5 Mets players we were wrong about to start the season

It’s okay to be wrong. The baseball phrase “3 out of 10 make a Hall of Famer” could easily apply to fans when it comes to making predictions. You’re going to miss often and sometimes wide. The 2023 New York Mets are proving it.

Many of us assumed with such a massive payroll, a roster full of talent, and a 101 season last year would result in nothing but smiles. Instead, we’ve seen a different ball club this season.

Opening up a jar of honesty and squirting out some humbleness, these are five of those Mets players fans were practically universally wrong about to start the season.

1) We were wrong about NY Mets pitcher Max Scherzer

Max Scherzer can still salvage his season. Unfortunately, it hasn’t started off so great. Is it the rule changes leaving him drained of energy? Whatever his problem is, this isn’t the same Scherzer we saw last season.

The year has started with a 3-2 record and 4.88 ERA for Scherzer in 6 starts. He is averaging just shy of a strikeout per inning and nearly 4 walks per 9 this year. The 5.65 FIP suggests he has actually been able to escape from having an even worse ERA to begin the year.

It’s looking like even a more pessimistic outlook for what Scherzer’s 2023 season could look like was a little too kind. There have been some good and bad starts thus far. However, even on those days when he has posted solid numbers, Scherzer hasn’t looked quite the same.

It might not be so much age as much as it is mileage on the arm which often comes with getting older. He’s getting close to 3,000 MLB innings. It’s taxing and as baseball fans have witnessed during the past two seasons, Scherzer seems to break down near the end of the year.

What really stinks is that we’re in May and already we’ve seen him get hammered. Through this early stage of the season, we were wrong to think he was complete ace material.