The season, which held so much promise for the Mets for most of the year, has ended way earlier than seemed likely just a few weeks ago. It’s hard to call a year that resulted in 101 regular season victories disappointing, but thats the way it feels. Following are some observations and thoughts on 2022 and beyond.
Was there a turning point in this season that resulted in the Mets early departure from the playoffs? I would contend that the three- game series with the Cubs at Citi Field in mid September would qualify. This series seemed like a perfect chance for the Mets to put some distance between themselves and the trailing Braves for the division title. As we know, the sad-sack Cubs swept the Mets. Winning just one game of the series likely would have made the Mets division champs, and the team would have had five days to rest and recuperate before playing their first postseason games, and that could have been very valuable for a tiring team like the Mets.
The Mets were the oldest team in MLB in 2022, and that is not a good thing. They are going to have to compete with the Braves, and Atlanta looks awfully strong for the foreseeable future. Atlanta somehow cranks out young, athletic stars who seemingly perform right out of the box. Think 24 year old Ronald Acuna Jr., 25 year old Austin Riley, 21 year old Vaughn Grissom and 21 year old Michael Harris, among others. They also somehow manage to lock up most of these players early on in their careers. They lost super-star first baseman Fredddie Freeman to free agency, and they just kept rolling on without him.
The Mets could use an infusion of youth and speed, but that is easier said than done. One thought…the Mets are still looking for a president of baseball operations. Maybe they can poach a suitable candidate from the Atlanta front office, someone who might be able to help develop young stars for the Mets.
Both starting pitchers and relievers performed well for the Mets, until it became crunch time. The entire starting rotation is elderly by baseball standards, featuring Taijuan Walker (30), Jacob deGrom (34), Chris Bassitt (33), Carlos Carrasco (35), and Max Scherzer at (38). The only starting pitcher sure to be back is Scherzer, with the others all having expiring contracts or opt-outs. If 2023 brings the Max Scherzer we saw for most of the season, that would be great. If we get end-of-season Scherzer, yikes.
Jeff McNeil had a terrific bounce-back season in 2022, he is a strong contender for comeback player of the year. He assembled a slash line of .326/.382/.454. He hit in the clutch, his BA with RISP was .336. When much of the rest of the team was faltering in September/October in the regular season, he batted .357. He shined on defense as well, with 5 DRS split between second base and the outfield.
That .326 BA he put up was enough to give him the batting title, by 1 point over Freeman of the Dodgers. That narrow victory raised a minor controversy. McNeil did not play in the last game of the year, but Freeman did and went 3-4 which was not quite enough to catch McNeil. Some fans contended McNeil’s title is tainted because he chose to sit out that game, and if he had made a few outs, Freeman would have passed him.
Some people compared McNeil with Ted Williams in 1941. Williams was batting .400, rounded up, as the last games ( a double-header) approached, with Boston out of the pennant race. He could have sat out and technically been a .400 hitter, but Williams played, went 6 for 8 and ended up with a .406 mark, an average that has not been approached since.
McNeil’s situation was far different. His team had gone through an exhausting stretch, and that last game was meaningless. Manager Buck Showalter rested every regular, with the exception of Francisco Lindor (undoubtedly at Lindor’s request), to decompress and rest up for the wild-card round, due to start in two days. Showalter took responsibility for setting up the lineup and he did the right thing.
It seems likely it will be a busy off-season for the Mets. With all those expiring contracts, its a good bet the roster will be changed quite a bit going into 2023. Whether that will be for the better or for the worse remains to be seen.
For the 2nd year in a row, the front office goofed at the trade deadline. For the 2nd year in a row, the team was unable to distance themselves from their pursuers and collapsed. Much more painful this year of course, because it was a better team, and the collapse was only in the last month. Lots of good moments in 2022, but the fact that the Phillies have advanced to the next round; and we are not, is like adding insult to injury. A team that we owned in 2022 is moving ahead (like the 1988 Dodgers!). Right now, I can’t tell which memory will haunt me deeper.
And lets face it, the Braves are going to be winners for (at least) the next half decade, a young team with their core staying intact, and at a reasonable cost. Cohen’s $$$ just got him the leagues oldest team and no way for them to get “better” for 2023.
