It was never going to be easy

Morning Dose: Monday, April 28

☀️ Good Morning:

Mama said there would be weekends like these.

It’s a testament to the Mets’ incredible start to the season that we can categorize two absolutely brutal losses as a regression to the mean, but it’s hard to call them more than that at this point.

No team has played 162 games without a bad call getting in their way, or without a complete meltdown by their bullpen.

Ask the powerhouse Dodgers how the first month of the season has been going for them, despite their record.

The Mets had their seven-game winning streak end on an inexcusable triple-play call and some hard luck in extra innings. They got back on the win side on Saturday, only to blow a 7–1 lead on Sunday.

It’s enough to want to get out of DC, but the Amazins will complete their four-game set on Monday afternoon with Griffin Canning on the hill.

☕️ Grab your coffee for your morning dose of Mets Fix!

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Box Score | Full Standings

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It was a busy weekend so let’s jump rapid fire into the key takeaways…

◼️ Juan Soto’s defense. I had hoped by watching Soto play right field on a daily basis I would be convinced that he is actually better than his reputation and could prove to be a plus defender over time. It’s only been a month, but it seems we are a long way off from that possibility.

For everything that went wrong in blowing a six-run lead, it all started when Soto lost a ball in the sun. It sums up his uninspiring start to his tenure with the Mets.

Through the first month of the season, Soto ranks in the bottom 10th percentile by Statcast’s Outs Above Average. He technically hasn’t made any errors (Sunday’s play was ruled a double), but anyone watching the games knows Soto’s defense has been a net negative so far (again, with a few exceptions, particularly with his arm).

The Mets are pretty limited in what they can do about this. You don’t hand out the largest contract in sports history to remove said player for defensive purposes, even late in games. But it might be something to at least consider in certain situations (particularly when the roster is healthy) if Soto continues to hurt the team out there. I will give him a break on Sunday, since it seemed a few players had trouble with the sun, but the point remains.