One of the most chilling moments of Steven Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark (1983) was when the Nazi torturer Arnold Ernst Toht, asks Indiana Jones and Marian, “Now, what shall we talk about?” It still creeps me out.
That’s what it felt like watching the Mets this past weekend. Does anyone really want to read more about how Mets catchers are 3 for 51 in throwing out attempted base stealers after Sunday’s debacle in Tampa? It’s true former Met Amed Rosario was caught stealing by Tomas Nido, but the Rays were successful on their other seven steal attempts. Nope. Nothing to see here. Pitching coach Jeremy Hefner and manager Carlos Mendoza better do something about this as teams around MLB are looking forward to Mets games as a future base stealing festival. Pitchers – both starters and relievers holding runners closer is job number one.
If it’s not the team ineptitude in managing baserunners, what else is happening that the players would rather not talk about? Hmmm. OK, so you know already. Pete Alonso has a batting average of .206. Francisco Lindor has a batting average of .207. Leadoff hitter Brandon Nimmo has recently gotten his batting average up to .221. Maybe you prefer advanced stats like OPS – Alonso is at .715, Lindor is at .673 both of which are below league average (normally about .721). Nimmo’s is .744 on the strength of 24 walks in 2024, a team high. Somehow Nimmo has an OPS+ of 120 (20% better than league average).
But wait, there’s more, or less depending on how you view things. Former 2022 NL batting champ Jeff McNeil is slashing .231/.313/.621. Starling Marte is having a nice comeback year to date yet is only slightly above league average in OPS and OPS+ and is hitting .274. Of the regulars, Harrison Bader leads the team with a .279 average to go with his below average OPS and OPS+. D.J. Stewart is hitting .186 on the season but sports an OPS of .803 and OPS+ of 136. He’s better than Daniel Vogelbach but not THAT much better. Brett Baty got off to a decent start in 2024 and his .274 batting average and .714 OPS and 110 OPS, is somehow promising even if it’s not great.
Without Francisco Alvarez behind the plate, Mets catchers Omar Narvaez and Tomas Nido have done with the bat what most expected, which is to say, very little. Tyrone Taylor has been among the most consistent Met at the plate but does not play regularly. J.D. Martinez hasn’t been back long enough to evaluate but he didn’t exactly start with a bang.
Are you still wondering about why Mark Vientos could not stick with the team in Spring Training even after he filled in for three games batting .429 with a game winning home run and an OPS of 1.2386? While Vientos can’t be expected to sustain his three-game pace (an OPS+ of 267 is Barry Bonds-like), the Mets are sorely need of their lineup to get hot and Vientos provides real lineup punch. It’s too bad he does not have a position to play.
No, we don’t need to talk about all that since it’s, well, kind of depressing. The have again slid below .500 and they look like a team that will win between 79 and 84 games, about where things were before the season started.
With the lack of hitting, anytime the pitching is less than excellent (see Jose Quintana’s start this past Friday and Luis Severino’s struggling start on Sunday), the Mets are in trouble. Even when they get a well-pitched game like the one from rookie Christian Scott on Saturday, there’s no guarantee of victory.
Alonso and Lindor, and Nimmo for that matter, all will have to be better for the Mets to compete for a wild card spot. If they continue to struggle this season will be lost and we will end up in August and September rooting for the young arms (Blake Tidwell had a great start for AA Binghamton this past weekend), and position players like Drew Gilbert and Luisangel Acuna, to give the fans reason for hope in 2025.
We’re not ready to talk about that. Yet.
