4 NY Mets players disappointing us the most this year

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Somewhere in the offseason or during the preseason the New York Mets decided the 2023 campaign would be a year of playing catchup early. They’ve fallen behind the Atlanta Braves in the National League East. Nobody knows much better than the Mets fan how your spot in the standings in May has little effect on how far you’ll end up going.

With a record-setting payroll and expectations so high up OSHA wouldn’t even approve anyone to climb there to take a peek, the team has gotten off to a slower than desired start. A big reason for it are a couple of disappointing players.

The way the 2023 Mets are performing makes last year’s club feel like overachievers. Even with that in mind, it’s hard to ignore how disappointing the early performances from these four have been.

1) NY Mets pitcher Max Scherzer has been a huge disappointment

Now 2-2 with a 5.56 ERA after 5 starts, maybe the end of Max Scherzer is far nearer than we wanted to believe. He’s coming off of a really good 2022 season that saw him debut with the Mets at 11-5 with a 2.29 ERA.

This year’s problems go beyond durability. Although the increased speed of the game may be hurting him slightly, he has struggled in a variety of areas, enough to the point where we may need to get FEMA involved.

OSHA. FEMA. How can I sneak in a plug for the CDC?

It’s sickening (there was my chance!) to see such a highly respected veteran and all-time great struggle so mightily. He’s walking a ton of batters and not striking many out either. Home runs are flying against him. When does he rip off the mask and reveal this is really Jared Eickhoff?

The recent injury concerns only add fuel to this burning fire. It has been beyond disappointment for what we’ve seen from Scherzer thus far in 2023.

2) NY Mets outfielder Starling Marte is on the decline

Starling Marte was such a hugely important piece of the Mets lineup last season. When he landed on the IL late in the season, the bats scuffled. There were no answers to replace him. If there is a singular moment when the Mets lost the National League East, it was when Marte got hurt and we had to see a lot more Darin Ruf and Tyler Naquin.

Marte’s season hasn’t been very good to the point where a report about how he played all season hurt feels like it’ll come out after the season. He hasn’t lost a step when it comes to running the bases. He remains a threat and even more so thanks to the MLB rule changes which favors thievery.

The bat has been slower than his legs. Marte holds a .223/.298/.285 slash line with a home run and 8 RBI. He has 9 stolen bases already but not benefitting from the changes to the game due to his lack of even getting to first base.

We should question if Marte is dealing with some nagging injuries. It’s still no excuse for the poor performance.

If the struggles do continue, the Mets should start thinking about making a change to the lineup. The big issue here is what can they really do? The team isn’t hitting much at all. Marte is not their biggest problem, just a huge disappointment.

3) NY Mets catcher Tomas Nido is playing his way off the roster

What are we going to do with Tomas Nido? The longtime catcher for the Mets has been slumping all year. It originally looked like the Mets planned to platoon him alongside left-handed hitting catcher Omar Narvaez. Nido would get a good share of starts against lefties. Narvaez’s injury forced the Mets to call up Francisco Alvarez and the two have shared playing time ever since.

This may soon need to change more drastically in favor of writing Alvarez’s name on the lineup card as much as possible. Although he hasn’t been exceptional, he’s not an automatic out like Nido. He’s also playing steady defense and excelling at pitch framing.

Nido isn’t a complete failure on defense but neither is Alvarez who was held back from making the Opening Day roster because of concerns about it. Each player has his pros and cons. Nido’s increasingly poor bat is what has made him one of the most disappointing players of the year. He was fantastic in the spring. None of that punch has carried with him into the regular season.

Nido is batting .118/.148/.118 without an extra base hit among the 6 he does have. He has committed a pair of errors already. He has thrown out just 1 of 9 base stealers. The new MLB rules and increased size of bases can get part of the blame/credit for this.

When Narvaez returns from the IL, the Mets will have to decide on Nido’s fate. Do they pull the plug only months after buying out his arbitration year next season? Maybe it'll depend on how his eyes check out.

Hearing that Tomas Nido is headed to the injured list with a vision issue.
— Mike Puma (@NYPost_Mets) May 10, 2023

4) NY Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor needs to carry the load

There are definitely numbers out there people can point to and say Francisco Lindor isn’t having such a terrible season. True.

Let’s remember what he should be doing. There should be no debate about how valuable he is to the Mets. The start we’ve seen from Lindor has been disappointing no matter how positively you want to spin it. He hasn’t been one of the best overall shortstops in the league. Remove his contract from the equation and we still have to wipe tears away from our face realizing how below our expectations he has been this year.

Lindor is hitting .224/.323/.448 with 6 home runs and 27 RBI. He has been a strike out machine with 38 already in his first 36 games played. He’s already fanning in 24.5% of his plate appearances. His previous high of 18.8% came last season. It’s a huge jump.

After such a promising season in 2022, it’s tough to see Lindor start off so slowly this year. It could go unnoticed if the team around him was hitting. Because so many of the Mets hitters have struggled, Lindor’s own slow start sticks out much more.

One of the reasons why the team was so successful last season is because of Lindor. When he’s cold, the whole team gets chilled.

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