3 NY Mets players who fell short of expectations through 81 games, 2 who exceeded

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We've officially reached the halfway point in the 2023 season, and the New York Mets are an absolute mess. A 36-45 record highlighted by a 7-18 month of June (with one more game to play) has this team that won 101 games last season nine games back of the last Wild Card spot and an unfathomable 17.5 games back in the NL East.

The Mets didn't lose their 45th game until August 22nd last season and here we are on June 29th with 45 losses already. Nothing is going right for this team. When they hit they don't pitch, when they pitch they don't hit. We've seen Steve Cohen speak to the media in hopes that maybe he'd spark them, but nothing seems to be working.

The Mets have had a couple of players perform admirably, but for the most part, we've seen this team fail to come close to reaching expectations. With hopes that things turn around, here're three players who failed to reach the lofty expectations the Mets had through the first half of the season, and two others who have.

1) NY Mets pitcher Justin Verlander has fallen short of expectations through the 1st 81 games of the 2023 season

Last offseason it was Max Scherzer, and this offseason it was Justin Verlander. The Mets signed Justin Verlander this offseason to a two-year deal worth $86.6 million, the same AAV as Max Scherzer, to essentially replace Jacob deGrom.

This was something I was all for. As much as I loved deGrom and appreciated everything he did for this Mets organization, it felt like Verlander on a shorter-term deal made more sense as a guy who was more reliable to stay on the field and help the Mets win now.

Verlander, the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner missed the entire first month of the season due to injury, and since returning, has not looked close to the pitcher he was in Houston.

Through ten starts, Verlander has an ERA of 4.11 in 57 innings pitched. Now a 4.11 ERA isn't so bad, but when that ERA is 2.5 runs higher than the season prior, that's a problem. Nobody expected another 1.75 ERA season from Verlander, but we expected a whole lot better than this.

Verlander has gone past five innings just five times, and has allowed four runs or more four times. His walks are up, home runs are up, strikeouts are down, it's all trending downwards.

He did pitch five scoreless innings his last time out against Milwaukee, but when five scoreless against a pretty bad Brewers offense is one of his highlights, that's not great.

2) NY Mets outfielder Tommy Pham has exceeded expectations through the 1st 81 games of the 2023 season

Is it bad that when Tommy Pham comes up that's when I feel most confident that the Mets are going to do something offensively? It shouldn't be, considering the fact that Pham is two points behind Brandon Nimmo for the team lead in OPS. That says a lot about how poorly the Mets have played, but it also says something about how Pham has performed.

The veteran outfielder was brought in to be the fourth outfielder and serve as the right-handed DH. After some early-season struggles, Pham's bat got so hot to the point where Buck Showalter had no choice but to put him in the lineup every day.

Pham is slashing .273/.344/.488 with eight home runs and 31 RBI this season. He's even swiped nine bags. The 35-year-old is one guy on this team that you feel can actually get a clutch hit, as he's hitting .350 with an 1.123 OPS with runners in scoring position.

Since May 1, Pham was slashing .295/.362/.541 and that's before going 3-for-3 with a walk last night. He's been on an absolute tear for two months.

It'd be nice if the rest of the team could come close to meeting Pham's production, but nothing we've seen suggests that that's coming. At least he can net the Mets a decent prospect at the deadline if things do truly get out of control.

3) NY Mets infielder Jeff McNeil has fallen short of expectations through the 1st 81 games of the 2023 season

I wish I knew what was going on with Jeff McNeil, but the reigning NL batting champion has looked completely lost offensively for much of the season.

McNeil is slashing .255/.332/.325 on the season with three home runs and 21 RBI. His season actually got off to a decent start as he hit .298 with an .831 OPS through the month of April and he even hit .288 through May despite a lack of extra-base hit production, but June has been one of, if not the worst month of McNeil's career.

McNeil is hitting .182 in the month of June with one home run and five RBI. He's been even worse to finish the month, as he has two hits in his last 28 at-bats with no walks. More alarmingly, he's struck out nine times in this eight-game funk.

The veteran infielder has never been a huge home run hitter, but he's always had the ability to hit for extra bases. He hit just nine home runs last season but racked up 39 doubles and a triple. This season, through 81 games, he has just eight doubles and one triple.

McNeil's average is 71 points lower than his 2022 total, and his OPS is 179 points lower. That is, staggering to say the least.

McNeil's falloff hasn't been as widely discussed as a player like Francisco Lindor, mainly because his batting average is somewhat respectable at .255, but it's been extremely detrimental to this team.

4) NY Mets reliever David Robertson has exceeded expectations through the 1st 81 games of the 2023 season

David Robertson was not signed to close games. He was signed to work in the seventh and eighth ahead of Edwin Diaz alongside Adam Ottavino in what was supposed to be a very formidable back end of the bullpen.

Diaz hasn't thrown a pitch, and Ottavino has been very subpar, but Robertson has more than held up his end of the bargain.

The 38-year-old was a guy I believed the Mets should've targetted at the deadline last season, and you're seeing why with how effective he's been late in games for this team.

Robertson has an ERA of 1.54 in 31 appearances. He has just 11 saves, but that's mainly due to the Mets inability to win ballgames, especially of late. He's tacked on six holds, and has been great in pretty much every situation possible.

Out of despiration Buck Showalter has asked Robertson to record more than three outs seven times already, and he's been mostly successful doing that.

The rest of the Mets bullpen is a complete disaster, but if they can ever get Robertson in there with a lead, the game does feel secure. It'd be nice if the Mets could get him more leads to work with, but alas.

Robertson will at the very least be a trade chip that can net the Mets a solid asset much like Pham.

5) NY Mets outfielder Starling Marte has fallen short of expectations through the 1st 81 games of the 2023 season

Much like McNeil, I'm befuddled with what's gone on with Starling Marte. I don't know if it's the offseason surgery, I don't know if it's his age, he just doesn't look anything remotely close to the player he was last season.

Marte was an all-star for the Mets, hitting .292 with 16 home runs and an .814 OPS. He even received some MVP consideration, finishing 19th in the NL ballot. Marte was an extremely productive table setter all season for the Mets in 2022, and has fallen off a cliff this season.

The 34-year-old is slashing .253/.305/.329 with four home runs and 24 RBI. Much like McNeil, Marte's extra-base hit ability has completely vanished. He has just seven doubles after hitting 24 last year, one triple after five last year, and four home runs after 16 last year.

Marte has never hit below .277 in a full season, he's at .253 now. He's never had an OPS lower than .780 in a full season, it's at .634 now. His bat has slowed down dramatically, as has his defense as Marte ranks in the third percentile in outs above average according to baseball savant.

We've seen Marte fail to make certain plays in right field that he made with regularity last season. We've seen him fail to hustle down the line making me believe there might be some injury bugging him. We've seen his sprint speed go from the 68th percentile to the 45th percentile. Yes, he has below average speed now.

Francisco Lindor's average is low, but his OPS is only around 30 points lower than his mark from last season. Marte's OPS has fallen off a cliff.

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