The New York Mets are 1-1 in the second-half of the season and some alarm bells are ringing. Alarm bells aren’t always such a bad thing. Fire drills have saved us all from a few minutes of tenth grade science.
A loss on Friday and win on Saturday hardly tells us much about what to expect from the Mets moving forward. But if there are any quick conclusions to take away from these games, we see one with the offense and one with the pitching.
The Mets can’t rest with what they have on offense
Jeff McNeil was the offense on Friday. Powering two home runs in the team’s loss, it’ll quickly go forgotten because of the end result. The team has cooled off at the plate since the calendar flipped to July. J.D. Martinez is 6 for his last 33 with Pete Alonso going 8 for 43 with a home run.
There doesn’t appear to be any major move to make with the lineup outside of finding a right fielder. If McNeil can surge and Jose Iglesias can continue to put up big numbers, playing the former in right field and the latter at second base works in theory. But how much do we truly trust McNeil to turn his season around and Iglesias to be a batting title contender without enough at-bats to qualify?
The Mets have to do something about the offense. DJ Stewart is taking up a roster spot at this point and Ben Gamel doesn’t serve a purpose. An unknown return for Starling Marte should have them targeting some kind of an outfield upgrade.
The Mets can’t trade a starting pitcher
Sean Manaea wasn’t good on Friday. Luis Severino was excellent on Saturday. How do we come to the conclusion that they can’t trade away a starting pitcher from this? Look in the minor leagues at what Kodai Senga did.
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