Three Mets players we cannot trust heading into the 2020 season

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NEW YORK, NY – APRIL 04: Yoenis Cespedes #52 of the New York Mets hits a two-run home run against the Philadelphia Phillies during the first inning of a game at Citi Field on April 4, 2018 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images) /

You’ll have a tough time finding any New York Mets fan who trusts these three players to have a productive year in 2020.

Trust is a big part of any good relationship. It’s even true with athletes and the fans. New York Mets fans know this well. Plenty of players have been vanquished from the circle of trust over the years.

A big part of being a sports fan is trusting the players on your team. Unfortunately, it’s not always easy.

Heading into 2020, it feels like there are more players than usual on this roster we cannot possibly believe in. Whether due to injury or poor performance, it’s impossible to expect anything at all from them.

Yoenis Cespedes

The big guy. The game-changing, home run hitting, power-stroking outfielder we’ve all missed. Yoenis Cespedes has a long way to go to earn back our trust.

Cespedes missed half of 2017, most of 2018, and all of 2019 due to injuries. The fact that his latest mishap involved a wild boar while recovering from heel surgery makes him all the more untrustworthy.

When he’s healthy, Cespedes makes the Mets a different team. We saw it at the end of 2015 and throughout the 2016 season as well. Even in the years after, when he managed to get on the field, he was a threat to punish opposing pitchers on a regular basis.

The trouble is that Cespedes has been anything but regularly available over the last three seasons. His body has failed him and his interest in baseball is almost questionable at times. He got his big contract although losing a large portion of it from the last two seasons could motivate the man to dig a little deeper into his soul for a more productive year than anyone expects.

Jeurys Familia

Where do we start with Jeurys Familia? Let’s start by asking if anyone ever did trust him.

During his best years with the Mets, Familia was a dazzling closer. From 2014-2016, you could have a tough time finding a relief pitcher who performed much better.

Unfortunately, three years hardly make up for the type of pitcher he has become. Familia suffered through injuries in 2017 before rebounding with a solid half-year in 2018 before he was traded away. It’s his most recent struggles which have everyone questioning what he’ll do for this squad in 2020.

Familia was so bad in 2020 the team couldn’t even turn to him to replace Edwin Diaz in the ninth inning when he went through his own troubles. Only a few years removed from leading the league with 51 saves in 2016, Familia was a much different pitcher this past year.

Nothing seemed to work. Whether it was a role change, extra rest, or whatever else Mickey Callaway attempted to do hoping for improvement, Familia faltered.

The season ended with Familia owning a 5.70 ERA in 60 innings pitched. His walk rate was an ugly 6.3 per nine innings—an obvious reason for why the year was such a notably bad one.

Familia has a long way to go if he’s going to have any chance of earning back our trust. He didn’t even show us he was capable of putting together an average season. Unlike the other men on this list, he doesn’t have the excuse of an injury.

Jed Lowrie

Speaking of injuries and excuses, we conclude with the least trustworthy Mets player on the roster, Jed Lowrie. Last spring, Lowrie famously suffered a lower-body injury. It seemed minimal at the time. However, the diagnosis quickly became worse and suddenly the whole year went by.

Lowrie did manage to get a handful of pinch-hit at-bats for the Mets in September. He didn’t pick up a hit in any of them nor did he play a single inning in the field. What can we possibly expect from him in 2020?

Lowrie could potentially go down as one of the biggest busts in Mets history if we’re strictly talking about contributions. While guys like Jason Bay were paid extreme amounts and underperformed, at least they got on the field. Lowrie hasn’t been able to do this.

It’s difficult to even know what we can predict from the veteran infielder in 2020. He was a non-factor last year aside from the punchline to self-deprecating jokes told by Mets fans.

When Brodie Van Wagenen initially brought Lowrie to Flushing, it looked like a good yet unnecessary depth move. The team had plenty of options. Fortunately, things did work out. Jeff McNeil still got to play plenty and injuries eventually cost other Mets some time on the field.

This year, Lowrie may be even less important for this team’s fortunes. With little room for regular appearances in the starting lineup for him, it’s no surprise to hear rumors this winter about the Mets shopping him. Nobody ever did bite, leaving us with an unknown coming into this new season.

Next. Which new Mets player will be a bust in 2020?

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