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.

2) We were wrong about NY Mets outfielder Starling Marte

An All-Star representative of the Mets last year, Starling Marte is beginning to show his age this season. He can still steal bases and has some other good qualities that’ll keep him in the starting lineup. What’s missing most is the power he posted for the ball club last year. Although not a home run hitter, he was one of the more relied upon to pop a home run or knock a double in 2023.

Marte is quickly becoming more of a singles hitter. Frankly, it’s not something the Mets really need on a roster with plenty of station-to-station players already on it. Marte’s outfield range looks like it’s on the decline. Watching him for even a short period of time and you’d swear this isn’t the same exciting player from last year.

Through 162 plate appearances, Marte is a .231/.298/.279 hitter with only 5 extra base hits. Four have been doubles and one has been a home run.

From the start we’ve been wrong about Marte. When the Mets first signed him, the initial thought was he’d play a lot of center field. They’ve parked him in right field instead while allowing Brandon Nimmo to retain a position he has worked hard to keep. Marte certainly raised the bar with last season’s performance. This year, the bar needs to be lowered.

4) We were wrong about NY Mets reliever Tommy Hunter

Tommy Hunter hasn’t even been a long-man for the Mets. He is exclusively on mop-up duty. Following the 8 scoreless he delivered in 2021 and the 2.42 ERA he posted last season in 22.1 innings of work, it looked like Hunter could be an entrusted member of this year’s bullpen. No dice.

Hunter’s 6.87 ERA in 18.1 innings isn’t good for any role out of the bullpen. He has gotten shellacked in several appearances. He has graciously taken a few punches for the Mets and at least saved them from having to use other relievers instead.

Hunter may soon find it difficult to retain a roster spot. The Mets don’t have too many obvious better replacements. The problem with their bullpen is a clear line between the guys we want to see and the ones we don’t. Hunter has fallen into the latter category.

Nobody ever believed Hunter would be a top choice to bring in from the bullpen in the seventh or eighth with a close lead on a regular basis. Maybe if no one else was available it could’ve been an occasional option. Hunter’s initial role with the club should have always been as a sixth inning guy or someone to enter a little later to keep the game under control and possibly allow for a comeback.

Instead, Hunter is already teetering on the DFA bubble. 

5) We were wrong about NY Mets catcher Tomas Nido

It’s going to be hard to justify keeping Tomas Nido around. Prior to landing on the IL, the longtime Mets catcher was batting .118/.148/.118 with declining defensive skills. The one thing that had kept him in the major leagues for all of these years was his work behind the plate, not at it. Well, with very little offense and a not-so-special ability to call games, he has become irrelevant.

None of us were completely wrong about Nido, but we all assumed he’d be at least somewhere close to the hitter he was the last two years. Nido saw his playing time increase in 2021 and in 2022 he was the main guy behind the plate. A .239/.276/.324 slash line in 313 plate appearances last season gave us confidence that he could at least remain on as the short-end of a catching platoon with Omar Narvaez. Instead, he has been passed by Francisco Alvarez already.

Nido had a productive preseason where he actually hit the ball amazingly well. This furthered the thought that maybe the Mets would be okay with him playing regularly against left-handed pitchers. Why is it when games don’t count, certain players perform better?

With egg all over the face, these are the Mets players many of us were wrong about.