Mets Lose Again; Time to Get Concerned?
The Mets are 16-10, sitting in first place with a three and a half game lead in the NL East. It is likely that no realistic Mets fan thought the team would be in this position. But after dropping seven of their last 10 games, is it time to get concerned?
The Mets lost Sunday to the Nationals 1-0, their second straight loss with that score. It reinforces the Mets biggest fear — that their superior pitching would be undone by their lack of offense.
The Mets 11-game winning streak was splendid, and it is the reason they are still in first place. A team can live off such a streak for a few weeks, but not for an entire season. With their recent play, the Mets are at risk of blowing the gains of the streak, not to mention all of the goodwill it brought to the fans.
What can the Mets do to boost the offense? Well, the Mets could package one of their young pitchers with Daniel Murphy and Travis d’Arnaud or Kevin Plawecki to land a stud shortstop. That might be too bold for Sandy Alderson.
It would also be far too bold for Alderson to go after Ryan Braun, who is available along with the rest of the crew of the pitiful Brewers. It might not even make sense to deal for Braun, what with his huge contract and his PED history. And where would he play, anyway? Michael Cuddyer would likely move into a platoon at first base with Lucas Duda, which actually may not be the worst thing.
With the Mets payroll at its $100 million peak. do not expect any huge moves, unless Dillon Gee, Jonathon Niese or Bartolo Colon are included in any trades in addition to Murphy. That would clear some salary for this year to make room for a high-priced veteran.
But still, it is not likely to happen. Instead, perhaps bringing up Matt Reynolds to play short would probably be the biggest move the Mets will make in the near future.
The Mets and their fans have a few more days to bask in the glory of that winning streak. But if the losing continues, it will quickly be forgotten.
While I have been a big supporter of Flores and Murph, I have seen a lot of bad defense by them, and I am beginning to think that the Mets can only improve by bringing Reynolds up to play SS along with Herrera at 2B. Of course, that might mean that Terry has to go without 13 pitchers for awhile, but if we can get our starters into the 7th with good defense then an eight man bullpen might not be necessary. Of course, that would cut into the number of times per game that Terry can waddle to the mound.