It sounds like the NY Mets are blaming former players for 1 Francisco Lindor misplay

Francisco Lindor is playing like there was a balloon payment on mental mistakes issued for the start of the 2026 season. Forgetting how many outs there were twice already has no excuse. One mishap recently has at least some semblance of an excuse that we can try, as frustrated New York Mets fans, try to accept.

The NY Post’s Joel Sherman shared the reason as to why Lindor appeared to maybe forget the number of outs again on a ground ball to second baseman Marcus Semien.

The too long, didn’t listen version of it: he’s used to playing beside Jeff McNeil and that’s a ball Lindor might have to catch as a result.

Blaming former Mets players for this miscue is understandable yet weak

Lindor played alongside McNeil more than anyone else at second during his time with the Mets. Last year he had the chance to see Brett Baty, a rookie at the position, over there as well. Pete Alonso gets an additional mention as someone who receives some of the fault for the Lindor miscue. Due to his own limited range at first base, the Mets were prone to playing him and McNeil a little further to the right.

We get it. McNeil isn’t as good of a defender as Semien. Less than 20 games playing alongside each other in the regular season, Lindor is still getting used to what the new Mets second baseman can or cannot do.

The problem is this ball is nowhere near what anyone could reasonably expect Lindor to catch. Lindor’s prevent defense approach on the grounder was the right move to do with two outs. The result was an added run for the Athletics with none other than McNeil crossing the plate.

Plays like this, with this rationalization, kind of throws a cold, wet towel on the mere idea of run prevention by adding new players. Sure, Lindor and Semien can learn to co-exist as teammates where they pair up well. They absolutely should, the more they get familiar with what the other can or cannot do.

Making this harder to accept is Lindor has had multiple times where he hasn’t looked himself. The Mets losing 7 straight, doing zero on offense, and offense questions combine to create a quagmire. And no one’s saying “giggity giggity” unless they’re playing against the Mets right now.

Lindor’s leadoff home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers to finally break the team’s scoreless streak was a step in the right direction for him or as Steve Cohen calls it, a green shoot.

Lindor hasn’t made any public excuse or offered an explanation other than to go with the basis of needing to be better. It’s tiresome, but also the only thing he can do to not sound whiny. Even on this play, where there might have been a reason for why it happened, it’s hard to accept because of everything else going wrong with the individual player and the team as a whole.

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