The Mets' current 1-9 stretch has had a lot to do with the struggles of the starting pitching, which has often put the team in deep holes early in games.
But lately, the struggles of the offense — specifically the bottom four spots in the lineup — have come to the forefront.
While the Mets are getting strong-to-elite production from the first five slots of the batting order (usually some combination of Francisco Lindor, Brandon Nimmo,Juan Soto,Pete Alonso, andJeff McNeil) the six-through-nine slots have been feeble.
Ronny Mauricio (60 OPS+), Jared Young (71 OPS+), Tyrone Taylor (78 OPS+), Luis Torrens (80 OPS+), and Brett Baty (90 OPS+) have left a lot to be desired — perhaps coloring how the Mets will go about things at the trade deadline in just over a month.
"Any time you go through a stretch like this, it's added information," president of baseball operations David Stearnssaid on Tuesday at Citi Field. "And so we're learning about our team. We saw a lot of really good things through the first two-plus months of the season, and now we're seeing the flipside of that. I still think we have a really good team. I think we're certainly much better than we've played over these last 10 days, 12 days.
"But any time you go through a stretch, it forces you to evaluate the team. Take it in as information, add that to what we already know and help us plot forward. Does it expose any singular spot? I don't think so right now. But it does add to our information about our team, which at this time of year can be valuable."
While the aforementioned five players are struggling badly right now, it's likely that Mauricio will be demoted to Triple-A Syracuse when Mark Vientos returns — potentially as soon as this Thursday or Friday.
Additionally, Young will likely see his at-bats dramatically reduced (or possibly lose his roster spot) once Jesse Winker is back. And Winker is expected to begin a rehab assignment before the end of the weekend.
That's part of the calculus as Stearns forms a plan for how to attack the deadline.
"We have some players who are getting healthy who I think will help there," he noted. "I also think the players who have struggled in our lineup over the last month largely are better offensive players than we've seen so far. They themselves have demonstrated that over periods of this season.
"Clearly this month, however you want to define it, our bottom half of the lineup has not produced in a way that's helping us score runs. This is a team game, and so it's really tough to rely on three or four or even five guys to carry the load every single night. We know that to be a really good offensive team — we certainly have the potential and the aspiration to be a really good offensive team — we need one through nine contributing more nights than not.
One of the pain points for the Mets has been third base, but it's possible Baty harnesses something or that Vientos plays a solid enough defensive third base to stabilize the hot corner.
Either way, it will be surprising if the Mets don't bolster the offense via trade between now and the July 31 deadline.
An obvious target would be Orioles center fielder Cedric Mullins, who is a pending free agent. But that would be contingent on Baltimore (currently 34-44 and in last place in the AL East) coming to the conclusion that their season isn't salvageable.
Similarly, a bunch of interesting names could be available if the Diamondbacks (40-38 but dealing with a season-ending injury to ace Corbin Burnes and a recent injury to MVP candidate Corbin Carroll) decide to sell.
Starting pitcher Merrill Kelly and third baseman/designated hitter Eugenio Suarez are both free agents at the end of the season, and would figure to be on the move if Arizona becomes a seller.
As Stearns explained, though, teams have been waiting longer than ever to chart a course.
"It's still really tough to tell," he said. "With our current playoff format, so many teams don't really decide how they're gonna approach the deadline until mid-July."
Stearns added: "Right now, I think it's very difficult to tell which teams are where. And we'll get more information as we go."
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