Luis Robert Jr.
Let’s go back to 1973, the New York Knicks beat the favored Los Angeles Lakers to win the NBA title in five games There can be parallels drawn to the 2026 team, but at the end of the day, we are still celebrating this Knicks team winning for the first time in 53 years.
When the 1973 Knicks won, the New York Mets were having a forgettable season. On August 20, they were 55-67. We can talk about them being seven games out, but in reality, they were 12 games under .500 and in sixth place.
Well, in 2026, the Knicks won the title, and the 2026 Mets are having a forgettable season. In fact, they were sellers at the trade deadline. Now, entering play on August 20, they are 58-70 sitting 10 games out of a postseason spot.
The same 12 games under .500. The same disappointment after a Knicks championship. Why not see history repeat itself?
Yes, there’s no Tom Seaver on this team. Then again, the 1973 Mets didn’t have a player at the level of Francisco Lindor (with all due respect to the late Rusty Staub).
These Mets are playing inspired baseball with Carson Benge making a late Rookie of the Year push. With Benge, A.J. Ewing, and Luis Robert Jr., the Mets quite possibly have the best defensive outfield in baseball.
Lindor is back to his old self looking like he did in 2024. Bo Bichette is getting better at third and is driving in runs.
Nolan McLean is rounding back into form. Christian Scott and Zac Thornton look like the real deal. Sean Manaea is once again pitching like their tribal leader.
Even with the bullpen sell-off, their bullpen remains terrific. Suddenly, Kodai Senga is a closer with a better entrance than Edwin Diaz. Don’t argue this point.
Eddie Van Halen >>>>>>>>>>>Timmy Trumpet.
The Mets have been 11-6 in August. They’re playing better baseball against better teams. The hard part of the schedule is almost over.
If this team can somehow position themselves to be within striking distance, they end the season with the Texas Rangers and Washington Nationals. No Miami Marlins to block their way.
Plus, at some point, Juan Soto comes back. Let him come back to a team in contention, and there can be real magic here.
This happened in 1973. We can see it happen again. You just gotta believe.
Pop Quiz: Why did the 2026 New York Mets falter? While people want to blame things like losing Pete Alonso, the truth is the 2026 Mets faltered due to injuries.
Francisco Lindor’s injury was devastating, especially with no real Plan B available at the position. Juan Soto’s keg injuries hurt the lineup. Clay Holmes broken leg killed the rotation.
There are more, but that’s the point. There’s only so many injuries a team can sustain before faltering. However faltering one year doesn’t necessitate faltering the next.
Right off the bat, the Mets rotation looks to be in good shape. Here are the promising young arms set to pitch in 2027:
That’s 3/5 of the rotation figured out. The renaissance of Sean Manaea puts them in better shape, and they can always look to bring back Holmes are sign another veteran.
Their outfield from left to right will be Soto – A.J. Ewing – Carson Benge. That’s an all under 30 outfield with speed and power. It’s a very impressive group.
At catcher, the Mets have Francisco Álvarez and Luis Torrens. Alvarez seems to finally becoming the power bat behind the plate he’s always promised to be. Torrens is a great defensive back-up with a bit of a clutch gene.
The infield is a bit of a problem. They’re at least secured on the left side with Lindor and Bo Bichette, who will likely opt in for the rest of his contract.
We know Brett Baty is not part of a solution. Marcus Semien probably isn’t either. Now, if the Mets pick up Luis Robert Jr’s option, Ewing could slide to second. Let’s see how he finishes the season before we go here.
The Mark Vientos and Jorge Polanco injuries leave 1B and DH unsettled. Long story short, the Mets need to rebuild the first side of the infield. Hopefully, one of them takes off giving us some peace of mind heading into next year.
The Mets are having open tryouts for the 2027 bullpen. We also know David Stearns has been adept at building bullpens making this a little less of a concern.
All told, the Mets are very good in most spots. There is a good foundation here with money to spend. Rather than be doom and gloom, Mets fans should focus on the very good pieces here.
The Mets can now see who can be a part of the 2027 team and beyond. They have the means to address their deficiencies. They will contend in 2027.
Until August 3, the New York Mets are in a somewhat precarious spot. They need to be showcasing their potentially movable players while making sure their young stars stay in the lineup.
Short of a needed day off, Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing have to play. Benge is the right fielder and should never play another position.
As for Ewing, it’s complicated a bit. He’s looked like the center fielder of the future. He has elite speed and can cover a lot of ground.
The problem is when he’s in center Luis Robert Jr. won’t be. Right now, Robert needs to be in center to showcase him for the trade deadline. It’s better to move him now than lose him for nothing when they will have to decline his $20 million team option.
Fortunately, Ewing is versatile. He can play second base. There’s a problem there because the Mets also need to try to showcase Marcus Semien.
