Final grades for the 2021 Mets

Below are my grades for the 2021 Mets. Grading is a subjective process at best. My goal is to incorporate actual production, along with preseason expectations, as well as the individual’s role on the club. This means not all grades that are the same are equal.

Pete Alonso – Perhaps the most consistent player on the 2021 Mets, Alonso hit pretty much like ZiPS forecasted for him. It’s just when you deliver 85 XBH as a rookie that 67 seems a bit disappointing.
Grade: B+

Javier Baez – The Mets got him to be a difference maker in the order and he put up a 141 OPS+, which was the best mark on the team this season among anyone with more than a handful of PA. He made the case to re-sign hm about as well as he possibly could with his bat. Will there be any lingering bad feelings about the “thumbs down” mess?
Grade: A-

Carlos Carrasco – Maybe my expectations were out of whack but it’s hard to imagine how this season could have been any worse. Out nearly two-thirds of the year and a 6.05 ERA when he did pitch. It’s too soon to declare him done but 10 more starts like this will probably be enough.
Grade: F

Miguel Castro – A first-half surprise, Castro pitched even better in the second half as he got his gopher ball tendency under control. He still walks too many guys but it wasn’t a feeling of impending doom when he came into the game like others from the pen.
Grade: B

Michael Conforto – While the rest of the team seemed to pack it in the last two months of the year, Conforto put up a .275/.372/.461 line in his final 207 PA. This may have been below what you expected but my preseason forecast was for .275/.365/.460 – which is almost eerily accurate. But he was terrible and injured the other four months of the season.
Grade: D+

Jacob deGrom – Was fantastic when he was healthy. It’s just that he missed so much time. It’s impossible to give him a grade so he’ll get two.
Grade: A+ for performance. Grade: D for health

Edwin Diaz – He had a 12-game stretch in the middle of the year where he was brutal. But in his last 19 games, Diaz had a 1.89 ERA, a 0.864 WHIP and he limited opposing batters to a .452 OPS. In a way, he’s like Alonso where maybe our expectations are too high.
Grade: B

Jeurys Familia – While Diaz finished on an up note, Familia did the opposite. In his final 16 games, he had a 5.68 ERA, a 1.263 WHIP and an .830 OPS allowed. And it’s not like he was great before that, either. It feels like he’s still got good enough stuff to be an MLB reliever. But he absolutely should get two or more days off between appearances and his manager should bend over backwards to avoid high-leverage situations – things that the 2021 Mets didn’t do with him.
Grade: D+

Rich Hill – He was brought in to give the Mets a reliable guy to go 4-6 innings each time out, rather than having to use a bullpen game. Hill gave the Mets exactly what they expected. If he’s willing to come back for the same contract he signed for 2021 – and is willing to pitch some in relief – the Mets should absolutely bring him back.
Grade: B

Francisco Lindor – The storyline will be how Lindor struggled in his first year in New York, much like Carlos Beltran and others before him. But the reality is that Lindor was incredibly lousy his first seven weeks with the Mets and then was prime Lindor after that brutal stretch. Lifetime, he has an .821 OPS. In his final 337 PA in 2021, Lindor posted an .833 OPS, with 17 HR in what essentially was half a season.
Grade: C+

Aaron Loup – It was a fantastic year. The only issue was that he wasn’t used properly. He had the same number of appearances as Familia but faced 44 fewer batters. A lot of that was because Loup, you know, got outs. But part was because he was brought in to end an inning when he should have been used for a full inning or more depending on pitch count.
Grade: A+

Trevor May – He was fairly similar, but worse, than Castro. And we certainly had higher expectations than that for May. And even when he did succeed, it seemed to be a giant struggle.
Grade: C+

James McCann – It may be that McCann can only be counted on for 100 or so starts a year. The Mets gambled that he wouldn’t lose that much offensive production with the increase in playing time. And that gamble backfired in 2021. Yes, he was a defensive upgrade from what the Mets received previously from their backstops. But they weren’t paying 4/$40.6 for the second coming of Jeff Mathis.
Grade: D

