This year’s New York Mets team has taken more than just a stumble out of the gate. Now in the first week of July, the Mets are five games back from the division leading Nationals, and have the Marlins at their heels. The 2015 National League Champions have had a hangover-type season. The offense has been depleted. David Wright, the Mets captain, is most likely to be out for the year after having neck surgery. Michael Conforto, who was considered to be an uprising star, was sent down to the minors mid-last week, and the hitter with the best batting average is Yoenis Cespedes, who is hitting .297. This means that no Mets player in the lineup is hitting over .300. Talk about offensive disaster.
Cespedes is also the leader in home runs, On-base percentage, runs batted in, and hits. Ironically enough David Wright stole the most bases with three on the year. The all-star pitching staff has had its troubles too. Matt Harvey has a 4.55 era in 16 starts. He has a 4-10 record and has the second-fewest number of strikeouts in the Mets rotation. Compared to last year, Harvey is a shell of himself. Jacob deGrom has pitched above-average posting a 2.62 era but is only 4-4 on the year. Many of his no-decisions come from the lack of run support the Met’s offense generates. The Mets are ranked 28th in runs scored this season.
Despite all the negatives, the Mets were worse off at this point in the season last year. They started July by being swept by the Cubs and falling to a 40-40 record. However, if we take a closer look into the events that happened last July, they almost mirror the events of this year. Long Island native Steven Matz debuted on June 28 and gave a much needed spark to the team, David Wright was injured but of course came back after a short stint on the DL and the Mets traded for Yoenis Cespedes. Wilmer Flores was wrongly informed that he was being traded, leaving the field in tears to a standing ovation of Mets fans. A few days later, he would hit a walk-off home run to give the Mets the lead in the NL East division. Because of these events, the Mets were able to turn their .500 win percentage team into World Series contenders. Strangely enough, two of those situations have already happened. David Wright is hurt again, most likely for the year or longer, and Brandon Nimmo has brought the spark back to Citi Field. The Mets also acquired Jose Reyes, but that was not through trade.
Nimmo has been in the lineup for seven days now, and has finally started hitting. On Friday night the Mets beat the Cubs 10-2, in a game where they hit five home runs, Nimmo getting his first. Now when it comes to the trade deadline that is coming on August 1st, here are some things the Mets should consider. Not all of the starting pitchers are coming back next year. Matt Harvey, Noah Sydergaard and Jacob deGrom are all eligible for arbitration. Steven Matz and Zach Wheeler have expiring contracts. That means that not all of the starting pitchers can come back. So why not trade one? The Mets are only a piece or two away from winning the World Series. So why not invest in that rather than the future. This team is championship-caliber, maybe only a few pieces from being the best. The Mets opportunity to win their first championship since 1986 is looming, and only time and fate will tell if the Mets are going to be amazing once again.
