Mets sink further into the abyss as they drop series to Pirates
It was another lost weekend on the road as the Mets lost their third series in a row, eight of nine overall
What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️
The Mets got caught by a good pitcher and the offense couldn’t manage more than one run as they dropped the series finale to the Pirates 2-1 (box)
Carlos Carrasco gave up two runs in 4.2 innings as yet another starter fails to go deep into the game
Jeff McNeil provided all of the offense with a solo home run in the fourth
The offense only managed three hits for the entire afternoon
Luis Guillorme pinch hit for Mark Vientos in the eighth and struck out on a pitch clock violation
Josh Walker, Drew Smith, and Brooks Raley did not give up any runs coming out of the bullpen
Today’s Game 🗓
It is an off day as the Mets travel home to take on the Yankees at Citi Field.
Rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic… ✍️
Nothing is working.
When the Mets hit, they don’t pitch. When they pitch they don’t hit.
Sometimes, none of it works - when they get both good hitting and good pitching the bullpen falls apart.
Over the weekend, the Pirates sank the Mets to fourth place in the National League East where they are now a whopping 9.5 games behind the Braves. They are only three games back in the Wild Card, but they are looking up at the Padres, Phillies, Giants, and Brewers for the last playoff spot while being tied with the Reds.
Quite honestly, the Mets don’t even belong in a playoff conversation at this point in time. Right now, the conversation has to center around where the club - and quite frankly, the entire organization - goes from here.
The Mets made a flurry of moves over the weekend in an attempt to stop the bleeding. They called up John Curtiss and Josh Walker after DFA-ing Tommy Hunter. And while Walker had a nice outing yesterday in relief, the Mets are generally shuffling their deck of mediocrity between Syracuse and the big leagues. Unfortunately this is too little too late with a bullpen as broken as the Mets relief corps currently is. They are worth -0.3 fWAR which is the worst in the National League while their ERA of 4.40 puts them eleventh. They have also been especially prone to giving up the long ball. Their 1.45 HR/9 rate is dead last while shockingly Colorado’s bullpen is first.
There is no real help at their disposal right now, be it at the plate or on the mound.
A perfect storm gathered in the past few months to get them to this point. In his infinite wisdom, Mets GM Billy Eppler signed option-able relievers like John Curtiss in the offseason instead of some of the other free agents that were available like Andrew Chafin. To add injury to insult, Edwin Díaz suffered his brutal injury in the World Baseball Classic which forced the rest of the bullpen to step into roles they wouldn’t otherwise had if he were healthy. Lastly, the starting rotation has been an absolute mess to say the least with the starters routinely failing to pitch deep into games. And the two highest paid players in big league history - those would be Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander - have pitched to a 4.19 ERA in only 92.1 IP and 17 starts combined through 66 games.
That just isn’t acceptable. Sorry.
This puts a ton of pressure on a starting rotation which is generally pitching at replacement level behind them and an already undermanned bullpen. Some of Buck Showalter’s moves have been questionable but at the same time, he can only do so much with the personnel he has.
Again, there is no help coming through the door for this club. They will have to continuously shuffle relievers around in the hope of catching lightning in a bottle but the fact of the matter is this group just isn’t good enough. All that’s left to do is hope this team figures it out and they play up to their potential or they’ll most likely be sellers at the deadline.
Around the League 🚩
The Brewers got swept by the lowly A’s who improved to 17-50 on the year with the win. It was the first sweep of the season for Oakland
The White Sox placed Liam Hendriks on IL with elbow inflammation just two weeks after his return from battling non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
The Rockies placed Charlie Blackmon on injured list with a broken hand after he was hit by a pitch earlier in the month
The Marlins rallied in the ninth to take down the White Sox. They are now 17-5 in one-run games this season