Requiem for the 2017 New York Mets
Mark it down everyone, the day that the 2017 Mets officially passed on.
It's a date that will live in infamy.
June 22.
Yes, I know it's not even the All-Star break. I know you're saying "it's still early in the season" and "it can only get better from here!"
I don't care. After an embarrassing 4 game sweep by the Dodgers, leaving them 10 games under .500, (and 12 back of the division lead) the season's over. The hole's too deep to dig out of. A mere 20 months after making the World Series, (and 8 months after playing in the Wild Card game) the Mets are far closer to being a laughingstock than a legitimate championship contender.
Where did it all go wrong?
Well, injuries didn't help. Cespedes was out for a month and has yet to truly hit his best stride. Staff ace Syndergaard is out until at least August and might miss the entire season. It took until June for Matz and Lugo to return from off-season injuries. Matt Harvey's career might be in jeopardy. Neil Walker and Asdrubal Cabrera are on the DL with no real timetable for their return. It doesn't matter whether it's the fault of the training staff, or if it's just bad luck; even the '98 Yankees would struggle with as many injuries as the Mets have this season.
But maybe this team just wasn't that good on paper. Maybe we just expected too much. As many injuries as the Mets fought through last year, much of the 2016 lineup overachieved. With the exception of Conforto, the Mets' bats have not reached the levels they did last year. And the lineup wasn't even the Mets strength last year.
If you want to place blame, it's got to be on the rotation. The Mets' starters ERA is the second worst in the league at just over 5.00.
Quite frankly that's just unacceptable. How could a pitching staff, ranked on paper amongst the best in the league, underachieve so substantially?
I don't know where the team goes from here. For one, Sandy Alderson needs to sell off assets at the deadline. A contending team might be willing to give a fairly deent prospect in exchange for Walker, Bruce, Reed or Duda. Call up prospects Dominic Smith and Amed Rosario and see what they can do at the Major League level.
Maybe this is just a blip on the radar and Alderson makes some great moves this fall to complement the Mets' future core of Syndergaard, DeGrom, Matz, Cespedes, Flores and Conforto.
Or maybe it gets worse from here.
No matter where the team goes from here, this is a season Mets fans will look back on with disgust.
Goodbye, 2017 Mets. We hardly knew ye.
