Who’s on first and what a difference a week makes

It’s a very small sample, yet it says a lot about how the Met organization is structured.  A number of starting players were dealt away before the trade deadline, and it appears that that some solid not too far from prime-time players were received in exchange.  At least that’s the hope.  There are those on social media who blame the Mets for giving up.  Others who openly blasted our two nearly Medicare age pitchers for waiving their no-trade clauses and giving the impression that they were jumping ship to play for a contender.  It’s all about perspective.   Any way you look at it, if the Mets had not done a dump for prospects, they would have received nothing for those approaching free agency.  Even taking on multi-millions in payments for those who were traded away can be seen as being fiscally prudent.  We are all thankful for an owner with extremely deep pockets.

Just a little bit more than a year ago the Mets were buyers at the deadline and perhaps one of the biggest knocks on Billy Eppler was that he failed to bring in any difference makers. Only one of those players is on the roster this season, and his inability to play anything but the LH DH leaves a lot to be desired.  Contrast that to 2015 when they added Yoenis Cespedes who immediately lifted the team to new heights.  They also added three veterans, each of whom contributed to the march to the world series.

Today we look at the sad sack no-name group of players who have been moved up or moved in since the trade deadline and excuse me for mostly drawing a blank at the mention of their names.  It reminds me of the Abbott and Costello skit “Who’s on First.”

DJ Stewart, whose full name is Demetrius Jerome, came out of the Orioles organization where he played sparingly from 2018-2022, and was a pretty substandard hitter with a career batting average of .210.  Entering the Pirates series on Monday, Stewart was batting .171 with a .593 OPS.   In the past week he flexed his muscles going 6-17 with four home runs and raised his average to .224 and his OPS to .824  He looks like a potential 2024 bench piece.

Danny Mendick, who played with the White Sox from 2019-2022 showed some limited hitting ability while with the pale hose.  Mendick’s strength is in his fielding, but he has not really shown that while putting in most of his time at 2B.  He entered the Pirate series with a .205 BA with a .577 OPS and going only 2-14 this past week, lowered his average to .189 and his OPS to .501.  Not the best of weeks to impress the team.  Don’t expect him to be on the team next year.

Rafael Ortega, who played for the Rockies, Angels, Marlins, Braves and Cubs during a career that started more than a decade ago, came to the Mets with a career .250 batting average and a .680 OPS.  He had a strong game in the finale against the Braves going 3-4 and started the week hitting .243 with a .587 OPS.  This past week Ortega went only 5-24 which lowered his average to .237 and his OPS to .579.  While not always looking smooth or comfortable, Ortega played a more than an acceptable CF which allowed the Mets to shift Nimmo to left, where he has done a pretty good job in the corner spot. It is not a wonder that this is his fifth team in ten years and this past week was not a good audition for a future role at Citi Field.

Jonathan Arauz played for the Red Sox and Orioles prior to arriving at Citi Field and has a meager career .191 batting average.  He arrived at the Mets hitting just .105 with a .333 OPS.  He had a nice game last week against the Pirates where he hit a HR and made a nifty pickup of an errant Lindor feed and almost pulled off a double play.  He hit another HR against the Pirates the next day in a loss,  but that was the extent of his offense.  Going 2-17 last week kept his anemic average at .105 but at least he upped his OPS to .497.  His hair is clearly his claim to fame but it will likely be getting coifed elsewhere next year.

Abraham Almonte, played for eight teams before arriving to the Mets, and nothing really stood out from any of those years. In his small sample here, you have to wonder why he is here.  For the Mets he arrived with a .091 batting average and a .348 OPS. It earned him a trip back to Syracuse and oddly a return trip to Citifield for Saturday night where he struck out looking as a pinch hitter and then on Sunday grounded out again as a pinch hitter. This past week Almonte lowered his anemic average from .091 to .077 and his OPS to .297.   It’s no surprise that the Mets are his ninth team.  Bye-bye Almonte.

Tim Locastro, whose prior teams included the Dodgers, Diamondbacks and the Yankees, is at least a familiar name.  He spent the last four years hitting under the Mendoza line before his arrival and brought with him a .233 career batting average and a .647 OPS.  His stat line for the Mets showed a .000 batting average and a .231 OPS.  He at least brings a .990 life-time fielding percentage and can play a strong CF.  On Thursday, Locastro pinch hit and got his first hit of the season, a bomb over the center field wall to give the Mets an insurance run and on Friday he went 2-5 and scored a run. This past week with limited playing time, Locastro went 3-7 and upped his average to .176 and his OPS to .744.  If he can’t figure out how to hit .250, they will never be able to accept him as a bench player/defensive replacement.

It is no surprise to anyone who reads Mets360, that the Mets can’t score runs.  While the first five batters in the order have had their struggles, they are at least  producing players. Good teams manufacture runs up and down the order.  Therein lies the rub – the Mets are not a good team and even before the deadline dump, the back of the order failed to produce unless you count the times before Francisco Alvarez was thankfully brought up to the five hole.

What is even more disturbing is that none of these no-name players, with the exception of Stewart, should even be considered as bench players on a major league roster, let alone showing up multiple days as starters. That leaves the Mets in a tough spot because with the exception of Alvarez and his 21 HR, the baby Mets, players who could at least be bench players, are underperforming.  Baty was recently sent back down to AAA as his batting average dropped to .216 and OPS down to .620.  Vientos, who has started to show a good stroke at the plate is still hitting a meager .195 with .518 OPS and has managed only 2 HR and 10 RBI in 118 at bats.  He also strikes out too much having recorded 38 Ks in 118 at bats.  As far as Ronny Mauricio, your guess is as good as mine as to why he has not been called up and playing ahead of the no-name gang.

Given the anemic hitting, how did the Mets manage to go 5-2 over the last seven games.  One answer is that they were playing the Pirates and the Cardinals.  Another answer is to look at how the core players did last week. The Mets top five hitters went 41-134 for a .305 clip, hit seven home runs and four of the five players increased their batting averages and OPS.  From a pitching perspective, they got four consecutive strong starts of five or more innings, including one of six and one of seven.  The pen also did a good job overall in protecting leads.

The task ahead for 2024 is huge and given Steve Cohen’s propensity to eat contracts, there is no guarantee that Eppler and Buck Showalter will be around to do the work.  The Mets not only need three starting pitchers, but bullpen help, maybe two outfielders and a decision on who can share some of the load behind the plate with Alvarez.  How the Mets went from 101 wins last year to a reasonable chance to lose 85 games this year is still shocking.

Let’s hope that the Mets will continue to show restraint and not trade away good prospects.  We would all rather Cohen dip into his wallet to fill the gaps with free agents until the kids are ready to come up.