Mets Roster Falsely Ranked As One Of Top Ten In Baseball

The New York Mets finished at the bottom of the NL East, and they had a horrible first half especially. But Mike Petriello of MLB.com somehow ranked the Mets roster in his top ten going into the offseason, putting the Mets at No. 6, which definitely bears closer scrutiny. 

So what was his justification? The writer listed the Mets needs as the rotation, the bullpen and first and second base, which is a lot, and those first two are especially important if you’re going to play winning baseball. The Mets finished the season with a reconfigured bullpen and a rotation full of young pitchers who are at least somewhat unproven going forward. 

His points about the strengths are well-taken, however. Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing are two-thirds of an outfield that hits well and is strong defensively, with Juan Soto supplying more than enough offense to justify his sketchy fielding. 

But the writer’s arguments start to fall apart from there. Bo Bichette did rebound from his tough start offensively, but that start put the Mets in a hole from which they could never escape. And the idea that Bichette and Francisco Lindor at third and short, respectively, constitute a “solid left-side duo” completely belies a lot of what we saw on the field this year.

Now add in the rotation. While it is true that right-hander Nolan McLean has unlimited potential that includes being a possible ace, fellow starters Christian Scott struggled with injuries, command and control, and Zac Thornton came out of nowhere and can’t really be counted in just yet until he’s put up similar number for another month or two at the start of next year.

Then there’s the bullpen. The Mets blew it up at the trade deadline, which they had to do given where they were in the standings, and they did an admirable job of adding parts and pieces that somehow fit together and worked. But the idea of counting on all of them next year as part of a strong bullpen is a leap, not just a stretch. 

The bottom line is that there’s still a lot of work to do, and a lot of uncertainty that comes with it. The Mets do have some strengths, but this roster belongs in the mid-to-late teens in this ranking, and you can use the record to justify putting it further down in this list.