On a day Mets General Manager Sandy Alderson welcomed in our armed forces for a pre-game softball tournament, he addressed the media on the teams immediate future.
“I’m not frustrated,” said Alderson after being asked about his frustration with losing Steven Matz and Neil Walker. “We’re 8-2 the last 10 games so it’s a little hard to be frustrated. It’s challenging for Terry and the staff, it’s challenging for the players, it’s challenging for us, but as an organization I think we’re meeting the challenge”.
The “Amazin’s” have faced injuries all throughout the season which has caused them to constantly call up players from their Las Vegas affiliate. Most recently, they have seen Walker and Matz go down. But while in a wild card race, it’s tough to determine if the Mets have what it takes to get them into October, both physically and on their current roster.
“You make the changes you can make, the ones that you think will help the team,” said Alderson. “As long as we’re exploring all of those, then I’m satisfied that we have done all that we can to make sure that we’re as competitive as possible. But, I think we’re in a good spot and if we continue to play the next 30 days the way we played the last 10, we’ll be in good shape”.
If Sandy’s optimism can come true, then Met fans will be in for a wild ride. But you can wish in one hand and you know what in the other and see what fills up first right? The Mets are moving forward with pitchers such as Robert Gsellman and Seth Lugo, along with a struggling Jacob deGrom. That kind of rotation is not a playoff worthy lineup.
The defending National League Champions have struggled to show signs of any hope for their fans of even returning to the playoffs. Matz has been plagued with injuries, Noah Syndergaard went 3-5 with an era over 4.00 from June 22nd through August 16th, and the team has surrendered many leads including multiple blown saves by closer Jeurys Familia.
On top of their injuries and their individual failures, the team has lost series after series to teams everyone knows they should have won. Closing out the month of July, they lost three of four to the Rockies and in this month alone, they were swept by the Diamondbacks and lost a series to the Padres.
The Mets have confirmed four call-ups from Las Vegas, OF Michael Conforto, C Kevin Plawecki, INF Ty Kelly, and RHP Gabriel Ynoa. There is plenty of doubt surrounding these transactions that none will help the team. Met fans should stay positive though. Being in such a tight race for the wild card is not a bad thing, especially when we’re talking about the National League.