Too Much of a Good Thing

2021 was a disappointing season for the New York Mets. The pitching staff was beset with injuries. Jacob deGrom and Carlos Carrasco, the two pitchers penciled in as 1 and 2 in the Mets' rotation, made only 27 combined starts. That was only the tip of the injury iceberg that sunk the Mets'season — all told, 42 starters and relievers toed the rubber for the Mets last year. That was not a recipe for success.

Surviving the Slump

When I last wrote in this space 8 days ago, the New York Mets were floundering but still in first place. It's been pretty much all downhill since that point. As I finished my piece last Monday, the Mets were in the process of dropping a game to the last-place Marlins. They would lose 3 of 4 to Miami, then get swept in their 3-game set in Philadelphia. If you were somehow transported forward in time, basing your opinion on the 2021 Mets strictly on the games they played over the last 10 days, you'd probably think you were watching a last-place team in the midst of a rebuild.

I'm Okay With Replacing the Hitting Coaches

Not the new hitting coach

Although I was somewhat of a late convert to the value of analytics in baseball, FanGraphs has become one of my go-to sites just about every day. It's an incredible resource for fans such as myself who enjoy digging deeper into the game. Respectfully, though, I really have to take issue with a piece Jay Jaffe wrote today on the firing of the Mets hitting coaches. I thought it was an unwarranted cheap shot, and I promise this isn't just a fanboy take.

Time to Start Winning

A reasonable goal for the New York Mets this season is to win 90+ games and make the playoffs. It certainly seems achievable with the current roster, even if it's not something the Mets have done all that often. They've managed 90 or more wins only 11 times in 59 seasons leading up to this year. The first time was the Miracle Mets 1969 season. They didn't do it again until 1984, which was the beginning of the most successful era in Mets history. They were over 90 wins for the next 5 years, missed it in 1989, then did it again in 1990, the final year of Frank Cashen's tenure as GM. Manager Davey Johnson also departed 42 games into that fateful season.