Will The Mets Compete in 2024?
date
Oct 12, 2023
Files & media
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will-mets-compete-2024
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Published
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Baseball
Mets
summary
There were eight MLB ball clubs in 2023 who placed above the league average in payroll and did not make the postseason. The New York Mets were at the top of that list with a total payroll close to $350 million…
type
Post
There were eight MLB ball clubs in 2023 who placed above the league average in payroll and did not make the postseason. The New York Mets were at the top of that list with a total payroll close to $350 million. All of that spending led the Mets to a sub-80 win season and as the Mets watch the Braves and Phillies duke it out in the best of five, divisional series this week, I’m sure they can’t help but say; “where did it all go wrong in 2023?”
Injuries muddled the Teams expectations early and they were forced to adapt. Edwin Diaz tearing his Patellar Tendon in the World Baseball Classic was certainly not the introduction to the season the Mets had hoped for. Justin Verlander would miss all of April with a Teres Major sprain along with Jose Quintana not seeing action until late July with a rib issue. Those three pitchers alone, were set to make a combined $71.75 million and none were on the opening day roster.
The team battled in April and May without some key players but the month of June is ultimately what turned the Mets into sellers at the August deadline. The Mets posted an abysmal record of 7–20, not winning a single series in that month. It was all bad. Unlike earlier in the season when the frequent cop-out was “When we hit, we can’t pitch. When we pitch, we can’t hit.”, June saw immense struggles in both aspects of the game and it certainly showed in the teams’ record.
Some believed the Mets would figure it out eventually. The pitching staff was finally getting somewhat healthy and the remaining schedule still offered plenty of matchups against teams in the wildcard race, but Cohen and the front office thought otherwise. They weren’t going to let this mediocre play continue knowing what expectations were in the offseason, thus commenced the Billy Eppler fire sale.
Sherzer and Verlander, along with several other position players on short or expiring contracts, got shipped out after the teams future was brought into question. Mets reporters and those invovled in the New York sports media scene claimed there were toxic interactions inside the building and it garnered some attention to the state of the clubhouse. Tommy Pham, one of the the players traded at the deadline, went so far as to publicly critisize the work ethic of the position players on the team. Whether this was true or just Pham blowing off some steam from not seeing the playing time he was used to in years past, it placed a bad light on the franchise.
The return for the players dealt before August 1st was certainly substantial and does offer a glimpse of hope for the future, but the Mets have a long history of poor player development and mismanaging prospects, so how much can these moves guarantee success down the road?
The plan of action addressing the teams subpar reputation regarding roster management involves a lot of changes. On top of the many players that the Mets parted ways with this season, the front office has seen a good portion of said changes recently as David Stearns, former president of baseball operations for the Brewers, was brought in to fill that same position for the Mets. Since that move, Buck Shoewalter and Billy Eppler have been removed from the organization, both on somewhat sour terms, which has raised many questions for 2024. The team is without a manager at the moment but most believe Stearns’ former co-worker and manager in Milwaukee, Craig Counsell is the man to fill the role, however this is only speculation thus far as other names like Carlos Beltran and Joe Madden have also thrown their hat in the pool of potential suitors.
The season was a failure on almost every level and appeared to suck the life from the clubhouse and the fanbase. Following last year’s 101 win season, it’s troubling to see the team take a such a significant step backwards, especially with a new ownership that promised so much. Cohen is picking up the pieces by bringing in respected personnel to help him make more informed decisions, and I’m sure he will be active once again in a saturated free agency market this winter to build up the roster.
To the mets fans out there, I feel your pain but we can only be patient right now as there are so many unknowns surrounding how the team will look in 2024. I can only hope the ineptitude and bad press surrounding the team becomes something we can laugh about next year but we all know that could only be alleviated by results, something we haven’t seen since 2015.
For the time being, I’m gonna join the Phillies bandwagon because that squad is electric and there is no team I’d rather see go home early than the Atlanta Braves and their “Generational Offense”, by the way Francisco Lindor should’ve been an all star over Orlando Arcia, check the stats.