Look odds are no one wants Semien and his horrendous contract. Semien isn’t hitting or playing defense. However, if he gets hot, maybe, just maybe, the Mets can get someone to take him.
It’s a delicate balancing act, but the Mets absolutely have to have Ewing in the lineup everyday. They have to do that while simultaneously getting as much playing time for Robert and Semien as possible.
It’s a near impossible situation.
That situation is complicated by the Mets insistence on playing Brett Baty and Jared Young.
Baty has a career 84 wRC+. He has a 75 wRC+ this season. He’s a poor fielder with a poor arm. Looking at his stats, he looks like a non-tender candidate, not a lineup mainstay.
But, he never comes out of the lineup. It’s at the point where he played right field in place of Benge. Baty would misplay a routine fly ball. As a result, Christian Scott couldn’t escape the jam and would eventually lose the game.
Being fair, Baty is 26. It’s possible a team could overvalue Baty’s 2025 outlier season and try to trade for him. If that’s a reason to keep playing him, fine. It’s justified.
Just keep him at first because it’s not like anyone is blocking him there.
The Mets are enamored with Jared Young at first. He plays there everyday. It’s completely bizarre.
Young is 31. He has a career 107 wRC+. He’s a platoon bat. He’s been solid at first with a 2 OAA with zero recorded scoops.
It’s fine having Young on the roster. He serves a purpose. He’s a platoon bat with some pop. He just can’t play right now. Playing him is completely and utterly pointless. Worse yet, it’s detrimental.
Benge and Ewing have to play everyday. The Mets need to hope Robert and Semien get hot and attract someone to at least take the contract. Hopefully, the Mets get lucky, and someone takes Baty.
No one is chasing down Young. Even if they’re interested, the Mets are not getting any value for him. Playing him more works counter to the Mets objectives.
Playing Young before August 3 is malpractice. It leads to Benge in left and Baty in right. It’s dumb and counterproductive. It needs to end now.
The 2026 New York Mets season is one of the most soul crushing for fans. Fans seemed willing to believe despite being skeptical of the offseason, we all seemed ready to believe after the offense knocked Paul Skenes out in the first inning on Opening Day.
Since then, Francisco Lindor, Jorge Polanco, and Luis Robert Jr. suffered major injuries. Juan Soto would also be hurt for a stretch.
The pitching has completely fallen apart. Unless you’re named Luke Weaver, you’re worse than you were last year. Really, everything is worse than it was last year.
It’s so bad Carlos Mendoza was fired. Worse yet, rather than watch, Keith Hernandez would rather talk about how his family line is dying than this Mets team.
Just about the only good thing about this Mets season has been Carson Benge and AJ Ewing That’s it. Well, that, and we haven’t really had to watch.
The New York Knicks captivated us with their first championship since 1973. It was an epic run we will be talking about for years to come.
Discussions for the 1973 parallels for this Mets season will have to wait for another day. Whatever the case, we have 13 years until the Mets hit the Knicks 53 year title drought, and 14 to match the New York Rangers 54 year drought.
After the Knicks run, we got the World Cup. The USMNT captivated the country until their disappointing exit against Belgium. Still, soccer has captivated this country in a way we never believed soccer could.
The World Cup Final is July 19. The All Star Break is upcoming, and when the World Cup ends, we will be one series into the second half of the season.
That means all the attention can then be shifted to the Mets.
Yes, we all watch every game. We’ve had the Mets game on in another screen during the Knicks and World Cup. Mets fans love this team even when they don’t deserve it.
However, we have been able to mentally get away. Instead of focusing on the Mets pitching, we got to watch Jalen Brunson. Instead of focusing on how the Baby Mets have regressed, we got to fall in love with Folarin Balogun.
Very soon, that’s all away. The Mets will be out complete unfettered focus. We check back in with our full attention ahead of the Mets being one of the few sellers at the trade deadline.
The distractions were very much needed this year much like in 1994, the last time the US hosted the World Cup. However, no Mets fan wants to want a distraction.
We need this team to be run well and be competitive in an era where nearly half the league makes the postseason. This season should have been better, and the Mets should have been ready to take the mantle from the Knicks and/or the USMNT.
This as depressing a Mets season as you can have. It’s about to get worse because we will have nothing else until the NFL season begins.
Seemingly since taking over as the president of baseball operations for the New York Mets. David Stearns has heavily pursued Luis Robert Jr. It’s a bit of an overstatement, but Stearns did pursue Robert for multiple years and deadlines before landing him.
The fascination has been rather odd.
In 2024, Robert had an injury prone year. He had a 1.3 WAR and an 84 wRC+. Now, you may want to attribute that to an off injury plagued year.
