The excuses for the US Women’s National Team at the Women’s World Cup started immediately after their 0-0 (5-4) loss to Sweden Sunday morning. They didn’t include the numerous chances in the box for the women’s team, the countless minutes of possession and the poor play to put better shots on target towards Zećira Mušović, the Swedish keeper.
Mušović played well, but the only keeper who puts hands to the ball during penalty kicks was Alyssa Naeher, the US keeper. She had a save, then watched two consecutive teammates miss the target completely. She came off the line and finished the sixth round, showing her teammates how it’s done, only to watch them fail again.
The excuses about the Mets 2023 season are similarly plentiful, despite the masses leaving out the easiest one. The season was doomed when Edwin Diaz went down before throwing a pitch in a regular season game. That’s the simple excuse for a season gone horribly wrong; you don’t have to look any further. But that has nothing to do with Danny Mendick having a brain freeze on a routine double play ball Sunday afternoon against Baltimore. His failure to competently field his position is doubly worse since his glove skills are supposed why he's not at Syracuse while Luis Guillorme is on the IL. But don’t expect it to be for long.
It’s treated as really, really long ago, but it was only about a month when Mets owner Steve Cohen held a press conference. He sat before the assembled media answering questions for 20 minutes. When asked about the underperforming payroll, Cohen said that it was exactly that, an amount already accounted for and not a concern. This was showcased when the team ate a portion of his salary to move Eduardo Escobar for two minor leaguers.
Cohen also clearly stated that if the team continued to underperform, he wouldn’t instruct GM Billy Eppler to add more to a bad team at the upcoming trade deadline. The team continued to muddle around and when the time came, the Mets were sellers and not hesitant about it. They moved reliever David Robertson four days before the deadline for a couple of minor leaguers.
Eppler quietly moved Mark Cahna and Tommy Pham, 3rd and 4th outfielders on this team when everyone was healthy. He quietly signed Dominic Leone as a free agent on May 4, had Buck Showalter pitch him 31 times in roughly 10 weeks, then moved him for a minor leaguer. He loudly moved the two most expensive pitchers in the game, yet there was general surprise from the same media and fan base that’s been bashing the failures of this team for weeks.
When they sold, Eppler informed the media that it wasn’t a fire sale and of the six players moved, the majority were free agents next year. I’ve named four pitchers, but the excuses have come forth about how the team is depressed about the moves and question how will they finish the season without…?
Without who exactly? Scherzer and Verlander? Sure, but losing those two starters has absolutely nothing to do with the lack of offense that’s been prevalent with just 14 runs in the six games (including TWO shutouts!) after the deadline and all season long. In moving Pham and Cahna, you’d have thought they traded away offensive centerpieces instead of a couple of backup outfielders. OK, both were everyday starters due to various injuries, but Jeff McNeil has started 40 games away from his customary 2nd base this season. Marte’s recent migraine issue and other ailments have kept him out, but he’s a starter and will be in 2024.
Without Pham, Cahna and Brandon Nimmo to start the Kansas City series, we were treated with a visual of the Mets' minor league system. Career AAAA players like Mendick, DJ Stewart and Rafael Ortega took the field to start the current six-game losing streak. The hope is they’ll be replaced by actual talent in tomorrow’s lineup, both the actual and hypothetical.
The hypothetical was what Cohen purchased over the past couple of weeks. He’s said from the jump the goal is to have a minor league system that produced talent to replace players like Pham and Cahna. It started with the 2022 draft class highlighted by Kevin Parada, one of many prospects loved by people who follow prospects. Cohen has said he’s added money to the team’s overall structure, which includes academies in foreign countries and more ways to find talent outside this country.
But you can no longer just overspend and purchase talent from outside the US. There are international drafts and systems in place and the lone way around all of these deterrents to just buying what you want is to make trades like the ones recently completed and buying top minor league talent for high priced free agents. Yes, Cohen will spend roughly $100 million on about six prospects, which includes paying other teams for major leaguers on their roster. That’s why he said they won’t overspend for free agents again.
You can only pull some tricks just one time; but the Mets will spend again in the offseason. Maybe not to the extent to be considered a destination for Shohei Ohtani, but Cohen knows the team will need to sign free agent pitchers, regardless if David Peterson and Tylor Megill take advantage of this two-month opportunity. He knows he’ll need to sign at least one more outfielder and multiple relief pitchers like 31 other teams in the league. But I’ve mention pitchers and that doesn’t excuse the failures of the current roster.
I’ve listened to Steve Gelbs and Gary Cohen on SNY about how much has been lost after the deadline. I’ve read about how the Mets have lost so much and don’t have anything to play for. Only problem is I don’t see what the lineup has lost because many of the players responsible for the team’s current place in the standings are still on the roster and in the lineup daily. Marte was an All Star last year, then got injured and missed September.
This year, he’s been injured and wasn’t anywhere close to being an All-Star before or after injury. Pete Alonso is still having a horrible year and McNeil, last year’s batting champ, is hitting .250. Francisco Lindor is hitting for power, but no one in this lineup is hitting doubles. No one is taking pitches to the opposite field, hitting behind runners to move people over or just producing a worthwhile at-bat.
“We had a lot of at-bats,” Buck Showalter told the NY Post, “that weren’t as competitive as they normally are.”
This quote is from Saturday’s loss, but could be applied to countless losses this season. Last year’s team won 101 games with productive at bats. Even when they got out, it would do something positive for the overall team. This season is full of strikeouts when just putting the ball in play is enough. Enough with all the excuses. The Mets have been bad.
They reset, but didn’t truly reset the lineup and talking extensions for Alonso is detrimental to everybody involved. What bargaining power does Pete have right now in the midst of his worst year? Yes, he’s hit a lot of home runs, but that’s only boosted his OPS. So if only viewed through the eyes of a 3-true outcome (HR, K, BB) can someone call Alonso’s 2023 a success.
I feel alone in harping on his .220 average, lack of doubles and sacrifice flies. But his questionable season doesn’t excuse poor play by the core foundation of batters who will be here in 2024 and beyond and that’s the truth.
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