First Place Problems

MLB: Milwaukee Brewers at New York Mets

I’m going to be somewhat of a hypocrite here. But while I worry about Matt Harvey’s performance along with his spot in the rotation, I’m not worried about Noah Syndergaard’s long term outlook for this season. There are still a lot of foul balls off Syndergaard (23), but there are also a lot of swinging strikes (25). And nobody should make a judgement on any pitcher when he has to pitch in a home ballpark in Hoth. Yes, he’ll have to stretch out eventually. (He hasn’t gone past six innings yet this season.) But when a guy does this:

I refuse to worry.

Playing in Hoth has effected more than just Syndergaard. Yoenis Cespedes isn’t hitting, and the entire lineup is having a tough go of it. And Jose Reyes hasn’t gotten a hit yet this season in his sporadic action this season. Frankly, with Adrian Gonzalez hitting so well against Jhoulys Chacin, he probably should have been in the game instead of Reyes, with Wilmer Flores sliding over to second base. It makes me wonder what role Reyes is going to have on this team going forward. He’s 0-for-16 after another 0-fer on Sunday, and doesn’t really have a role other than Amed Rosario’s friend. He got a chance to bounce back last season with all of the trades and injuries. But is he going to get that chance on a deep team like this?

But it’s hashtag first place problems at this point. Matt Harvey can’t pitch more than five innings, and Jose Reyes can’t get a hit. One starter is struggling and Reyes is the 25th man on the roster. If those are the Mets’ biggest problems this season, then we’re going to have a fun summer to match our fun spring.

Oh wait, there’s one more problem:

Flores isn’t getting enough at-bats.

Today’s Hate List

  1. Weather
  2. Alex Avila
  3. Dan Gilbert
  4. Carlos Correa
  5. Josh Reddick
Arrow to top