New York Mets: Five losers from the first-half of the 2019 season

Keon Broxton, Carlos Gomez, and Juan Lagares

Center field has been the weakest position for the Mets in 2019. Whether they start Keon Broxton, Carlos Gomez, or Juan Lagares, they are going to war with a poor bat and overrated defense.

This is a fact they already know. The Mets already traded Keon Broxton away to the Baltimore Orioles and recently gave Carlos Gomez the DFA treatment before releasing him. Lagares is still here because the $9 million owed to the veteran outfielder is far too much for them to eat up. He may be the biggest disappointment of the three because we’ve seen in the past how much more productive he can play. At the very least, it’s a shame to see a former Gold Glove winner look lost in the outfield.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t much the Mets could do to improve this position. Sure, they could have signed A.J. Pollock or Adam Jones over the winter. They could have also made a trade for someone. This is all hindsight.

More possible, the Mets could have shifted Michael Conforto or even Jeff McNeil to center field earlier. What about Amed Rosario, too? There have been rumblings about moving the weak-fielding shortstop to center field at some point in the future to make room for prospect Andres Gimenez.

I can go on forever about how gravely upset I am with how the center fielders did in the first-half of 2019. In the second-half, we hopefully get to see more of Conforto out there with only the occasional start by Lagares.

Mets Beat Writers

Believe it or not, I’ve never been punched in the mouth. I can’t even remember a time when I was threatened with it. The same cannot be said about another Tim who writes about the Mets, Mr. Tim Healey of Newsday.

You know the story by now. Jason Vargas threatened to fight Healey in the now infamous loss versus the Cubs. Everything spiraled out of control in the weeks which followed. Mets beat writers seem to have banded together against the organization, too.

Head to Ask Jeeves then google the word “Mets” to find many stories shedding a negative light on the team. It’s no coincidence that we have heard about Brodie Van Wagenen managing the team from home only days after the Healey incident. There’s a reason why BVW’s chair-throwing incident made headlines. The beat writers are not on this team’s side. They seem unwilling to hide any secrets.

This isn’t necessarily unusual, but it feels slightly like a vendetta.

The Mets beat writers aren’t losers because of the work they do. They are first-half losers because of the inner agony I’m sure they deal with on a daily basis. It can’t be fun traveling with a team as explosive behind the scenes as this one.

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Who are your first-half losers of the 2019 season?