Mets Monday Morning GM: 3 offseason decisions that helped lead to the 2023 trade deadline sell-off

Billy Eppler doesn’t want to call it a fire sale. More semantical than anything else, what he’s doing with the New York Mets is certainly as close as it gets. They’re not selling the pillars that keep the building standing upright, but you can take the mannequin in the window. When you ask what they plan to do with it, the answer is always “school project.”

Much of what led to this trade deadline sell-off was out of Eppler’s hands. The injuries. The lack of performance. Eppler built a much better team than the performances have shown.

He also had his fair share of misses. These three decisions are specific culprits as to why the Mets are selling instead of buying this week.

1) The NY Mets trade deadline fire sale was a guarantee with the bullpen they built

A healthy Edwin Diaz would’ve made a world of a difference because David Robertson becomes available to pitch the seventh or eighth. How many more games do the Mets win if this is the case? Probably only a few more. That could be all there is to make a difference in their trade deadline approach.

The bigger issue goes beyond the Diaz injury because that could’ve happened to him or anyone else at any point in the year. The Mets had a glaring hole in the bullpen for much of the offseason. It’s inexcusable how much they focused on signing optional below-average relievers while overlooking the market of veteran quality arms. This ended up backfiring on the team immensely following the Diaz injury. The season began with Tommy Hunter and Stephen Nogosek on the roster. They were doomed from the beginning.

We don’t need to rattle off the list of names you’ve probably seen a hundred times already the Mets could’ve gone after in free agency (Andrew Chafin, Matt Moore, etc.). The lack of effort and concession to accept more subpar pitchers with minor league options provided the Mets with a bullpen doomed from the start.

3) The NY Mets trade deadline fire sale is the result of trusting players to repeat their 2022 performance

It was negligent of the front office to think the offense could repeat their success in 2022 this year while not making a significant stride to get even better. There was no backup plan in place. Between Eduardo Escobar, Mark Canha, and Starling Marte we should’ve expected one to regress. All three did.

The Mets offense definitely had questions heading into the year. Notably, it was the lack of power we were all worried about. However, this hasn’t been such an issue. Pete Alonso continues to smack home runs even in a year where he hasn’t done much else. Francisco Lindor is hammering long balls. Francisco Alvarez hasn’t been shy about whipping out his home run trot either.

This offseason decision goes beyond hitting for power. Adam Ottavino was never going to repeat his 2022 results. Not even Edwin Diaz, if we were able to experience him in 2023, would’ve had the kind of year all over again. Max Scherzer’s drop was the toughest to imagine. He splattered on the ground this year from a height he elevated himself to in one of the best-pitched years in Mets history last season. It’s just a shame we’re all going to remember him most for shrinking late in the year and in the playoffs and then leaving midway through year number two.

Complacency is the word. This is how the Mets front office behaved. The players may have felt it a bit, too.

Patting yourself on the back is fine, but save it for after a parade.