3 biggest Mets winners and 3 biggest losers from the first half of the season

The first half of the New York Mets season is over. There has been more losing than winning but not by nearly as much as it looked even a week ago.

The All-Star Break is a time of reflection, relaxation, and looking ahead. Everything goes on pause and some bold declarations can be made. The declarations here are about who the biggest winners and losers are of the first half of the season.

Biggest NY Mets winner: The rookies

Kodai Senga is an All-Star. Francisco Alvarez is hitting home runs with authority. Brett Baty has won the third base job with very little competition to take it away from him now. Those three rookies are all big winners of the first half of the season to varying degrees.

Who among them is the biggest winner? It would have to be Senga. An All-Star nod, even as a replacement, is no small achievement. For a guy who has had control issues this season but has tamed the wildness of late, he has been one of the club’s most improved players as the season has gone along. Add in the adjustment to Major League Baseball and even the American culture, he’s a huge winner.

This doesn’t take away anything from Alvarez who is well on his way to beating Johnny Bench’s 26 home runs by a 21-year-old catcher. Will he make a full 30 trips around the bases this season?

Baty is behind the other two but with Eduardo Escobar traded, the Mets are giving him every start possible at the hot corner. He has some development left to do. Fortunately, the franchise has shown faith in him.

Biggest NY Mets loser: Constant and unjustified Francisco Lindor haters

Some people just love to rip on Francisco Lindor even when things are going well. His batting average might literally be the only negative from his first half. I get how frustrating it is at times. He hasn’t been the same player he was in Cleveland. The fact that he is having one of the better seasons among all MLB shortstops and has produced as many runs as he has proven he remains a tremendous ballplayer, only a different one.

Lindor haters, or Lindorks as many Mets fans came to call them early on in his New York tenure, never have a tough time finding ways to criticize him. A single miscue erases any of the good he offers the team. It doesn’t matter how many runs he drives in or clutch hits he has or mound visits he makes to take control of the game. Lindor is not a perfect player and his haters won’t budge.

The thing about many of the Lindor detractors is they seem more interested in seeing him fail than prove them wrong. What is it about a sports fan who’d rather be right than happy? The feeling of “I told you so” must release a kind of endorphin no championship could ever provide.

Biggest NY Mets winner: Optimistic and patient fans

Maybe the opposite of the Lindork is the overly optimistic and patient Mets fan. Yes, they exist. They’re usually somebody’s aunt or one of those people you legitimately never hear say a bad word about someone else. They’re out there somewhere, donating their free time to charity and paying for the meal of the person in the drive-thru line behind them.

Those lucky enough to be born with this much optimism and/or patience might be feeling good about the Mets right now. A strong finish to the first half has provided you with every reason to stick with them through at least the end of the summer. Just as it seemed they were dead in June, they’ve come back to life. Anything is possible at this point.

Frankly, anyone who lives their life with a lot of optimism and patience is a winner even outside of the sports world. How do you do it?

Humbly pat yourself on the back if you think you’re one of the winners who fall into this category. There’s still plenty of baseball left to play. Stranger things have happened. A few early wins after the All-Star Break and this is a team that could be headed toward adding, not subtracting at the trade deadline. All you need to do is get into the postseason, right?

Biggest NY Mets loser: The payroll department

Cost per win isn’t a statistic the Mets have excelled at this season. The good news is that’s not what matters. The bad news is it’s going to remain a storyline forever. When a team has a low payroll and wins, they get praised. When you spend as much as Steve Cohen did and the team doesn’t go undefeated, it’s a negative.

The loser here is the payroll department. They’ve had to sign some hefty checks throughout the season. Even Chris Flexen will have to file a W2 for the Mets.

Those big forearms the payroll department will gain from carrying those large paydays might have them feeling fit, however, the cost of having an overpriced team without the results in the first half of the season is too tough to deny. The team is barely relevant. Expanded playoffs are keeping them alive for what we’re all hopeful is a nice run.

Meanwhile, the payroll department is overworked without seeing the results on the field. Free agent signings from last year have already begun to age poorly. None maybe more frantically than Max Scherzer or maybe even Starling Marte who haven’t been quite the same.

The Mets deserve a big L for their first half performance when it comes to where they spent money and the results they’ve received. Maybe if they actually went a little further and had more competent relief pitchers this wouldn’t be the case.

Biggest NY Mets winner: Job security for Billy Eppler and Buck Showalter

Steve Cohen isn’t going to fire Billy Eppler or Buck Showalter during the middle of the 2023 season—at least according to his recent press conference where he addressed the ball club in late June. Cohen has kept to his promises thus far. We shouldn’t expect him to suddenly decide to make a change midseason unless something drastically changed like Showalter spray-painting Cohen’s car.

It’s a big win for Eppler and Showalter to know they don’t have to feel the hot seat burn up too quickly. Each could get lit up after the year ends. A slow and agonizing demise for either remains a possibility. They don’t have a lifetime pact with the Mets. We should fully expect that if the team fails to make the postseason something major changes even if it’s just the hiring of David Stearns which puts Eppler in a slightly reduced role.

Nobody wants to show up to work thinking they could be fired. The awkward exit with security following is bad enough. Try having it happen with a job where you’re scrutinized as much as Eppler and Showalter are and will continue to be.

The recent turnaround by the Mets in July at least temporarily delays any further discussion of an in-season firing. Their job security, for now, is a big win for them but maybe not so much for the Mets. We’ll find out.