3 Mets transactions breaking bad in 2023

These three Mets transactions have broken bad at some point in 2023.

New York Mets v San Diego Padres
New York Mets v San Diego Padres / Denis Poroy/GettyImages
1 of 3
Next

Cold open. An empty desert. The camera pans across the desolate landscape with dust and hot dog wrappers flying up in the air. The music slowly builds. Where is this barren wasteland? The camera angles upward and in a brief moment the cloud of sand is blown away by a strong wind. We see it. We’re at Citi Field in September, home of the New York Mets baseball organization.

We cut to the short introduction we all thank Vince Gilligan for creating with that iconic rumbling theme playing. There is no skip intro button to push because it's so brief. We love it. We want more content. We’re a streaming generation!

This isn’t about television or one of its most iconic shows of the 21st Century although it might feel this way. Like Breaking Bad, several of the Mets transactions made over the last two years have slowly gone from an innocent high school chemistry teacher to a monster with a different kind of appetite. ‘s all not good, man.

1) The NY Mets free agent signing of Starling Marte has jumped the shark

The free agent signing of Starling Marte prior to the 2022 season was one we all adored. Marte looked like he could be the starting center fielder for the Mets, but thanks to Brandon Nimmo’s continued growth at the position, Marte ended up settling in as the right fielder. All was well for him in 2022 until an injury late side-lined him.

Marte’s absence at the end of the season is one of the main reasons why the Mets didn’t win the National League East. His play wasn’t the reason for it, unlike this year when we can point the finger at Marte’s low output to explain away why the Mets have been so bad.

Through 333 trips to the plate, Marte is a .254/.308/.332 hitter. This is maybe okay for a nine-hole hitter playing good defense. This isn’t what the Mets are paying Marte to be. He has only 7 doubles and 5 home runs this season. Other than swiping 24 bases, he hasn’t been an asset to the offense.

Most troubling of all is that the contract runs through the 2025 season. There could be two more years of him after jumping the shark.

2) The NY Mets trade for Jeff Brigham and Elieser Hernandez won’t reach syndication

A more recent episode of Billy Eppler transactions took place over last winter. In a low-key trade with the Miami Marlins to help restock the bullpen, the Mets acquired Jeff Brigham and Elieser Hernandez from the Miami Marlins. Brigham appeared to be a candidate to go back and forth from the majors to minors all year in the team’s quest to have controllable relievers. Hernandez was a spot starter option but more so a long-man the Mets could use out of the bullpen.

The first bad omen came when Hernandez suffered a spring injury. Not to worry. Brigham was healthy and when he first appeared on the major league roster, he was really good. He even has the fifth most innings of work as a reliever for the club this season despite no longer having a 26-man roster spot.

The problem with Brigham has been how bad he has been when he’s having an “off-day.” There are six instances among his 32 appearances where he gave up 2 or more earned runs. It happened in two of his last three appearances. This doesn’t even include the performance against the Philadelphia Phillies when he was credited with the blown save.

In Hernandez’s case, we have yet to see him pitch in the majors. We’re past the point of really caring much about what he can bring to the ball club in 2023.

3) The NY Mets reunion with Adam Ottavino should’ve ended after season one

Every Breaking Bad fan knows the original plan was to kill off Jesse Pinkman in the pilot. Imagine a show with Walter White running around by himself. The first season of Breaking Bad was more of a setup for the future and quite honestly, how many of us recall exactly where everything stood? The show really took off in season two when it began to become more mainstream.

Some shows only last a season. One that should’ve concluded after a single run for the Mets was the Adam Ottavino signing. It was peak veteran relief pitching in 2022. On his one-year deal, Ottavino was 6-3 with a 2.06 ERA.

Things haven’t gone nearly as well for him in 2023. He has already walked more batters and given up more earned runs than he did all of last season. It’s the middle of July.

Ottavino is 0-4 with a 3.86 ERA in his first 37.1 innings of work. It’s a below-average season for him. He’s the owner of a 3.46 ERA in his career

Maybe we could accept a lesser Ottavino if the Mets had a deeper bullpen. A healthy Edwin Diaz alone could have changed our perception of Ottavino. Remember when he was actually closing games for the Mets regularly alongside David Robertson?

As fun as it was to see Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul show up in the final season of Better Call Saul for a cameo, not all good matches need to be revisited. Ottavino back to the Mets for 2023 and 2024 is one of them.

manual

Next