Aged New York Cheddar

 

And then, suddenly, the Mets realized that packing the team with sixteen players over 30 may not have been the best idea after all.

I dunno, man, getting tons of aging free agents and overpopulating the team with them, and they just expecting these people not to break down, get injured or disappoint you in any way, is like asking to get rained upon. Omar Narvaez, Tim Locastro and Jose Quintana, all over 30, are all on the 60-day IL. And then you have Verlander and Scherzer, who have been perfectly alright this year in between their own respective injuries. Verlander's got a 3.60 ERA in 4 starts, Scherzer has a 4 ERA in 7 starts, they're both around 40 and it's nice that they're still even doing that. But having four rotation spots being taken by Verlander, Scherzer, a very serviceable Carlos Carrasco and Kodai Senga, who, as good as he has been, is still 30 and knowing Japanese pitchers that acclimate to US standards, might miss some time next year...that's worrying.

Apart from Senga, the only Mets starter to not miss an outing is Tylor Megill, who at least is 27 and has shown promise. Megill has 5 wins, but his ERA is a bit higher than it should be and he's only doing an alright job overall. It's not like David Peterson was doing much better, but this isn't a very young rotation, and the reinforcements aren't the most polished options. I'm glad most of these guys are doing well enough at the moment, but with 3 guys being over 35 I'm still very worried about the next few months of this.

The youth is thankfully being applied to the lineup, as Brett Baty, Mark Vientos and Francisco Alvarez are all up. Alvarez is doing the best out of the three, he's hitting .261 with 6 homers and 13 RBIs. Alvarez is also doing the best to retain a starting job, though Baty is basically the guy for third given Eduardo Escobar's lessening play. These three do add an edge to this team that they desperately need, and a spark of youth that needs to spread as they go. 

It's not lost on me that Jeff McNeil, one of the best contact hitters on this team and one of their best assets, is over 30 as well. He was called-up late, bloomed late, but he's here now and helping the team a ton, hitting .291 with 53 hits. Pete Alonso leads the league in homers with 19, so he's been surging as well lately. Starling Marte's already stolen 14 bases, he's doing his thing. Lindor and Nimmo are still playing like themselves. The core of this team is well-preserved enough to not scare the shit out of me like other aspects do.

The Mets have been winning games lately, but a lot of them have been close. This Cubs series has been better, but they're gonna need more than just 1 or 2 point wins to reestablish the dominance they lost earlier in the month.

Coming Tonight: I guess this guy might be one of the best closers of the last few years.