being fair here, Lindor has been his best at the plate with Chavez as hitting coach.
Yes, Lindor is having a down year at the plate, but we all saw a drop off after the broken toe. You can’t pinpoint that on anyone.
Looking at the Mets top players, it appears only Lindor has been at his best with Chavez at the helm. Young players like Alvarez and Vientos were better working with the Triple-A hitting coaches.
Moreover, we’re not seeing Brett Baty or Ronny Mauricio develop into the hitters they were promised to be. Coupled with Álvarez and Vientos, something is just off here.
That’s not to say Chavez is at fault. It’s possible what he’s conveying is helping, but it’s also clear there’s a gap where players aren’t getting what they need to produce at the levels we’ve seen them produce.
At some point, Chavez is going to have to be addressed and scrutinized. The Mets offense is too talented for these results. The best hitters have seen a drop off in production working with Chavez.
Something is very wrong here. If it’s not Chavez, it’s something. It’s well past time the Mets figure it out.
Through the proverbial first half of the baseball season, the New York Mets lineup has been top heavy. Fortunately, the Brandon Nimmo – Francisco Lindor – Juan Soto – Pete Alonso top four has been so awesome that the Mets are only a half game out of first place.
If the team wants to get to that next level and back to the NLCS, they’re going to need more help. It can’t just be Jeff McNeil as the only capable hitter past that “Fab Four.”
There are two reasons the bottom half of the Mets lineup hasn’t clicked. First, Jesse Winker has been out most of the year with injuries. Mostly, it has been the struggles of Mark Vientos and Francisco Álvarez.
For both Vientos and Álvarez, injuries have played a part. Vientos had a slow start and then a hamstring injury. Álvarez opened the year on the IL, which complicated his trying to adapt a new swing at the plate.
For Vientos, the slow start and injuries saw him lose the third base job to Brett Baty. With inconsistent playing time, Vientos just couldn’t get back on track.
After Starling Marte and Winker hit the IL, the Mets had no choice than to give Vientos consistent playing time. He’s responded going 7-for-19 with two doubles, a triple, and three RBI. That included that bases clearing go-ahead RBI double.
Vientos gets hot this time of year. Last July, he hit .283/.330/.554. In the second half, he hit 15 of his 27 homers. He carried that forward to that monster postseason he had.
With respect to Álvarez, his struggles led the Mets to send him to Triple-A Syracuse. Not only was the new swing not working, but he was also carrying the offensive struggles behind the dish. Essentially, he regressed in every area of his game.
Well, it appears Álvarez’s new swing is no longer a work in process. He’s now absolutely destroying baseballs.
He’s homered in three straight games, and he’s hit eight homers over his last 13 games. Over his last 12 games, he’s hitting .326/.392/.848 with three doubles, seven homers, and 15 RBI. That’s the slugger we expected him to be.
For Álvarez, it’s more than the offense. The work behind the plate has improved as well. Notably, we’ve seen Brandon Sproat take off while working with Álvarez. Nolan McLean has had consecutive 10 strikeout starts with Álvarez behind the plate.
Certainly, Álvarez is rounding back into form, and he should soon find himself back in the majors. When he does, he will replace Luis Torrens, who has struggled mightily at the plate since taking over primary catching duties.
With Álvarez back and Vientos back to form, the Mets lineup is suddenly lethal. Instead of a Fab Four, it’s a Slugging Six. With McNeil, it’s seven All-Star caliber hitters (McNeil is a two time All-Star). They can have Baty and Tyrone Taylor be in the lineup just for their defense.
Ultimately, the Mets lineup is going to be deep and lethal, and they can lead the Mets to the World Series. It just took much longer than we all expected it would.
On June 4, Francisco Lindor was hitting .279/.353/.490, and the Mets were 39-23. In that game, Los Angeles Dodgers starter Tony Gonsolin hit Lindor in the foot. As a result, Lindor broke his right foot.
After Lindor broke his toe, he got a day off. The Mets did lose to the Dodgers, and they followed that with a sweep of the Colorado Rockies and Washington Nationals.
Over that stretch, Lindor wasn’t great. Part of the reason is he pushed it. In his first start, he was 3-for-5 while stealing two bases.
Maybe it was pride. Maybe it was proving to Carlos Mendoza he was good to go. Whatever the case, he pushed it, and he hasn’t been good since. Neither have the Mets.
Since that 3-for-5 game, Lindor is hitting .163/.218/.288 with four doubles and two homers. He hasn’t attempted another stolen base.
Over that stretch, the Mets are 7-14 with embarrassing sweeps to the Atlanta Braves and Pittsburgh Pirates. They went from 4.5 games up in the division to 1.5 games back of the Philadelphia Phillies.
What is all the more frustrating is this is happening while Juan Soto has been a monster. He arguably had the greatest offensive month in Mets history, and it still couldn’t prevent the annual June Swoon.
Now, this isn’t all Lindor. The rotation is falling apart. In this month alone Kodai Senga, Griffin Canning, and Tylor Megill went down, and Sean Manaea had a setback in his rehab.
