2 reasons the NY Mets aren't on the same tier as the Braves, 1 ideology to get there

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Tip your cap to the Atlanta Braves. Let out a hot dog burp into it first if you must. The best team in the National League East, and maybe the entire National League, is on a different tier than the New York Mets.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. The Braves were kings of the NL East in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Dethroned only a handful of times with only a couple of lean years leading up to the present day, the Braves are back on top and don’t look like they’re ready to bend the knee for anyone.

How is it that the Braves have climbed so far above the Mets? What can New York do to join them?

NY Mets aren’t in the same tier as the Braves because of the non-threatening starting lineup

It does seem like on any given Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, etc. a bad pitcher can beat a good one. One bad inning. A broken fingernail. Some bad seafood earlier in the day. Nobody controls a game quite like a starting pitcher. Pound for pound, the Mets could beat the Braves enough times if the two battled it out in a pitcher’s duel.

Where the Mets are much shorter is with the starting lineup. The Mets don’t pack the same punch as the Braves lineup does. Aside from the occasional Pete Alonso bomb or Brandon Nimmo chaos, there’s not a whole lot to fear.

The Braves have power from the top of the order down to the bottom. They’re not just a bunch of .220 hitters rocketing home runs once every fifth at-bat. There is nobody in this lineup you can pitch around. Escape is virtually impossible and the same cannot be said of the Mets.

The Mets are far from the worst offense in baseball, but even their big swingers are having down years in some areas. Alonso and Francisco Lindor will have a tough time finishing the season with a .250 batting average. They drive in runs but that could be because pitchers are unafraid to face them. The rest of the lineup strikes zero fear. It takes a couple of hits for the Mets to score a run. The Braves need one swing from anyone in their lineup.

Who needs future Hall of Fame veteran aces when you have a team capable of scoring as often and willfully as the Braves?

NY Mets aren’t in the same tier as the Braves because of recent instability

An ownership change (for the better). Several different general managers (for better or worse). A revolving door of managers. The Mets have been incredibly unstable for the last few seasons. It’s hard to win when people are constantly coming and going. Will we finally get some sort of symmetry with the Mets long-term?

Braves manager Brian Snitker has been with the team since mid-2016. In that time, the Mets have employed Terry Collins, Mickey Callaway, Carlos Beltran, Luis Rojas, and now Buck Showalter. Alex Anthopolous has been their general manager since 2017. Google returns way too many search results for everyone the Mets have had in this position since that duration. Remember in 2018 when Sandy Alderson stepped down and they had three guys doing the job?

If there was any good argument to keep Billy Eppler beyond the 2023 season, it’s to keep the waters a little calmer. The Mets could bring in David Stearns to become the President of Baseball Operations and possibly even move Eppler into a different role. The same could be said of Showalter whose managerial effort this year hasn’t always been as pristine as it was in 2022. Is a reactionary firing really worth having to start all over again?

The Mets can catch up to the Braves in stability, but with a caveat. They shouldn’t get caught up like the New York Yankees do in feeling a little too stable with people like Brian Cashman and Aaron Boone.

NY Mets can get into the same tier as the Braves by continuing to focus on the youth movement

Improving the team and finding stability are two ways to get into the same class as the Braves. So is embracing the youth movement.

The Mets have been firm about keeping as many of their young prospects as possible. They’ve balked at any significant trade that would’ve cost them players like Francisco Alvarez and Brett Baty. Each has now become a starter for the Mets in 2023. Neither has yet to fully make their mark, but the signs are there of a bright future ahead.

Down in Atlanta, the reputation has become a tendency to lock up young players to team-friendly contracts early on. The Mets don’t necessarily need to go this far. What they must do in order to catch the Braves and be as relevant as their NL East foe is to hold onto and add even more quality young players to the system. This means selling high when they need to. It means being smart about the pieces you put around those young players. Find a Charlie Morton for the rotation. Make a trade for a Sean Murphy or Matt Olson when appropriate.

The way these two teams operate is very different. The Braves have built up the farm system and even managed to use many of those pieces to land proven big leaguers. The Mets could be headed there, but remain big spenders above anything else.

There is no need for the Mets to become the Braves. They can do their own thing while taking a few hints from Atlanta. If you can’t beat ‘em, copy ‘em.

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