Mets news you may have missed: Contracts, meltdowns, and old Heroes

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. Regular season baseball had come back to the world when the Mets bullpen hung Jacob deGrom out to dry in their first relief opportunity of the season.

Then sloppy defense delivered the final blow.

In the bottom of the eighth of the Mets rescheduled Opening Day, the bullpen’s meltdown in Philadelphia marked the thirty-third time in the two-time Cy Award winner’s career that the Mets pen had cost him a win in a game he left with a lead.

While the Mets may look very different on paper from past seasons, their Opening Series performance highlighted that the same issues continue to haunt this franchise.

Collectively, they played very sloppy baseball: 4 errors, a 5.14 ERA from the seventh inning on, and questionable managerial decisions from the get-go.

deGrom struck out his final nine batters while going 2-for-2 with an RBI single before being pulled by manager Luis Rojas, and exiting with a pitching line of 6.0 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, and 7 Ks. Then the bullpen imploded with new-Mets relievers, Trevor May and Aaron Loup, giving away the lead before an uncharacteristic throwing error by INF Luis Guillorme cost them the game.

The bullpen’s ineffectiveness continued throughout the rest of the series with relievers Miguel Castro, Dellin Betances, Jeurys Familia, Jacob Barnes, and Joey Lucchesi adding to a horrendous combined pitching line of 9.0 IP, 13 H, 10 R, 7 ER, 3 BB, and 11 Ks.

Fortunately, with news that Seth Lugo is ahead of his rehab, perhaps he can begin the process of curing the Mets bullpen woes.

Conversely, the team’s manager has already made several questionable decisions this season. One of which included starting Kevin Pillar in center field on Opening Day, pushing Brandon Nimmo to left field and leaving slugger Dom Smith on the bench. Later in the first game, he then refrained from pinch-hitting Smith with the bases loaded in the fourth inning and the team up by two, only to watch Pillar hit into an inning-ending double play.

Hopefully, lessons were learned, and no one will question why Brandon Nimmo must leadoff every game, Dominic Smith must be in the lineup, and that the bullpen needs better management.

The rest is on the Mets lineup to improve. The team’s hitting with RISP in their first three games back in action was atrocious, leaving a total 14 men on base and finishing 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position.

At the end of the day, they own the blame for their bats being cold.

If history is any guide, being a Mets fan hasn’t always been easy to digest for some. But it is exceptionally trying when players – whether homegrown or acquired elsewhere – seem to hit their stride only after their departure from Flushing.

In their first starts of the season, former Mets pitchers Zach Wheeler and Steven Matz looked dominant in their 2021 debuts.

Fittingly, the Mets had to experience Wheeler’s growing pains while his new team is reaping all the benefits after inking him to a 5-year, $118 million deal prior to the start of last season.

As one of the crown-jewels plucked from the San Francisco Giants farm system as part of the 2011 Carlos Beltran trade, Wheeler rose through the Mets ranks to make his debut in 2013 before adjusting to the majors, undergoing Tommy John surgery, and finding his form.

On April 3, he threw 7.0 innings, allowing 1 hit, no runs, and striking out 10 batters. Let it be known that Wheeler is just another casualty of the frugal ownership of the past.

Even Matz – recently traded by the Mets in the offseason – impressed during his Toronto Blue Jays debut, lasting 6.1 IP while giving up a hit, 1 run, a walk and striking out 9.

Meanwhile, after his last two injury-plagued seasons, INF Jed Lowrie made his return to the baseball field as a member of the Oakland Athletics. In his first week back, Lowrie eclipsed his 2-year Mets totals, during which time he played in only 9 games with 7 at bats on a two-year, $20 million contract.

This season he’s already played in 7 games while scoring 3 runs, 5 hits, an RBI, and four walks, eclipsing the benchmark he set as a Met with a walk, 4 strike outs, and a .000 BA.

The most notable news, however, came out of Baltimore where former Mets ace, SP Matt Harvey made headlines by earning a spot on a Major League staff as a member of the Baltimore Orioles. So far, he has 9.2 IP, 13 H, 6 ER,2 BB, and 9 strikeouts. He even hit 95mph in his second outing.

The Mets traded Harvey to the Cincinnati Reds in 2018 and after three years of working through the farm systems of the Los Angeles Angels, Kansas City Royals, and now Baltimore, he is back in the majors. Even more surprisingly, the former ‘Dark Knight’ struck out ex-Mets catcher Kevin Plawecki during his start against the Boston Red Sox.

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