Call to the pen
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New York Mets Season Review: The Good, Bad and the Ugly

By Dylan Smith

NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 30: Noah Syndergaard #34 of the New York Mets and Tomas Nido #3 of the New York Mets celebrate after defeating the Miami Marlins at Citi Field on September 30, 2018 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. The Mets won 1-0. (Photo by Adam Hunger/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 30: Noah Syndergaard #34 of the New York Mets and Tomas Nido #3 of the New York Mets celebrate after defeating the Miami Marlins at Citi Field on September 30, 2018 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. The Mets won 1-0. (Photo by Adam Hunger/Getty Images) /
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New York Mets
NEW YORK, NY – AUGUST 20: (NEW YORK DAILIES OUT) Amed Rosario #1 and Dominic Smith #22 of the New York Mets collide during the thirteenth inning against the San Francisco Giants at Citi Field on August 20, 2018 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. The Giants defeated the Mets 2-1 after 13 innings. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) /

What Went Wrong?

There is a lot that I could mention here…

Rookie Manager, Mickey Callaway, had some growing pains throughout the season, but injuries once again played a large roll in the club’s misfortunes.

Aside from Jeff McNeil and Brandon Nimmo, the Mets showed that they lack the offensive depth necessary to withstand a slew of injuries. The Mets are built to pitch and hit just enough. It is hard to hit without quality bats. This forced the club to acquire veterans like Austin Jackson, Jose Bautista, and Devin Meseraco when needs arose.

Speaking of Meseraco, catcher is a perfect example of the club’s lack of depth.

Travis d’Arnaud and Kevin Plawecki went down with injuries early on in the season and the Mets struggled to plug their roles. The team was forced to turn to Jose Lobaton and Tomas Nido…

That duo combined for an average OPS+ of 29.5. Now, d’Arnaud and Plawecki aren’t superstars either, but they are better options than Lobaton and Nido. With d’Arnaud’s health in question and doubts surrounding Plawecki’s abilities, I would not be surprised to hear the rumor mill swirl about potential upgrades.

First base is another position in which the Mets have a mess to sort out. After the Adrian Gonzalez experiment ended, the team turned to Wilmer Flores for most of the playing time.

I love Wilmer, but he is not an everyday player. Wilmer Flores is a valuable utility bench piece that can plug a need when injuries occur. Now I don’t think Dominic Smith has earned it, but I believe that he should have gotten most of the playing time down the stretch of 2018. He hasn’t shown his talents at the big league level, but I still believe that they are there. Smith has his issues to work out. A lost season would have been the perfect time to let him work out his kinks, especially with Peter Alonso staying in the minor leagues.

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