2 NY Mets early-season problems that won’t go away, 1 you shouldn’t worry about

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We’ve all got problems and it seems the New York Mets have more than most. Even the slightest hint of a bad year reveals the panic button under the desk.

Panic buttons should be locked behind glass in April. This includes some uniquely crafted Jigsaw trap with fire ants in there or something else they haven’t done. Who knows? How many people have actually seen every SAW movie?

Now only four games into the year with three rainouts and zero wins, the problems are presenting themselves and looming large. Which of these problems won’t go away and which other should we not worry about at all?

Concerns for the Mets starting rotation won’t go away

If you’re worried about the Mets starting rotation, prepare for a full year of it. It doesn’t matter much what the starters do in their first, second, or third outing. The Mets are going to need continued success from the starting five-turned-six-turned-seven and more to get through the season. Having to already reach into free agency for a deal with Julio Teheran to stop some bleeding, his presence doesn’t exactly cast a spell on the problems they’re facing.

It’s a matter of durability and talent. Choosing to add the guys they did this offseason put them in a spot where just about everything else needed to go right in order for the plan to work well.

Jose Quintana wasn’t so bad in his debut. On the contrary, Luis Severino was. We saw the excellence Sean Manaea can bring to the club in his first start of the season. He gave the Mets hope for a couple of innings only for a big problem to get in the way: this team isn’t hitting.

Quintana and Severino could just as easily excel in their next appearances with Manaea being the one to falter. It’s baseball. It’s a long year. Just when you think you’ve figured out the starting rotation, someone’s foot hurts and he’s gone. After throwing a gem, a small change could lead to a batting practice session the next time out. This starting staff is capable of two extremes. We just need to hope the bad one doesn’t happen too often.

The Mets are bound to have one core member of the lineup have a bad year

Francisco Lindor spent most of the first week of the season getting lambasted by the LOLMets for clicks outlets. The rainouts didn’t help much. What a long week it was.

Lindor might not be the player you’re concerned about in the lineup. He has proven in the past he most likely will have a productive season. Just how productive is the question. In only three years with the Mets, we’ve seen him look both excellent and terrible.

There is enough recent evidence to suggest a career-worst year is inbound for at least one member of the starting lineup. Is it Lindor? Brandon Nimmo? Jeff McNeil? Since 2021, all three of them have at least one season where their numbers were down significantly from the mean. They are capable of going through a long slump. Nimmo and McNeil had a lengthy one last summer.

So much went so well for the Mets in 2022 that it seems as if they’ve been paying off a debt to a demon ever since—the first payment coming in the installment of a Starling Marte injury late in 2022.

It’s far too early to know exactly which member of the lineup is going to have an underwhelming year. We’ll just have to hope it’s not more than one because if guys like Lindor, Nimmo, and McNeil are all below average, the 162 game season will feel like 162,000.

Stop worrying about the entire team being in an offensive malaise

The Mets aren’t going to be this bad offensively all-season long. The ceiling might have them in the middle of the pack at best. Regardless of where they finish, it’s not going to be the kind of year where they fail to score runs. Even in 2021 when the Mets had to patch together lineups on a regular basis due to injury they weren’t incapable of scoring runs.

Already we’ve seen massive improvements from Francisco Alvarez who’s swinging the bat without a care in the world. Brett Baty has even looked good. As for Starling Marte, I hope you didn’t write him off completely.

There are plenty of jokes to be made about J.D. Martinez regretting the decision to join the Mets after the start they’ve been off to. His “I’m addicted to the postseason” remark was already a bit tongue-in-cheek given the organization’s lack of appearances recently and in franchise history. Nonetheless, he’ll look to get his fix soon enough.

April is typically a weird month for baseball players at every position. Some guys routinely start off hot. Others need a month or two to rev up the engine. With the early power the Mets have displayed, they’ll be able to score runs. If there’s any point to have a losing streak, why not have it to start the year when you have the most road ahead?

Mets hitters are on notice. Clearly, their approach isn’t working. Don’t be stubborn. Adjust.

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