Jeff McNeil – He went from a cornerstone offensive player to a questionable starter. Perhaps the best reason to re-sign Baez would be so that neither Robinson Cano nor McNeil will be considered a full-time starter at the beginning of 2022.
Grade: D

Tylor Megill – For a guy who wasn’t considered a top prospect, one who had virtually no experience above A ball prior to this season, Megill did a great job when pressed into action. But he was really good against the Braves (2.75 ERA in 19.2 IP) and rotten against just about everyone else.
Grade: C

Tomas Nido – It wasn’t a good year for Nido, who had trouble staying healthy and had trouble hitting when he was active. The good news for Nido was that Patrick Mazeika showed even less when he got a chance to play.
Grade: D

Brandon Nimmo – Injuries again ruined Nimmo’s year, the second time in three seasons where he’s missed significant time. He was out two months with a finger injury and also missed time with an injured hamstring. His power numbers were down when he returned from his first injury. But we caught a glimpse of the player he can be when healthy in his final 20 games, when he had 10 XBH in 86 PA.
Grade: B

David Peterson – Made a splash in his MLB debut last year but he greatly outperformed his peripherals. My expectations were lower than many people for Peterson. And he didn’t reach them while being wildly inconsistent with his performances before suffering a season-ending injury.
Grade D

Kevin Pillar – Did better in the second half of the season, with a .760 OPS in his final 144 PA of the year. He’s a good fourth outfielder and my hope is he comes back in 2022.
Grade C+

Dominic Smith – He played too much early in the year and then not enough at the end of the season. His offense was a major disappointment and he needs a significant commitment to laying off high pitches. It still feels like he can be an MLB contributor. But it also seems like he might do it on a team besides the Mets. His defense saves him from the minus on this grade.
Grade: D

Drew Smith – Was good when he was healthy but he missed significant time once again. Also, while he had a shiny 2.40 ERA, it came with a 4.69 FIP. He’s not an eighth-inning reliever but is a fine sixth or seventh man in the pen.
Grade: C

Marcus Stroman – If before the season started, you were told that Stroman would lead the team in innings pitched and have a 3.02 ERA, you’d probably have been thrilled. He finished 16th in the NL in IP and 8th in ERA. Re-signing him should be the offseason’s top priority.
Grade: A

Jonathan Villar – He finished the year with a 102 OPS+, a nice bounceback from his awful 2020 season and right in line with his 2015-2019 output. He’s a league-average hitter. Nothing more, nothing less. Despite some high-profile gaffes, his baserunning is still a plus. But he’s not a good defender, no matter what the broadcasters might tell you. In a little over half a season at 3B, Villar had a (-4) DRS and a (-4.8) UZR.
Grade: C+

Taijuan Walker – Was great in the first half and lousy in the second half, at least until his final start of the season. Perhaps the biggest thing is that he made 29 starts, tying a career-high established in 2015.
Grade: B-

Luis Rojas – He got fired, which should pretty much tell you all that you need to know. The Mets have offered him a chance to remain with the organization, so it will be interesting to see what he does. He’s very young and will definitely get a chance to manage in MLB again. Hopefully he reflects on what he did wrong and can be one of those guys who becomes much better in his next stop.
Grade: D

Zack Scott/Sandy Alderson – Everyone is down on this duo and it’s hard to be up in arms about that reaction, with the non-player issues these two have hanging around their necks. But both were pressed into bigger roles than they were supposed to have. Scott was supposed to be in an assistant, behind-the-scenes role while Alderson was supposed to be more involved with the business side of things.

Yet that duo gave the QO to Stroman, made the big trade for Lindor and brought in Walker, Loup, Baez and Hill, along with Pillar and Villar. That’s a big chuck of the good grades on the 2021 Mets. McCann was the big miss but if J.T. Realmuto didn’t want to play in Queens, what were they supposed to do?

Neither Alderson nor Scott will be in the same position next year that they were in 2021, with Scott possibly not even in the organization. But the failure of the 2021 Mets had less to do with the performance of this duo than many people believe. Like with deGrom, it seems there should be two grades here:
Grade B for Player Acquisition. Grade F for non-player hires