Yes, 77 to 101 wins was pretty admirable, but 2nd place is just 1st place loser. If I sound bitter, it’s because this team did tease me for me to care & and enjoy them. Now? I’ll believe the Mets are for real when they are up 3-0 in the World Series and have a 9-0 lead in the 7th inning of game # 4.
The Baez experiment cost us Pete Crow Armstrong who had 16 HR, 61 RBI, .896 OPS, 32 SB, .312 BA this year in high A. Would have been a good inexpensive replacement for Nimmo.
He is 2 or 3 years away and he would’ve replaced Canha not Nimmo.
The Mets apparently learned their lesson in the Baez trade. Crow-Amstrong had a major league path to the Mets. This summer, Vientos or Mauricio didn’t. That is the real lesson that they should’ve learn.
The turning point was the Cub series. Going in they into the series 6 -4 in September with .600 winning pct. but at end of the Cub series they were 6-7 . They should have won at least one.
The Braves are a young and vibrant team and will have a winning record for the foreseeable future. Alvarez and Baty will improve the offense next year as rookies. Peterson is 27 and probably be the 5th starter. The minors can’t supply a top of the rotation starter yet and that is an Achilles heel. They will probably lose either Bassitt, Walker or Carrasco. If they lose two of them then a free agent upgrade is in order. I hope that they don’t lose deGrom or Diaz. Their 2022 pitching staff won 101 games and again be formidable in 2023 with deGrom and Diaz.
The off season will be interesting. I hope that they move on from one dimensional players like Vogelbach , Vientos, McCann ( or Nido).
It is a good year but disappointing in that they couldn’t finish strongly. Seems like they have at least another playoff team in the making for 2023.
While the Mets had an “old” team – it wasn’t really an old team. They only had 43 PA from guys in their age-36 and above season. For a comparison, the Yankees had 700 PA from the same group.
They signed three free agent hitters on the wrong side of 30 but those guys hit like the Mets hoped they would, possibly even better. And Canha and Escobar don’t have long-term commitments. Maybe the Marte deal hurts in 2024 and/or 2025. But it certainly didn’t hurt in 2022 and my guess is it will be an asset in 2023, too. You just have to plan on him missing a month of the season. Marte hasn’t reached 600 PA since 2018 and it’s doubtful he will for the rest of his career.
This is an important perspecitve Brian and thanks for raising it. Old itself is not critical for any particular season, but it dies make claims about the immediate near future.
Cohen said he wanted to win a WS in 5 years. This might very well have been his best chance. He assembled a group of solid vets on short term deals that at one time or another carried the team whether that be Canha, Marte, or Escobar and a lot of unknowns on the bump. But when the time came to nail the door closed, the ownership and FO dropped the ball hoping to catch lightning in a bottle with middling deals, and failed. But it also means the team is unbalanced so now we have an exodus (in my best Bob Marley) and a lot of unknowns. Bring up a raft of rookies and “hope” their minor’s record plays in the Bigs or spend mountains of cash to seal up the cracks in order to get deep into a post season. Again there is a lack of balance in the system so that instead of dripping players in from the minors, its more like crack the spiget, and hope for the best.
I just dont like that approach and certainly not on a (somewhat artificial) timeline.
Some wonderful thoughts on a depressing final thirty days of baseball. The Cubs finished with 74 wins on the year, and had a .500 winning pct. in August, a .577 winning pct. in September, and a .600 winning pct. in October. The Mets loses to the Cubs were from underestimating them. After the Cubs series, the Mets swept the four game series against the Pirates and then two of three in Milwaukee as part of a six game winning streak. It was unforgivable to get swept but it wasn’t a turning point. For me the real turning point was blowing three leads against the Braves and having their three best pitchers crap the bed. They got tired, their bats fell asleep, and their better starting pitchers slumped for whatever reason at a bad time. That happens. Reminds me of Barry Bonds hitting .100something early in his career during one playoff appearance. Doesn’t make him a bad player, just stuff happens.
David’s points about Baty and Alvarez are very encouraging to me. I do see the reasoning of putting baseball’s best prospect on the field and a good hitting third baseman. Look at how the Phillies have built up Alec Bohm: it takes investing time and having patience. The most important thing to me is using those guys and McNeil in the outfield as a means to save money on hitters and sign strong pitching. Juan Soto will be a free agent in two years at the age of 25. I’m saving my bullets for him! No 31-year old Judge who already gets hurt or having bulging contracts on the books… hold on and wait.