At least the Mets seem to be accepting that some things aren’t working. They reported for duty in Philadelphia without Joey Wendle, mercifully DFA’ed in favor of Mark Vientos, and recalled Joey Lucchesi while sending Jose Butto down to presumably find coaches to help him tame his sudden bout of wildness.
And, hey, the plan looked pretty good for an hour or so. Vientos cracked an early double off Ranger Suarez, who’s been invincible in 2024, and Lucchesi looked solid for four innings, his record blemished only by a Bryce Harper home run over the left field wall, which we should remember is about 195 feet away in this ballpark and so deserving of an asterisk.
But Lucchesi came apart like a dime-store watch in the fifth: walks, an ill-advised throw to third on a bunt, a bases-loaded HBP and consecutive hits that plated three. Vientos would pick up another hit but at times played third base like he was being chased by bees. The Phillies did cruel things to Grant Hartwig and Adrian Houser, there were Met errors, and that’s not even addressing the various dopey and/or inept things contributed to the proceedings by the winning team. Or the fact that the first few innings were played in a gloomy murk that made you want to reach inside your TV with a rag in hopes of making a clear spot.
This was some poor soul’s first-ever baseball game; I hope someone told him or her that they’re not all like that.
Before bringing this recap to a merciful conclusion, a last thought, one that I’ve been tugging this way and that for a couple of weeks: There’s a case to be made that Vientos should have been the DH all year, with J.D. Martinez employed by someone else. The Mets are thoroughly mediocre and it feels like the gap between them and the playoffs is a fair bit bigger than J.D. But this isn’t a surprise — it felt that way in March too. If that’s the case, why is Martinez here? Vientos, like his maybe-platoon partner Brett Baty, clearly has things to learn, but he’s not going to learn them in Syracuse. To have a shot at mastering those lessons he needs to play at the big-league level, and play regularly.
But it’s also true that Martinez has a sterling reputation as a student of hitting and an excellent teammate, and that may be part of the equation here. A decade or so ago I would have dismissed that as an unquantifiable Just So story, but now I’m not so sure. This isn’t the start of a stemwinder about intangibles, which really are Just So stories, but an open question about the value of mentors on a team with young players. There have been a number of relatively recent Mets who didn’t do much in our uniform but were later exalted as teachers — Jose Valverde and Jose Bautista are the names that come immediately to mind.
Those stories tend not to be told until later, sometimes popping up when no longer so young players talk about their own development and the guys who helped them along their path. Much later, sometimes: I don’t recall hearing about Mike Torrez helping a very young Dwight Gooden until Gooden’s number-retirement ceremony was upon us.
I’m not saying that’s the answer, or that those who grouse that Vientos’s development is being stunted are wrong — I’ve thought that myself. I’m just saying it’s something to think about. And maybe even a little comfort when you can’t bear to look at the scoreboard.
I just hope Stearns has a plan. Whatever he did worked well in Milwaukee. But whatever he’s doing isn’t here so far. And I’m not sure what that is. Though if it’s to be far enough out of the playoffs to have no doubt if we should be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline, well, at least that’s working.
I fooled myself a bit this spring thinking, “Well, this team is just a year removed from winning 100 and most of the players from then are back.” Yeah, and most of those players are having years well below their career averages, sometimes career-worst. I think every position player is having what would be called a bad year by his standards. Except Bader. And I guess Baty doesn’t have a track record but I sure hope .230 BA, .600 OPS isn’t it. Ugh.
Blow it up, start with Alonso and Diaz, a lousy team has no use for an all or nothing slugger or an elite (?) closer.
“The New York Mets owner Cohen raised eyebrows on Wednesday with his post to X. Cohen reacted to a fan blog post calling for the Mets to blow it up. In his reply, Cohen seemingly hinted that the Mets would indeed be sellers at the trade deadline.
‘All in the future,’ Cohen wrote. ‘Not much we can do until trade deadline.’” Deleted within minutes by Cohen.
https://www.msn.com/en-xl/sports/mlb/did-steve-cohen-accidentally-provide-major-hint-on-mets-trade-deadline-plans/ar-BB1mtsEW
Jason, great article. Just a thought on Vientos and what it reveals. When no one has more home runs/rbis than you in spring training, you earned a place on the team. Full stop. Mets toyed with MV by sending him down. Then, you have a walk off HR, and get sent down again. Anyone can try, and many have, to explain away these actions but the bottom line is these are not the actions of an organization that by its actions prioritizes a meritocracy, and a commitment to a successful, sustained development plan, with an emphasis on its young players. These are just a few of many reasons for a 38 year championship drought, as the Mets organization is best described today as stuck in the “the muck and mire.”
That reminds me of Jae Seo, in 2005, one-hitting the Phillies over 7 shutout innings in a start in May — and then being sent down to AAA for the next three months. In the first game after his return, he pitched 7 more shutout innings.
Thanks for that reference, Guy.
Compare Stewart & Taylor’s At Bats to RBI ratios with Lindor’s and Alonso’s.
What’s with McNeil and the strategy of “pitching him inside”? There’s no fix for his frustrations on that issue?
The underperformance of this team is maddening.
And what’s with the epidemic of walks from the pitching staff?
At least Steve Cohen speaks the truth. It is all in the future.
So, I’m putting this out here to The Commentariat for response:
Sean Fennessey, who some of you may have heard of, is a writer at Bill Simmons’ The Ringer site. He’s been with Simmons since the Grantland days and, among other things, co-hosts The Big Picture podcast.
He’s a huge movie guy, and also a huge Mets fan. In April, he expressed the opinion that, to him, it appears that Stearns does not believe that the current “core” – Alonso, McNeil, Lindor and Nimmo – can be the foundation of a championship team. Therefore, he is “soft tanking” – not like an NBA team would, but not going out of his way to maybe spend $ on players to support those guys. Instead, he is going to spend this year, and maybe next, developing the young position players we got last summer in those deals, then trade or let all/most of those 4 guys go and use either what they get back in trades or freed up money to get the pitching they need.
What say you all? This seems plausible to me, but the Martinez scenario recounted by Jason suggest that that theory is wrong or that, as fans of this team expect, the front office really has no plan, and it’s all fits and starts and lurches.
In response to mikeski:
McNeil, Lindor, and Nimmo have either long-term or extended contracts.
Alonso is the one player that the fan base would not want to see leave.
Underperformance by the offense, and the epidemic of walks by the pitching staff are the problems that Mendoza is tasked with solving.
Sorry, I know this may be an unpopular opinion around here, but Brandon Nimmo is the one player of that core that I would not want to see leave. I’d rather do without Alonso than Nimmo.
Reply to Guy K:
Nimmo is playing with a well-deserved extended contract.
Lindor is in the fourth year of a ten-year contract.