Fittingly, the Mets and Padres were officially eliminated from playoff consideration on the same day; the two most disappointing teams in the sport galvanizing their underachieving status on Saturday.
Yeah, I see you over there Minnesota. But the Twins, for example, guaranteed their shortstop, Andrelton Simmons, $10.5 million, whereas the Mets and Padres combined to assure their shortstops, Francisco Lindor and Fernando Tatis Jr., $681 million.
Those outlays were part of what gave the Mets and Padres the glow of offseason champions. It is a familiar formula: The teams that spend the most and/or add the most famous players are cheered and crowned in winter, often followed soon after by dismay in summer. Yet, when the market opens again in a few weeks, the call will be for Steve Cohen to show fidelity to the fan base and that he has no Wilpon DNA by throwing money at the Mets’ problems.
And I am not here to tell the Mets owner not to do that. But there is an underlying issue the Mets have to deal with first or else they will be throwing good money after bad, regardless of the last name and personal wealth of the owner. The Mets have to figure out why they are the most disappointing team — and not just of 2021. This has gone on for a while now.
Perhaps the true appraisal cannot be fully completed until a new president of baseball operations is hired. But the self-examination should already be underway from Cohen on down as to why this team so underperforms its talent — or maybe just misjudges it. There has to be a level of responsibility and accountability here, an inward look that is merciless and honest.
Because to be around the Mets for a while is to too often see an organization that believes its problems are external. Fans. Reporters. Critical club officials from other teams. Bill Parcells famously said, “You are what your record says you are,” a statement that is actually more true in the long MLB season than that of the NFL. But the Mets have forged a culture in which they persistently believe they are better than the record — it is the kind of culture that creates the passageway to having players act out against fans booing amid another season of promise slipping away. The booing should not obsess the Mets. The reason for the booing should. And the reason is them.
For the Mets last made the playoffs in 2016; only six teams have gone longer. Unlike many of those six teams, the Mets have not been in rebuild mode at any point since. They have been trying to get back to October. Yet, just once in these five years have they even finished over .500. In the last three years, in particular, they have pushed chips in and had assets:
In 2019, Jacob deGrom was the best pitcher in the world, Pete Alonso had a historic rookie season, Jeff McNeil proved his 2018 was no fluke by becoming an All-Star, and four starters defied expectation to make at least 30 starts each.
In 2020, deGrom was still the best pitcher in the world, McNeil, Robinson Cano, Michael Conforto and Dominic Smith gave the Mets arguably the best group of lefty hitters in the sport, Edwin Diaz rebounded from a poor New York debut season and — pertinently — eight of 15 NL teams made the expanded playoffs.
In 2021, Marcus Stroman pitched like an ace and Aaron Loup like a dominant reliever, Javy Baez performed excellently after his acquisition and — most important — the division was horrible with no team capable of winning 90 games and the likely NL East champ losing its best player (Ronald Acuna Jr.) in early July.
It feels improbable — like 500-to-1 improbable — that the Mets would miss the playoffs in every one of those seasons and finish with a losing record in two of them. One of the losing records is occurring this year after the Mets spent 103 days in first place, marking the most days in MLB history a team has been in first and finished with a losing record.
Before anyone talks about injury or underperformance, understand that every team copes with injury and underperformance. It is why the annual chorus of players and team officials crowing about overcoming adversity is so misplaced. Every team has adversity. It is not unique to one. It is not unique to the Mets. Nor is booing home fans. Nor is critical media coverage when teams fall beneath expectation (The Mets Over/Under was generally in the 90-win mark this year via most betting houses). Nor are critical reviews by other teams amid screwups, like failing to sign a first-round pick due, in part, to having too little information about his medical history.
If Cohen is trying to sell dubious candidates for president of baseball operations, the way to do so is to point out the untapped potential. The Mets should be a behemoth. They have a great stadium, fan base and network. They have Cohen’s wallet. And they have a chance, if the right person comes in, to change the culture of negativity and buck passing.
The first step to improving the Mets, therefore, is not on the free-agent market.
It is in the mirror.