The New York Mets Are A Total Disaster

Gordon Donovan. Shutterstock Images.

I've been dreading writing a blog about yet another pathetic season by the New York Mets. But it's Memorial Day and there is no hiding the truth. This is, in fact, yet another pathetic season by the New York Mets.

This tweet by owner Steve Cohen was after the fourth loss of a five game losing streak. I found this tweet more "mind boggling" than the Mets being lousy. Did Cohen come into this season thinking the Mets would be good? I thought they'd go 80-82 and that appears to be pretty optimistic. They are currently on pace to go 69-93.

Why did Uncle Stevie think this would be a good team? They went 75-87 last year and didn't make any massive improvements to the team. Plus, ace Kodai Senga was going to miss time to start the season (and like all things Mets, the news has only gotten worse as he keeps hitting road blocks and now won't be back before the All-Star break).

Teams like the Astros and Orioles did a full tear down and knew the team would be painfully shitty for at least three years. It wasn't a fun process but reaped pretty great returns. The Mets instead did a half-measure, which Mike Ehrmantraut of Breaking Bad warned us against.

As much as it pains me, you might have to burn this house down to find a winner. The core of Pete Alonso, Francisco Lindor and Brandon Nimmo isn't enough. Alonso can't get on base enough. Lindor can't hit consistently. I love Nimmo but while he does everything well, he does nothing great. The pitching staff is filled with guys you'd want as the #4 man in your rotation. Finally, the young players they keep bringing up are decent with flaws (Francisco Alverez, Christian Scott) or just not productive Major Leaguers (Brett Baty).

The Mets are facing a fork in the road that is approaching very quickly. Pete Alonso will be a free agent at the end of the year. If Cohen and Baseball Ops leader David Stearns don't think this team can compete and Alonso is going to test free agency, you have to trade him. Only four men in Mets history have 200 or more homers and Alonso is one of them (along with Darryl Strawberry, David Wright and Mike Piazza). Alonso has been a great Met so I get that it it would be a tough decision. But who are we fooling? It's also the only decision.

Gordon Donovan. Shutterstock Images.

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How much can we blame Steve Cohen? He is spending money after all. The Mets have the highest payroll in all of baseball this year. That was the case last year too. Of course, the Mets are paying a huge amount of money for Justin Verlander to pitch for the Astros and Max Scherzer to sit on the IL for the Rangers. That's not the same as it was when Fred Wilpon was the owner. Don't get me wrong. This current state of affairs is humiliating but it's a different sort of humiliation. To call this the "same as the Wilpon Era" is disingenuous. 

I doubt you see Alonso, Luis Severino, Sean Manaea, Jose Quintana, Harrison Bader, Adam Ottavino or J.D. Martinez on this team by August. It's easy to look at the walk-off win yesterday and see that they are only 4 game back of the last wild card spot. But why fool ourselves? This isn't a good team and aren't close to being one. The Mets aren't a piece or two away. They are half of a full roster away. They will strip this team at the deadline and they should.

I just have no idea what the next step will be after that. This team has proven you can't build a whole roster out of free agency. It's a team filled with holes. This off-season, they'll need a starting first baseman, third baseman, outfielder and DH. Oh yeah, three starting pitchers too.

So there you go. The Mets are walking proof that money doesn't fix everything. I haven't even mentioned Edwin Diaz's struggles or the simple truth that Carlos Mendoza is the manager. I can only put so much sadness into one blog.