NY Mets playoff hopes sinking because of these key areas

Injuries, busts, and immaterial trades ultimately sank the New York Mets season. But who specifically is to blame for their mediocre 2020 campaign?

The New York Mets season was rocky from the start, following their exciting Opening Day win at home against the Atlanta Braves. The very next afternoon, closer Edwin Díaz was brought into the top of the ninth to preserve a 2-1 Mets lead. After recording the first two outs, he proceeded to give up a game-tying home run to Braves outfielder, Marcell Ozuna on a 3-2 pitch.

Although Díaz was just simply beat on the pitch, the Mets would still lose in extra innings, 5-3. The rest of the season spiraled from there, as the team experienced the trials of a weakened rotation, taxed bullpen, and bounce-back candidates that didn’t bounce back.

Was it all doom and gloom? No. Jacob deGrom, Michael Conforto, Dominic Smith, Andrés Giménez, and even Robinson Cano all put together very impressive 2020 campaigns that highlighted the true talent that exists on this roster.

But due to the absence of a couple of key starting pitchers, down-years from core players at the plate, and unreliable relievers to boot, the team ultimately faltered late in some games while never really competing in others.

In general, this season’s turmoil stemmed from both external and self-inflicted wounds. As a result, the front office refrained from making any impactful roster transactions in the middle of a condensed season, and with a 15-20 win/loss record at the August 31st Trade Deadline.

Meanwhile, the bullpen continued to regress while the rotation became riddled with more injuries and spot-starts from minor league reinforcements. That being said, let’s look at what exactly went wrong for the Mets this season?

Bounce-back candidates that did not bounce back

From infielders to starters to late-inning relievers, the Mets were relying on players all over the diamond to catapult their team to the playoffs this season. Unfortunately, key players failed to maintain positive gameplay on a day-in-day-out basis.

Both Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil took steps backwards at the plate this season; failing to captivate fans with sequels to their thrilling 2019 campaigns. Overall, the clubhouse seemed to be lacking a certain degree of camaraderie (probably due to the strangeness of this season) and spark that highlighted their summer in 2019.

Edwin Díaz showed brief flashes of brilliance; especially in the latter half of his 2020 season, however glaring control issues ultimately blew his season along with several Mets leads. And yet, he still makes a strong bounce-back candidate for 2021.

Dellin Betances was still rusty; even though he deserves another chance in a real season with real spring training to get into playing form.

Jed Lowrie meanwhile remained a stranger to Mets fans, as he failed to get back on the field. The bad news is Lowrie failed to return to the playing field this season, but the good news is, he’s gone! The Lowrie experiment is finally over; with literally nothing to show for it.

I don’t even think the Mets know what they’re doing with their once highly-touted southpaw Steven Matz anymore. Start him? Put him in the bullpen? Trade him? It doesn’t seem like the team knows how to utilize him, nor does it seem that he can stay healthy long enough for them to evaluate.

But overall, the bullpen regressed; failing to bounce-back this year. It’s hard to find any more ways to phrase just how pitiful the Mets bullpen has performed these last two seasons. But here we go again: The main offenders this season have been Edwin Díaz, Justin Wilson, and even Dellin Betances – whose signing was meant to put the club ‘over the top’ and instead became part of the problem.

His failure to record outs in his late-inning relief outings led to a high ERA to rival Díaz’s blown saves. So, there’s nothing new here. With Steve Cohen reportedly set to close on a deal for the New York Mets organization, it’s no sure thing that the current front office will remain completely intact.

That being said, whoever is calling the shots after the regime change needs to seriously scrutinize the arms currently filling the pen, cut those who have no potential to improve, decide who is deserving of another chance (which should include Díaz, for now), and then hit the free agent market to find quality arms that can be relied upon in the final frame.

Low-key Trade Deadline

Unlike last year’s trade deadline, the Mets summer of 2020 was not as exciting as the prologue to their incredible 2019 run.

Given that the orange and blue were sporting a sub .500 15-20 win/loss record on August 31, no one expected the front office to make any major deals before the trade deadline. In fact, many seemed to want the Mets to do nothing, and avoid the risk of trading assets for talent or rental players that would not have made any difference in how the rest of this truncated season played out down the stretch.

They were right. During the month of August, the Mets acquired: outfielder Billy Hamilton from the San Francisco Giants for RHP Jordan Humphreys; RHP Ariel Jurado from the Texas Rangers for cash considerations and a PTBNL; catcher Robinson Chirinos and infielder Todd Frazier from Texas for cash considerations and two PTBNLs; and RHP Miguel Castro from Baltimore for LHP Kevin Smith along with a PTBNL or cash.

The acquisitions of Chirinos and Frazier appeared, at first, to be true head-scratchers, as neither of them are reliable long-term options off the bench. In fact, adding players to bolster some areas of the roster, like catcher and infield, would be immaterial past this season since these holes were created because of current roster injuries; none of which are considered long term.

So, with the exception of Castro, who could be useful next season as the Mets look to shake up their bullpen, none of the deals made seem to foreshadow any impact for next season.

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Overall, the trades BVW made this season were all very much immaterial. Each player he acquired had low ceilings for success, with even lower floors for them to flop – as did the two pitching prospects he traded away. It was a forgettable deadline, and unfortunately a forgettable year for the Mets in 2020.