Met Down

 

The big if with this 2026 Mets team is going to be 'if the Mets hadn't spent all that money on veteran lineup presence clogging the depth chart, and didn't think about emphasizing the defensive possibilities of Bo Bichette and Jorge Polanco at the corners, or if they hadn't put all that money up to get Juan Soto his own box at CitiField, or if they didn't throw the bank at Sean Manaea after an upswing KNOWING he's an up and down pitcher, or if they hadn't banked on Devin Williams thinking the problem was the Bronx....would the Benge-Ewing-Soto outfield be the talk of the season?'

Obviously the Mets still would have needed to trade Brandon Nimmo to clear the room, and eventually grow tired of Tyrone Taylor, but whatever the circumstances...on a better team this would be a good sign. Soto is still A-tier, and leads the NL in OPS right now with 17 homers and 39 RBIs, somehow pedestrian for Soto. Benge, after a slow April, has sprung into motion, now hitting .257 with 9 homers and 32 RBIs, plus 11 steals. A.J. Ewing, a true rookie at 21, has a .279 average and 19 RBIs in 44 games. Ewing and Benge are looking like the future, a lot like Nimmo and Conforto were for a bit. And if the team were better...more people would be aware of this. But it's like the one good part of this team.

The Phillies series, even with a win snuck in, was still an embarrassment, and brought the team down to 39-50, a really torrid record that not even the departure of Carlos Mendoza could really stop. The idea was for Peralta, McLean and Senga to be an unbeatable three, and they're not. Plain and simple. The ghost fork simply does not work anymore, and everyone knows it. Peralta's not throwing his best stuff, and his ERA's at 4.50. Even McLean, fundamentally a terrific arm, has a 4 ERA and a 4-5 record. Zach Thornton and Jonah Tong tried to right things but aren't there yet. The bullpen is only marginally better, and Weaver, Brazoban and Raley are trying to undo all that Tobias Myers and Devin Williams have done, meaning that the Brewers guys just aren't doing it out of Milwaukee. And Brandon Sproat, for the most part, isn't really having that problem the other way. 

Want a sobering stat? The hitters on this team have a combined 2.8 WAR. If you take Juan Soto out of it, it's 0.2. This team is hitting .231 as well, and I feel like Soto's .300 average is keeping that up. This is not what Soto signed up for. He was told he was gonna be one of many, not just the one. If he'd have known that, he'd still be in left in Yankee Stadium right now, and lord knows where Cody Bellinger would even be.

The goal for the rest of the season might just be for the Mets to remain dignified, which is quite a concept. Cause at least the Red Sox are having a better week than their reputation means. The White Sox are a 1st place team. The A's are competitive. The Mets are what you've heard, and they can only do so much to dispute it. 

Coming Tonight: A rookie for the White Sox stepping into a crucial contact spot at the right time.