That’s fair, but then, he essentially repeated the year. In 2025, he had an injury plagued year with a 1.4 WAR and an 84 wRC+.
In his hubris, Stearns thought the Mets could revive Robert’s career. He looked like a genius when Robert hit .308/.460/.462 over the first two weeks while showing much improved plate discipline.
Since then, well, he’s been Robert. Over his next 12 games, he’s hitting .152./188/.217 bringing his season mark to .224/.327/.328. Right now, he’s at a 94 wRC+, and we can assumed he will remain below the 100 mark the rest of the year.
Now, you can live with that in exchange for elite defense. While Robert has been good, we can’t quite say he’s been elite in center. Certainly, his throws haven’t been.
In reality, Robert hasn’t been elite in center for years. In 2023, he was the second best center fielder with a 12 OAA. He hasn’t been that again.
Since 2024, Robert had an 8 OAA. That ranks him as 22nd overall in baseball. There are 30 teams in baseball. These are not elite numbers.
Notably, Harrison Bader ranks higher than Robert. Bader has a 13 OAA in the same time frame. In that time frame, he also has a 98 wRC+.
This makes Bader the better player. It must be why he’s had a 4.5 WAR since 2024 while Robert has had a 2.9. Taking everything into account, it gets worse.
Bader was productive for the Mets in 2024 for a $10.5 million. Instead of re-signing him, Stearns thought he could do better by trading for Jose Siri, who was hurt and bad. He’s now playing for the Los Angeles Angels Triple-A team.
For Siri, the Mets gave up Eric Orze. Orze has been an effective reliever the past two years in his limited MLB time. That’s notable for a Mets team struggling to put together bullpens in Stearns’ tenure.
For Robert, the Mets gave up Luisangel Acuña. Being fair, Acuña has been awful for the Chicago White Sox. That said, Francisco Lindor is hurt, and the Mets don’t have a real shortstop option.
Moreover, the Mets are paying Robert $20 million. After the year, they either pick up his $20 million option or give him a $2 million buyout.
Since leaving the Mets, Bader has made $15 million. Put another way, Bader has made $5 million less over two years and has been the better player.
Stearns gave up assets and had Steve Cohen pay $20 million to get worse at the position. This was done in the name of defense and the belief the Mets can make players something they’re not offensively.
Stearns made the Mets worse in center field. He gave up prospects, and the Mets are paying $20 million to be worse.
Bader was not a long term solution. He was a part time player. It behooved Stearns to improve and find a long term solution. Fact is, he hasn’t.
Instead, Stearns chased Robert. It was an unnecessary pursuit. Hopefully, it won’t prove to be a blunder.
Whatever the case, Stearns wasted resources trying to improve from Bader. He’s failed miserably and compounded it by wasting money and prospects. As Mets fans know, we could be talking about Robert or any number of Stearns’ decisions.
Make no mistake, Brett Baty is not the reason the New York Mets lost 12 straight games. Rather, it is the thought process that has led to Baty’s consistent playing time that is the reason the Mets have grossly underachieved.
This season, Baty is has a 36 wRC+. He’s hitting .209/.214/.284. He was the last qualified hitter to draw a walk, and he’s 2-for-his last 26. He’s bad.
Here’s the dirty little secret: this is no outlier. This is who he is.
At the trade deadline last year, the Mets reportedly refused to send Baty to the Chicago White Sox for Luis Robert Jr. At the time, Baty was hitting a robust .277/.284/.404.
That led to the Mets pivoting to trade for Cedric Mullins, who hit .182/.284/.281 for the Mets. While we can point to Robert’s numbers that year, Mullins was equally bad with no real hope of upside.
The Mets set part of the stages for their collapse by holding onto Baty who didn’t even have a .700 OPS. Moreover, entering the 2025 season, Baty had a career .607 OPS.
The obvious justification for the Mets decision is going to be Baty’s August. From August 2 – September 2, Baty hit .346/.418/.519. It seemed like promise FINALLY fulfilled.
Digging through the numbers, Baty had a highly unsustainable .407 BABIP. His 91.7 MPH exit velocities were roughly Major League average, and he had a 61.9 GB%.
These numbers screamed regression risk. We saw just that at the end of the season. From September 3 – 26, Baty hit ..255/.296/.471. Even more troubling, those numbers were buoyed by a .345 BABIP.
Instead of focusing on all of Baty’s career, his numbers before the trade deadline, or the final 18 games of the season, the Mets focused on that sweet, sweet 24 game sample size.
It is the epitome of conformation bias. The Mets looked at some underlying data, and they decided those 24 games were indicative of what Baty is whole disregarding the other 278 games.
Relying on their confirmation bias, the Mets handed Baty an everyday role, albeit one that saw him move between three positions. He was handed a job based off a great 21 game stretch.
