3 NY Mets players who've held the team back most through the first 81 games

2) Ryne Stanek

Solid pitching, from top to bottom, has been the ongoing story through the first half of the season, and contrary to the title, what’s been pushing the Amazins forward. The experimental approach and ingenuity of the “pitching lab” have yielded a staff with the lowest ERA across all of baseball.

Even with the resounding success, the pitching contingent has had its fair share of weak links and rocky outings. One of the more glaring mainstays in the bullpen has been Ryne Stanek. Across 32 games, many of them in the late innings or pressure-filled spots, Stanek has found himself initiating or continuing the opponents’ big rallies, leading to the high 4.33 ERA mark amongst his bullpen counterparts. Stanek’s reputation for exhibiting poor command has been apparent thus far in averaging 3.67 walks per nine innings and opposing batters posting a .257 AVG clip against the hard-throwing right-hander.

Discussions have been rampant about moving Stanek down in the bullpen depth chart and relying on other relievers in the late innings to serve as the bridge to Edwin Diaz. As the season progresses, the highly contested matchups will serve as a tryout for the bullpen guys to garner the trust and confidence from Mendoza. Cracks have already become more apparent in both the starting rotation and in the pen, as it balances a breadth of injuries and the bullpen being pushed beyond its limits this early into the campaign.

Regardless, the Mets can ill-afford having a guy like Stanek put the entire team on its heels, especially in the games that come down to the wire and will hold greater magnitude as each day passes by.