Fans should be slamming the NY Mets harder for this trade deadline decision

David Stearns hasn’t been free of shrapnel lately with the New York Mets keeping some of their best young players in the minor leagues. They’ve weakly continued to do a lot of the same things, using familiar personnel, and yielding the same disappointing results.

As much a part of a daily routine as brushing your teeth or listening to your neighbors fight, Mets fans are openly speaking about how much they want to see Nolan McLean or Brandon Sproat on the roster. Frankie Montas or Clay Holmes should be in the bullpen. They should’ve traded for an arm at the trade deadline. Etcetera.

Slamming the Mets players and decisions made by the team is easier lately. One criticism they deserve a little more critique is in regards to the lineup. The Mets did very little to improve themselves. Outside of adding Cedric Mullins, they’re continuing to trot out the same regulars and platoons with no adjustments, lineup changes, or new faces.

The Mets needed to do better than just add Cedric Mullins

Once Harrison Bader was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies and the Chicago White Sox weren’t letting Luis Robert go without an overpayment, Mullins was the logical resolution. The team clearly couldn’t move forward with regular appearances by Tyrone Taylor in center field. But could they have survived with Jeff McNeil out there?

Mullins pushes McNeil to second base or some DH duty. Taylor goes back to the bench. The lineup feels more complete, but is it really all that much better?

After the Fab Four, whose best work was done before Steve Cohen gave them that nickname, there are way too many questions. The foursome has been ridiculously quiet for a good chunk of time, furthering the frustration of fans. The Mets, rather than make a bold trade for an excellent bat, are going to live or die with the performance of those core players plus whatever they can milk from the rest.

Brandon Lowe was never traded as the Tampa Bay Rays sort of sold then ended up buying. He would have been the lineup addition to add missing depth. Eugenio Suarez, who never seemed all that realistic for the Mets, gives them the missing power Mark Vientos has been unable to provide. With him on the roster, there is redundancy but selling Starling Marte (who had teams interested) ends up cleaning some of that out.

Runs in the first and second inning on Tuesday helped New York out to an early lead. Their last hit came on a Jeff McNeil single in the fourth inning. Juan Soto walked in the fifth. No other player reached base for the rest of the night. The heartbreaking aspect of it is the bullpen did their job outside of Tyler Rogers who was slowly eaten alive by some singles.

A different or added bat to the lineup wouldn’t have made the difference. The terrifying fact is the Mets are getting production from Pete Alonso, Francisco Lindor, and Juan Soto this month. Marte is 0 for 12 while Mullins and Tyrone Taylor are combined 2 for 19.

The Mets are 15th in runs scored this season. As we’ve seen a couple of times already, a lack of run scoring does your elite bullpen no good. They’ve lost a couple of knife fights already in August. There isn't a singular move to point at and simply say "the Mets should have done that." It would have been two trades. They took the easy road instead and it has been slippery since.