May 2024 be merry and bright!
With the year coming to an end, the book will finally be closed on a disappointing year.
What’s Up with the Mets? 🍎
The Mets are reportedly interested in free agent DH J.D. Martínez (New York Post)
The Mets are also looking at Gio Urshela as a potential upgrade at third base (New York Post)
Turn the page… ✍️
With the days on the 2023 calendar almost at their end, it will soon be time to turn the page both literally and figuratively and welcome in a new year.
The 2023 season was the first in the post-deGrom era, and their twin aces who were supposed to replace him were not only not deGrom, they significantly underperformed by their own standards.
Justin Verlander did not start off well since he started the season on the injured list, and while he ended up being a serviceable starter, he was not the ace they needed.
Max Scherzer was also not the ace they needed. He was hurt, suspended, complained about the rules, underperformed and then more or less asked for a trade in his final months with the Mets. To add insult to injury, he ended up winning the World Series with deGrom in Texas, but hopefully his work with Francisco Álvarez and the prospect return the Mets received from the Rangers in the trade will pay dividends down the road.
To round out their rotation, the team also brought in José Quintana but a stress reaction in his ribs and a lesion caused him to miss the first three months of the 2023 season. Thankfully for him, the lesion was benign and once he returned he was a nice addition to the rotation. Hopefully he can continue that performance next season where he becomes more important with him and Kodai Senga as the only two guaranteed rotation spots as it stands now.
Of course, the biggest blow came in the World Baseball Classic when Edwin Díaz suffered that patellar tendon injury in his right knee during Team Puerto Rico’s celebration.
It didn’t even happen during the game!
David Robertson was a perfectly fine replacement of course, but the injury placed further stress on an already thin bullpen that was in no way, shape, or form up to the task, with or without Díaz.
It wasn’t just the pitching that wasn’t up to par, of course.
Starling Marte, who was so crucial to the team’s success in 2022, just never seemed healthy in 2023 and was not himself. He admitted he was still dealing with discomfort from last winter’s core muscle surgery, eventually landed back on the injured list and remains a question mark for next season as well.
After the trade deadline, the final two months of the season were a tough slog with the whole team coming together as a collective disappointment. Brett Baty and the pitching staff significantly regressed and they found ways to lose on a consistent basis. There were some fun moments of course but it was a dead end from August 1 on.
Come the offseason their fortunes didn’t seem to improve, either.
They fired Buck Showalter and their top choice for a replacement in Craig Counsell spurned them and signed with the Cubs. GM Billy Eppler resigned after it was announced he was under investigation for improper use of the injured list, and they swung and missed on their top free agent target in Yoshinobu Yamamoto. On the field they will be without Ronny Mauricio for most if not the entire year, and David Peterson for a significant chunk of the season as well after they both underwent surgery this offseason.
Of course it wasn’t all doom and gloom.
Francisco Lindor achieved a 30/30 season, Senga was a legitimate Rookie of the Year and Cy Young candidate and owns the most devastating pitch in baseball, and Alvarez looks poised to take another step forward, showing he has a flair for the dramatic coming up clutch in crucial situations.
Yes, the Mets still have an uphill battle as a new year is about to begin but it is also a fresh start they badly need.
So smell ya later 2023. Smell ya later forever.
Hot Stove 🔥
The Blue Jays re-signed OF Kevin Kiermaier to a one-year, $10.5 million contract
The White Sox signed reliever Tim Hill to a one-year deal worth $1.8 million
Gold glove shortstop Andrelton Simmons announced his retirement after eleven years in Major League Baseball
The Braves signed former Met Phillip Evans to a minor league deal
Wander Franco did not appear at the special prosecutor’s office in the Dominican Republic after he was summoned to address allegations that he had inappropriate relationships with minors