Carlos Carrasco's struggles continue, Starling Marte exits early with injury, and the Mets have a right-handed problem

The Mets were unable to complete the sweep of the Marlins with a tough day at the ballpark.

Linda Surovich

Apr 10, 2023

What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️

The Mets failed to sweep the Marlins and dropped the finale 7-2 at home (box)
RHP Carlos Carrasco struggled yet again and gave up six runs in 4.2 innings. It was the first time he gave up six runs in an outing since June 28, 2022 against the Astros
C Francisco Álvarez got his first start of the year and went 1-for-4 with a RBI at the plate but unfortunately struggled throwing out baserunners with five runners stealing bases against him
RF Starling Marte went 1-for-1 with a stolen base but exited early after he hit his head when stealing third. He is listed as day-to-day with a neck strain
1B Pete Alonso went 1-for-4 with a RBI and has nine RBIs in his last four games
The Mets fell to 16-23 all-time on Easter Sunday

Who’s Hot 🔥

Pete Alonso’s RBI in the fifth gave him 11 for the season to go along with the five home runs he has slugged
Mark Canha served as the DH and went 2-for-4 at the plate to close out a series where he went 4-for-10 with 2 RBIs and a run scored

Injury Updates 🏥

INF Brett Baty (thumb soreness) returned to the lineup for Triple-A Syracuse on Sunday, and went 0-for-3 at the plate

Today’s Game 🗓

Match-up: Mets (5-5) vs. Padres (6-4)

Where: Citi Field - Flushing, NY

Starters: RHP Max Scherzer (1-1, 6.35 ERA) vs. RHP Yu Darvish (0-0, 1.80 ERA)

When: 7:10 PM EDT

Where to Watch: SNY

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The Mets have a right-handed problem ✍🏻

Back in the offseason, when it appeared the Mets were signing Carlos Correa, Steve Cohen himself admitted the team needed one more hitter and in his view Correa was the piece that completed the puzzle.

Of course, what followed is what followed and here the Mets are giving at-bats to Tommy Pham and Tim Locastro who went a combined 1-for-9 in the final game against the Marlins with four strikeouts. They already dumped Darin Ruf who, as it turns out, signed back with the Giants on a minor league deal, thus completing the circle of Billy Eppler’s worst transaction to-date.

As Mr. Cohen put it 3 1/2 months ago, the Mets still need one more hitter, preferably a right-handed one, but here we are on April 10 and the Mets still do not have what they need for a well-rounded attack against both left-handed pitching and right-handed pitching. With Eduardo Escobar and Tomás Nido (to be fair, Escobar did show some positive signs this weekend) not hitting consistently and Starling Marte banged up yet again, the offense takes a turn pretty quickly when you get past the top of the lineup.

Francisco Álvarez could potentially fill that hole. He did pick up his first hit and RBI of the season but behind the plate he struggled mightily to control the run game. The organization has the option to DH him but how can he develop behind the plate if he never serves as the catcher? It’s a tough spot for the team to be in to balance his development as well as searching for offense.

The other option is to call up Brett Baty who returned to the lineup in Syracuse on Sunday after injuring his thumb last week. Baty too has struggled with his defense in the minors but the Mets can’t keep giving away at-bats when they have options to add more offense to their lineup.

The games in April count just as much as the ones in September, and as we saw last season, one game can make all the difference at the end of the year.

Yes, it was a good series against the Marlins but the team can’t continuously wave the white flag after taking the series. Obviously, they have concerns up and down with the pitching staff, but that is a separate problem that can hopefully be alleviated somewhat when Justin Verlander is healthy. The offense, however, needs to look elsewhere since Correa is not walking through the door.

The problem is, those answers have to come from within this time of year. Is it Baty? Is it Álvarez? Is it both? Is it going to be someone else?

The interesting part about all of this is, as it clearly appears the Mets are once again vulnerable against left-handed pitching, they’ve posted a strikingly superior OPS against left-handed pitching (.752) to that against right-handed pitching (.624) over the season’s first ten games. But the Mets are hitting just .216 as a club overall with Pete Alonso providing five of the club’s ten home runs through the first ten games of the season, not nearly enough power up and down the lineup to be competitive on a daily basis.

In addition, the Mets are hitting just .207/.286/.329 against left-handed starting pitching.

Now, one might suggest this is an overreaction, as we are just 6 percent of the way through the season. But this was also a concern for the club in 2022 and the Mets arguably have a lesser solution for the designated hitter problem, have made an unproven albeit very promising to a very uncertain catching situation, and are potentially dealing with further diminishment at third base.

Overreaction? That’s up for debate.

Chalk this up as another major concern for the club.

Around the League 🚩

Pirates SS Oneil Cruz suffered a fractured ankle after a collision at home plate against the White Sox
The Rays remain undefeated as they completed a sweep of the Athletics - they are now 9-0 on the year
Cardinals top prospect Jordan Walker became the third player to have a hit streak of at least nine games to start a MLB career while 20 years old or younger which both Eddie Murphy and Ted Williams accomplished before him
The Braves were trounced by the Padres 10-2 with former Met Seth Lugo picking up the win for San Diego
The Phillies dropped their finale against the Reds by a score of 6-4 as they fall to 3-6 for the season