Mets in a Free Fall

"Tough stretch, no sugarcoating it. I didn’t see this coming. I’m as frustrated as everybody else. We will get through this period. Our injured pitching will come back over the next few weeks. It is unlikely the team’s hitting with RISP will continue at this weak pace. Keep the faith!" -  Steven A. Cohen, owner of the New York Mets

With all due respect to Steve, this is not just a tough stretch. A tough stretch would be going 2-7. It's hard to fathom, but on June 12, the Mets were 45-24, twenty-one games over .500 and solidly in first place in the National League East. After yesterday's loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, they're now 48-37, and the only reason they're a game and a half out of first is because the Philadelphia Phillies haven't exactly taken off.

The Mets are 3-13 in their last 16 games. In colloquial terms that's called a free fall. And the worst part about this "stretch" is that they haven't been remotely competitive in most of their losses. In the three-game sweep against the Pirates, New York was outscored 30-4, their most lopsided series loss in their 64 years as a franchise. Given how many bad teams this organization has fielded over its history, that is a damnable stat.

They're not hitting; they're not pitching; in short, nothing is going right. Ironically, the only player who's exceeding expectations is Juan Soto. For the month of June, the $765 million dollar man hit 11 home runs, drove in 20 and batted .322 with an OPS of 1.196. Conversely, Francisco Lindor - the leadoff hitter - had 4 homers, 10 RBIs and batted .204 with an OPS of just .628.

It's one thing to keep the faith; Mets fans are experts at that. It's quite another to look in the mirror and know the truth. Despite its top-level talent, this team has more holes in it than a block of Swiss cheese. The starting rotation has been ravaged by injuries. Kodai Senga, Sean Maneae, Frankie Montas and Griffin Canning have all spent time on the IR. Canning is lost for the year after rupturing his left Achilles against the Atlanta Braves last week. 

The bullpen, which had been the best in baseball for most of the season, since June 13 has sprung more leaks than the Titanic and Lusitania combined. Over the last 16 games, their combined ERA is 6.59. Apart from Edwin Diaz, there isn't a single reliever Carlos Mendoza can trust in a tight spot.

And contrary to what Cohen alluded to in his tweet, the RISP issue is not a recent thing. It's plagued this team all season long. The Mets are batting just .217 with runners in scoring position. Only the Chicago White Sox at .208 are worse. To put that in perspective, the Phillies, Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers - the current division leaders in the National League - are batting .262, .281 and .298 respectively with runners in scoring position. 

The bottom half of the lineup is as close to an automatic out as there is in baseball. After coming back from a hamstring injury, Mark Vientos looks lost at the plate. In his last three games, he's gone 1-13, and that one hit was a dribbler up the third base line. Ronnie Mauricio, aside from smacking three dingers, clearly cannot handle major-league pitching; and Francisco Alvarez had gotten so bad, the Mets were forced to send him back down to Syracuse to help him get his swing back. All the faith in the world can't overcome this level of ineptitude.

The fact is the Mets, even with the second-highest payroll in baseball, lack the depth to be a good team. David Stearns has done a credible job of piecing together a pitching staff that until recently was the envy of every GM in the majors. And now it is coming unglued. Take away Lindor, Soto, Pete Alonso and Brandon Nimmo, and most of the remaining hitters would have a hard time cracking the Oakland A's lineup. Even in a sport as individualistic as baseball, you still need more than a handful of players to win a championship.

If this hemorrhaging doesn't come to an end soon, the Flushing Faithful may have to endure yet another year of bitter disappointment.

But then that's become a rite of passage, hasn't it?