That has led to more starts/appearances for Paul Blackburn and Blade Tidwell. It’s exhausting the bullpen, and they’re faltering.
Mark Vientos is working his way back, and Francisco Álvarez is trying to rediscover himself in Triple-A. There are issues top to bottom.
We can list the excuses and reasons. Fact is all of these excuses were present last year. Things were far worse. Much of that changed when Lindor turned his season around and became a legit MVP candidate.
The Mets are their best when Lindor is at his best. Problem is Lindor is wounded and struggling. So are the Mets.
It’s a delicate balance, but the Mets need Lindor to be Lindor now. Once he gets going, a lot of the ills should go by the wayside. Hopefully, it’s just a matter of days and not months because the Mets can’t afford another month like June.
Being a New York Met is just different. It’s still the New York market, but it’s a different type of pressure which takes more adjustment than we all realize.
Think of every great Mets player signed in free agency or obtained in a trade.
Mike Piazza was booed for his early struggles with the Mets. Carlos Beltrán’s first year with the Mets was a disaster, and he was booed on Opening Day the following year.
Francisco Lindor had a tough first year. He was uncharacteristically unhappy with him taking a hit for the thumbs down drama.
Curtis Granderson went from the New York Yankees to the Mets. Granderson flourished with the Yankees only to mightily struggle his first year with the Mets.
In year two, Granderson led the Mets to a pennant. He became very good and beloved Met. He may be instructive for Juan Soto.
At the moment, Soto looks like he’s going to have his worst year since his first year in San Diego. The lack of hustle is starting to become an issue. Mostly, he’s just not Soto.
Look, it’s not just the hitting. We’re not seeing the smile or that Soto shuffle. Part of that can be adjustment. Part can be he’s fighting through a slump. Maybe it’s the weight of the contract.
Per Michael Kay, he says it’s because Soto really wanted to be a Yankee, and he’s not happy being a Met. He went on to say he wanted to be a Yankee, but he went to the Mets because that’s what his family wanted.
Now, we can’t challenge Kay because he said the Mets sources he got it from will just deny it like they should.
To some degree, this is just piggybacking other reporting. Bob Klapisch of nj.com reported the Mets were concerned Soto wasn’t showing enthusiasm for being a Met, and that Soto seemed his happiest meeting up with his former Yankee teammates during the Subway Series. He said of Soto, “The man is downright miserable.”
Andy Marino of SNY reported Soto was having his issues adjusting to life as a Met, and he has had Starling Marte help him adjust. Unlike Kay or Klapish, Martino didn’t use the story to draw conclusions
Here’s what we know. Soto is struggling, and on the surface, he appears unhappy. Before rushing to conclusions, ask yourself one question – Have you ever seen a baseball player in a bad slump looking happy?
Take Pete Alonso. He’s having an MVP caliber start to the 2025 season. He made bad throwing errors in consecutive games. He threw his glove and was visibly upset in the Mets dugout.
Struggling players are fundamentally unhappy. When they stop struggling, they’re more at ease and more themselves.
We can all try to pinpoint why Soto is struggling. We can blame his family. We can make up whatever nonsense we want.
The truth is no one knows why Soto is struggling. Odds are Soto hasn’t quite figured it out himself because if he did, he probably would’ve fixed it.
Soto is a great player. He’s a future Hall of Famer. Stop playing pop psychologist and assign blame. Baseball is hard, and even the greatest struggle.
Soto will be great because he is great. We will eventually forget this stretch and laugh at those pretending to be informed.
This just may be me, but for the life of me, I’ve never understood the obsession with the 1987 New York Mets road jerseys. It lasted one year, and it probably should’ve remained that way.
First of all, that 1987 season was as disappointing as any in Mets history. It started with the Dwight Gooden steroid suspension and didn’t get much better from there.
The defending World Series champions that we were hoping were on the precipice of a dynasty fell apart. Basically every starter was injured at some point, and every returning starter not named Darryl Strawberry had a down year.
It’s a matter of personal taste, but they also aren’t as aesthetically pleasing as the traditional Tiffany font road jerseys. Yet, there are some ardent fans of that jersey, and now, we see some form of a return to those jerseys.
Honestly, these are better with the blue than the gray. Still, it’s a little too monotone. Maybe if the New York was all orange, they’d be better, but maybe not.
The old blue alternates had the gray lettering with the orange outline, and those were very well received. Maybe that would’ve been better.
Then again, I’m a dad. I’m not who the Mets are targeting with these even if it’s a callback to my youth when I watched the Mets.
To that point, my kids LOVE them. They think they’re awesome. I’ve already received requests for a Juan Soto or Francisco Lindor one.
Who am I kidding? They want both just like they wanted one of every Met for the city connect jerseys. To that end, the jerseys are a MASSIVE success.
The Mets want to create jerseys people want to go out and buy. If my kids love them, then I’m probably going to buy them one eventually.
So, while I’m not a big fan, it doesn’t matter. I’m buying two. Maybe three when the kids want me to have one to match them.