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1 most overpaid, 1 most underwhelming, and 1 most incomprehensible Mets player
Overpaid. Underwhelming. Incomprehensible. Those three adjectives do a good job of summing up the New York Mets roster. The record-breaking sum of dollars paid to these players should have them flirting with a championship this year. Instead, as they fight to even get back to .500, fans are at a loss of what to expect from this ball club.
Most troubling might be how every single player on the roster has failed to reach expectations. Times are tough for the Amazins right now. Optimism is at a low.
So who is the most overpaid, who is the most underwhelming, and which guy is the most incomprehensible player on the team? We’re throwing out some negative descriptions because to feel anything other than bad about the state of this team feels like a lie.
NY Mets roster: 1 most overpaid player, Justin Verlander
You could have a whole lot of candidates here. Justin Verlander, however, gets the nod as the most overpaid on the roster. He hasn’t been anything close to what the Mets needed him to be. The mercenary of all mercenaries so much so that Dolph Lundgren would play him in a movie if this was 35 years ago, he hasn’t been worth even a fraction of his record-tying contract. At least Max Scherzer was terrific for the Mets in his first season and has been far better than Verlander.
The $43.3 million he’s earning this year is impossible for him to earn at this point without a World Series victory at the tail end of the year. The thought that the Mets brought him here to help get them through the postseason is now a ridiculous notion. Just getting to the playoffs has become a challenge.
Verlander has pitched multiple stinkers. The tough-luck loser in a couple of his outings, the teams he has done well against were some of the lousier ball clubs in the league. The Toronto Blue Jays are easily the best club he deserved a victory against but zero run support spoiled that notion.
Verlander allowed two or fewer runs against the Detroit Tigers, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Guardians, and the Blue Jays. He has been rocked by the Tampa Bay Rays, Colorado Rockies at Coors Field, and Atlanta Braves.
Through 7 starts, Verlander is 2-3 with a 4.85 ERA. It hasn’t been a pretty beginning to his tenure with the Mets.
NY Mets roster: 1 most underwhelming player, Starling Marte
The most underwhelming player on the Mets is Starling Marte. There are quite a few candidates for this category. For the most part, just about everyone falls here.
Marte hasn’t had a bad year. He’s slashing .258/.316/.333 with 5 doubles, 3 home runs, and 18 RBI. It’s about what we’d hope to get from Marte in the last year of his contract. For this reason, he’s the top choice for underwhelming.
What has pushed him into becoming the underwhelming player on this list is how much higher our expectations were for him. Marte was a gigantic part of the Mets lineup last year. His absence was felt in the final weeks to a point where we should wonder if having him out there a few games could’ve helped them win the division.
The .292/.347/.468 performance from Marte last year would be a dream come true in 2023. He is stealing bases, though. He has stolen 18 in 21 attempts. The MLB rule changes to help base thieves like him have been fully taken advantage of. As long as he stays healthy, reaching 30 or even getting to 40 is a possibility.
A bit more pop in his bat or at least a whole bunch of singles can help Marte’s year go from underwhelming to average. He probably raised the bar a little too high for our 2023 expectations with what he did last season. The pressure is on. We have a couple more seasons of Marte and we can’t have him performing like a number eight or nine hitter.
NY Mets roster: 1 most incomprehensible player, Francisco Lindor
So maybe you think Francisco Lindor is the most overpaid player on the Mets roster. At least we had last year. He is also still driving in runs. In a lot of ways, he has earned more of his contract by at least playing regularly. In the absence of Pete Alonso, the Mets cannot afford to sit him much at all.
Lindor is overpaid. He’s also underwhelming. But in terms of our choice of adjectives, he’s the most incomprehensible player on the roster. It has been a miserable start to the year and yet Lindor is one of the better shortstops in the National League. He is hitting for power, driving in runs, and if we lived in a socialist society where everyone made the same amount of money, we wouldn’t bat an eyelash at Lindor’s season.
Lindor’s massive fall from elite shortstop to something more in the middle since joining the Mets is hard to explain. Is it the pressure of playing in the Big Apple? Are the Mets cursed?
Something about Lindor has changed since coming to the Mets. One explanation could be his role with the team. Often hitting in the middle of the order, he thrived in Cleveland batting first. Needless to say, that’s not what the Mets need from him. They have plenty of leadoff hitter options.
Lindor is now batting .218/.292/.425 on the season with 12 home runs and 43 RBI. Of his 55 hits, 28 have been for extra bases. It’s a welcomed change and an explanation of his incomprehensible campaign.
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