Starling Marte is coming up short on his contract expectations

In the 2021 MLB offseason, the New York Mets made a new acquisition in the outfield: Starling Marte. Steve Cohen brought in Marte on a 4 year, $64 million contract with hopes that he would increase offensive and defensive production.

Marte did this in his first year as a Met. He had a batting average of .292 and tallied 63 RBI , which was fifth on the team. Defensively, he had the speed so whenever he was out there, there was some stability in right field. Marte made the MLB All-Star Game to reward his good play.

But, this season, he has not been the same. In fact, Marte can be one of the main reasons the Mets have not been successful.

Starling Marte is having a bad season, and the Mets should be worried

This season, Marte has not lived up to the contract the Mets gave him. He is currently batting .257 with 3 home runs and 18 RBI, and he has an OPS of .644. Marte does not look like the same player that he was last year.

Moreover, he has fell down Buck Showalter's lineup, where he started the year batting second, but over the past few weeks, he has featured in the middle of the batting order. This is because the outfielder has been inconsistent at the plate.

Marte's inconsistency goes beyond the plate. In the field, he has not been the same player as last year. He has a .991 fielding percentage, down from last year where it was .995, while also letting five defensive runs below average.

There's no doubt Marte has not lived up to the bargain this year. So far in June, while he is batting over .300, he only has two RBI. His season could be summarized in one at bat against the Yankees: bottom of the eighth, Mets down by one, bases loaded two outs for Marte, and he struck out swinging.

If the Mets want any hope of turning it around this season, Marte has to be one of the reasons why. Right now, he has installed doubts into Mets fans as the season continues to get worse.