The Mets' season ended on Sunday afternoon in disappointing fashion, losing to the Miami Marlins and failing to reach the postseason which capped off a disastrous final three-and-a-half months for New York.
In the wake of the perplexing elimination, president of baseball operations David Stearns spoke to the media about the unacceptable performance by him and the team that resulted in a 83-79 record despite sporting the second-largest payroll in MLB at $341 million.
Stearns also spoke on how to deal with a few players moving forward, as well as some housekeeping on the injury front.
Leadership material
With such a talented roster that was unable to put it all together consistently down the stretch, a common critique thrown out there by fans who are obviously not in the clubhouse or around the team on a daily-basis was that New York lacked leaders and/or leadership to be able to pick the rest of the team up when it was down.
It's a fair assumption given the way the Mets played for more than half the season, at times sleepwalking on the field and making mental/physical mistakes routinely. Plus, with the departures of veterans like J.D. Martinez and Jose Iglesias, who were instrumental in keeping New York focused yet loose last season, a void at the top was seemingly felt.
However, Stearns dismissed the notion that the Mets lacked leadership, pointing to what he personally saw out of the team in his interactions with the players.
"I think we have leaders in our clubhouse. I think we have leadership in our clubhouse,” Stearns said. “I do not think that was a problem."
He later added:
"I can tell you my experience in the clubhouse throughout this year is we had guys who cared about each other, who cared about winning, who worked hard."
It's true, New York had veterans on the roster such as Francisco Lindor, Brandon Nimmo, Starling Marte, Edwin Diaz and more who are certainly capable of leading a team. But the spiraling nature of the team's free fall certainly would suggest that it was unable to cling on to something or someone when things got tough.
What was also telling, and quite frankly shocking, about this year's Mets team was their failure to win a single game after entering the ninth inning with a deficit. New York went 0-70 in those situations and was the only team in MLB to not record a comeback win in the ninth inning or later.
"It’s very difficult for me to explain how we were 0-70 trailing going into the ninth. That’s an inexplicable stat, and I’m not going to sit here and make up an answer for it," Stearns said.
So Senga?
In his news conference, Stearns made no bones about the pitching, or run-prevention as he put it (which includes defense), being the biggest culprit in the team's slow collapse. And while almost every pitcher fell short of their expectations whether from injury or just poor performance, perhaps the most notable was Kodai Senga who finished the season as a non-contributor to the team as he was sent to the minor leagues.
Senga's overall numbers actually don't look too bad as the right-hander went 7-6 with a 3.02 ERA in 22 starts over 113.1 innings pitched. But the numbers don't tell the full story.
After injuring his hamstring in a start on June 12, Senga, who had been pitching brilliantly following a lost season, missed a month before returning to the mound. Needing the help in what was a beleaguered starting rotation at the time, the Mets chose to bring back Senga earlier than anticipated and allowed him to work up his pitch count at the big-league level.
Perhaps rushing back the fastidious Senga was a detriment because after his first outing in his return to New York, the right-hander struggled mightily. In his final seven starts, Senga had a 6.06 ERA (1.65 WHIP).
His struggles left the Mets with no choice but to send him down to the minors where they hoped he would be able to figure out his mechanics and get his confidence back up to help the team for the final push. Instead, Senga made two starts for Triple-A and pitched to a 4.66 ERA before his fastball velocity dipped during a bullpen session that gave the team cause for concern. Enough so that he didn't make another start for the Mets despite the team and its pitching flailing.
That leaves New York and the right-hander in a precarious situation going forward, one with little faith that Senga can be counted on as he once was.
"Kodai has had two very inconsistent, challenging years in a row," Stearns said. "We know it’s in there. We know there’s potential. We’re gonna do everything we can to help get it out of him. But no, could we put him in ink as making 30 starts next year? I think that would be foolish."
Thumbs up
One player who should be celebrated this year is Francisco Alvarez who had a rollercoaster season. After a midseason demotion to the minor leagues following a brutal stretch, Alvarez worked hard to come back stronger than ever — which he did.
With his season seemingly back on track, the young catcher was dealt a massive blow, spraining his UCL in his right thumb. The injury put him on the IL, but soon after he was back on a minor league rehab assignment, determined to return to New York and help his team.
In his first rehab game following the injury, Alvarez was hit on the hand and broke his left pinky. With just eight healthy fingers, Alvarez made his way back to the big leagues and not only caught behind the dish, produced at the plate too.
In his last 30 games, the 23-year-old had seven home runs with a .920 OPS to completely turn his season around. He finished with a triple slash line of .256/.339/.447 in 76 games.
The key and next step for Alvarez will be to stay healthy for a full season to fully tap into his potential. Stearns said he's on his way to doing that as he will require surgery on his ligament which he'll get in the coming days.
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