☀️ GOOD MORNING:
Did everyone catch their breath?
Maybe spend a day to forget about the Mets?
Everyone needed an off day on Monday. The Amazins return home after suffering one of their most embarrassing road series sweeps in franchise history — and that’s not hyperbole, that’s what it was.
A 5.5-game lead in the division has turned into a two-game deficit after losing 13 of 16. A club that started the year with incredible vibes that somehow seemed to carry over from last year’s magical playoff run has quickly squeezed much of the hope from this fanbase, threatening to turn what was supposed to be the Summer of Citi Field into a nightmare featuring Paul Blackburn and the ghosts of lost runners in scoring position.
Help is eventually coming, but we don’t know when. Sean Manaea is scheduled to make what could be his final rehab start this week, assuming there’s no additional setbacks. Kodai Senga appears to be on a path to return by the end of July. Jesse Winker played his first rehab game on Sunday. As we will talk about today, adding those players back and finding stability within the current active roster, on top of whatever the front office decides to do at the deadline should reveal a team closer to the one we watched over the first two months.
Until then, it’s hold your breath. The Mets welcome two tough teams to Queens this week in Milwaukee and the Yankees. With the exception of former acquaintance Marcus Stroman, who is slated to go on Friday, they draw five pitchers, including young phenom Jacob Misiorowski and old friend Jose Quintana, who will give their opponent a starting pitching advantage in each of those games.
Nobody said it would be easy. It doesn’t have to be this hard. Carlos Mendoza’s group has a tough week ahead. If they don’t show signs of turning things around, we might see some kind of marginal move to try to jolt things up.
☕️ Grab your coffee for your morning dose of Mets Fix!
Ben: What do you think about the complaints about the hitting coaches?
There were several questions about the hitting coaches and the team’s overall approach at the plate. I touched on this topic on Monday, but it’s worth diving a bit deeper.
Taking a wide-angle view of the offense, it’s hard to justify firing the hitting coaches without it seeming like an overreaction to a 17-day sample. This is where the Mets rank among 30 teams across important offensive categories:
T-6th in walk rate
T-8th in lowest strikeout rate
6th in home runs
6th in slugging
7th in wRC+
Meanwhile, no team in baseball hits the ball hard more often than the Mets (45.8% of the time).
The problem is that somehow only adds up to league-average run production. The Amazins rank 13th in runs scored despite all of the things you typically do to score runs ranking much higher.
🔻 RISP: Which leads us to their inability to hit with runners in scoring position, and relates to the original question about the hitting coaches, if they should be held accountable for failing to solve this vexing issue.
Entering play on Monday, only one team, the hapless Chicago White Sox, have a lower batting average with runners in scoring position than the Mets. Only five teams rank lower in terms of OPS.
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