2 Mets successes providing hope, 2 failures curbing our enthusiasm

The Mets offense is making us making us all neurotic

The Mets don’t even have the worst offense in baseball and yet it feels like the odds are stacked against them on a daily basis. Whether it’s the lack of clutch hitting or the complete absence of life on some days, the Mets aren’t a good enough team when it’s their turn to score runs.

We need the culprits. Many of them are the ones we thought were a guarantee to contribute in major ways. Francisco Lindor is in a season-long battle with the Mendoza Line. Pete Alonso has been through an epic slump after such a nice start to the season, too.

Two players who needed to be better this year for the Mets haven’t shown nearly enough life. Jeff McNeil is looking more like a utility player than a starting second baseman. Starling Marte began the year hitting and has fallen off a lot ever since.

There isn’t one simple explanation as to why so many of the most important Mets hitters are playing so poorly. We can only blame the hitting coaches so much before the responsibility falls on the players.

When once-upon-a-time leadoff hitter Brandon Nimmo leads the team in RBI, DJ Stewart has the best OPS, and Harrison Bader has one of the best batting averages on the team, you know you’re in trouble. The Mets are continuing to work on adjustments with the starting lineup to get the most out of everyone. It has worked in some ways and yet the team continues to find ways to lose.

Multiple Mets free agent pickups are meeting or exceeding expectations

Did David Stearns have a good offseason? It looks like he did. Although Joey Wendle was a bust and the team had much better options than Michael Tonkin and Yohan Ramirez already, many of the free agent pickups made by the team in the offseason have met or are exceeding expectations.

The duo of Luis Severino and Sean Manaea have been right where we need them to be. Harrison Bader, while still arguably overpaid based on his resume, is a much better hitter than he has been in recent seasons. Adam Ottavino, Jake Diekman. Jorge Lopez. Stearns built a very good free agent class. J.D. Martinez has been awesome since joining the club.

For those looking down the road into the future, this is definitely providing some additional hope. When the person picking the players is choosing the right ones, it’s a major confidence boost.

Stearns hasn’t been completely perfect. The Adrian Houser pickup has cost the Mets far more games than it has won them. At the price of only a prospect undergoing Tommy John surgery rehab, it’s not so detrimental especially with years of control on outfielder Tyrone Taylor.

The Mets set themselves up well for a trade deadline sell-off. Even if you’ve lost a lot of hope this season, you can at least attach yourself to the strong possibility of a successful fire sale.

Alternatively, you can find a shooting star to wish on for a 10-game winning streak to pull this team back in as more serious contenders.

The young players haven’t had enough of an impact

Last season was a learning experience for many young Mets players. Francisco Alvarez took over the full-time catcher duties. Brett Baty was the starting third baseman for as long as they could allow it. A slew of prospects one level away from the major leagues entering this season, it had potential to be a year where the young players would have a major impact on the season.

It hasn’t gone this way. Alvarez was batting just .236/.288/.364 before landing on the IL. Baty has had far bigger problems. Health has been mostly on his side while hard-hit balls have not. His improved defense has done very little to give us confidence that he is indeed the third baseman of the future for this team.

Mark Vientos only recently made his way back to the major league roster. His loud bat is doing a lot of early damage. It’s a shame the defense could keep him out of the conversation as a true starting third baseman on this team.

The Mets were quick to call up Christian Scott which was great to see. However, they don’t have any other impactful prospects pleading a serious case. Luisangel Acuna has struggled in Triple-A. Drew Gilbert has spent much of the year on the IL. Forget about Jett Williams making the leap from Double-A. He, too, has been hurt and ineffective.

This will not be a year where Alvarez and Baty are All-Stars or Acuna and Gilbert come up midseason and help the team make a playoff push. All are still a work in progress and in several cases, injuries have derailed those early dream scenarios.