The other 109 games were of zero consequence. There were people in the Mets organization who believe in Baty, and they used 21 games to justify giving him a starting role.
The end result has been the worst hitter on the Mets. We have seen him bad in right and worse at first base. He can’t hit enough to hit for a pitcher, so DH is out.
Looking at all the numbers, Baty has a bad career 7.3 BB%. He’s got an awful 26.2 K%. There’s no underlying exit velocity hope as Baty has a terrible 19.8 LD% and 51.7 GB%.
And yet, the Mets couldn’t wait to sideline Mark Vientos off a 27 HR season to play Baty last year. They entered this year guaranteeing him an everyday role.
The 2025 Mets were a massive disappointment. This year seems poised to be worse. It’s not Brett Baty’s fault. The fault is the process being utilized to determine Baty is an everyday player who should not be removed from the lineup no matter the results.
Well, no one is whining over losing Brandon Nimmo, Pete Alonso, and Jeff McNeil. David Stearns has drastically and dramatically remade the New York Mets into possibly the best team in baseball.
They recently made huge additions with Bo Bichette and Louis Robert Jr. (two moves requiring overdue posts). Stearns then took a big swing trading for Freddy Peralta and Tobias Myers.
People will say Peralta was needed because the Mets rotation was bad. They were very wrong. That said, Peralta is a very good pitcher, and when you can add a very good pitcher, you do it.
Peralta makes the Mets rotation better in so many ways.
He was 24th in the majors in innings pitched, and he’s made 30+ starts in three consecutive years. He was 17th in the majors in FIP and 15th in WAR. He was seventh in ERA and eighth in ERA+.
While you may uncomfortable calling him an ace, he’s a number one starter. It’s a fact. When there are 30 MLB teams are you’re top 25 and better in most categories, you’re a number one.
When a team adds a number one starter, it dramatically improves their outlook. Go back to 2000. Mike Hampton wasn’t an ace, but he was a true number one, and he was a big piece that helped the Mets win the pennant.
Peralta may not even be the Mets best starter. That is probably Nolan McLean. It’s hard to find a better 1-2 in baseball than Peralta-McLean . . . or McLean-Peralta.
Speaking of McLean, this makes him and the whole rotation better. At the moment, the Mets have six starters. This gives McLean an extra day of rest to help him get through his first full MLB season.
Kodai Senga has been better with an extra day of rest, and now, he gets it. David Peterson and Clay Holmes wore down from the increased workload, and now, they also get an extra day. Sean Manaea also gets a needed extra day.
They just didn’t get better by adding Peralta. They got better because the six man rotation makes the entire rotation better. They’re getting the best out of all their starters, which is very bad news for the National League.
Senga and Peterson have been All-Stars. Manaea was a top of the rotation pitcher for a team that went to the NLCS. McLean’s ceiling is as high as we’ve ever seen. They’re now all positioned to be at their best making them arguably the best rotation in baseball.
Keep in mind, Peralta was not the only pitcher the Mets obtained. They also received Myers, a pitcher who is not even arbitration eligible until after the 2027 season.
Myers has been a dominant reliever in his brief Major League career. If you go back to that 2024 Game 3, he absolutely dominated the Mets and appeared to be the game winning pitcher until Alonso did what he did.
Myers may still yet be a starter. He could be a future closer. He’s the Mets 2026 version of Seth Lugo. That’s a dangerous pitcher to have on your staff, and Myers is probably better.
Now, the Mets paid an understandably steep price for Peralta and Myers. In fact, ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel explains the Mets trading Jett Williams and Brandon Sproat moved them from the top farm system to sixth best. Ironically, the Brewers moved from sixth to first.
There will be some who try to nitpick the prospects. We can point to Sproat’s struggles at Triple-A and his four Major League starts. We shouldn’t be doing that.
Sproat has a bright future ahead of him. After all, he made his MLB debut a year after being drafted. He could’ve been a big piece for the Mets in 2026.
Williams is a top prospect. He has a real future at second, short, or CF. He’s got speed and power in his bat. Losing him hurts, and it takes away insurance for the 35 year old Marcus Semien and injury prone players like Bichette and Robert.
The Mets can soon come to regret this trade, especially with Peralta being a year away from free agency. That makes this a real gamble and a worthwhile one at that.
Peralta improves the Mets rotation and improves the entire pitching staff. Myers makes the Mets deeper. If Myers is in the bullpen, this could be the best staff in the entire Major Leagues.
The Mets officially went all-in. They’ve built a team better than the 2025 Mets, and it could be the best this century. Time will tell. Whatever happens, it’ll be because the Mets made the very bold move to add Peralta to make the Mets the one team who can dethrone the Dodgers.