Mets off to a great start despite obvious issues

If you were told before the start of Spring Training that the Mets would be without Francisco Alvarez, Paul Blackburn, Sean Manaea, Frankie Montas and Jeff McNeil, that the offense would have a .197/.282/.356 line for an 80 OPS+ and that their first three opponents would be a combined 11-8 against teams besides the Mets – what do you think you would have guessed New York’s record would be after nine games?

Chances are you wouldn’t have said 6-3.

The 2025 Mets are far from a perfect team. It’s reasonable to have concerns about the starting pitching, the relievers can’t possibly continue their early results, there seems to be multiple weak spots in the lineup, the defense is far from stellar and there’s a legitimate concern about depth available in Triple-A. Still, let’s take those concerns one by one.

With at least two starters expected to be in the rotation on the shelf to open the season – and the two perhaps best suited to give the club innings – the starters have done a good job. Sure, we all would prefer to get more length. But in the first month of the season, you’re simply not going to get the length from starters that you will when the weather warms up. And the quality of the innings the starters are giving is just fine. The SP have a 2.40 ERA – actually, that’s significantly better than fine. Starters last year for the Mets had a 3.91 ERA.

The relievers have been fantastic and it’s inevitable that they will fall off from the current pace. Yet we have to acknowledge that the players who make up this year’s pen are better than what was assembled for the start of 2024. Edwin Diaz is another year removed from surgery and should provide a better anchor than a year ago. And Huascar Brazoban, A.J. Minter and Ryne Stanek are likely to provide significantly better results than Jake Diekman, Adam Ottavino and Yohan Ramirez. The 2024 Mets had to shuffle thru a bevy of relievers before finding a suitable crew. This year’s squad should require many fewer moves.

The offense certainly isn’t clicking on all cylinders and 2B, 3B and CF seems particularly bad. But it’s reasonable to assume that 2B will improve once Jeff McNeil returns, even if he’s not the player he was in 2022. Mark Vientos almost has to be better. Which leaves CF as the big concern. My opinion is that Jose Siri is getting too many PA for what his bat is likely to produce given his MLB history. But both Siri and Tyrone Taylor have been so bad that they have to be better moving forward. And it’s not like Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto have been producing like expected so far. My concern about the offense right now – for the long run – is just about nil.

The defense hasn’t been special. But what are the odds that Francisco Lindor has another two-error game? Or that the center fielders aren’t better moving forward? Or that Luisangel Acuna will be on the field a significant amount for brain farts? Ultimately, my opinion is that the defense won’t be the reason for many losses here in 2025, even if it won’t be responsible for many wins, either. It’s good enough.

The depth might be the biggest question mark. Who steps up if another starter goes down before one of the three injured pitchers return? What if Vientos doesn’t improve? What if neither of the center fielders hit? What if multiple injuries hit the pen, like what in 2024? There may not be an answer for any of those questions. But injuries aside, the hope is that the Mets can survive a couple of lineup spots under-performing. And if injuries do hit, they can attempt to ride out with what’s available in the short term. And any long-term issues can be dealt with thru trades. While Triple-A may not have many answers, there’s enough talent at Double-A and lower to provide any necessary answers as trade chits. And who knows – perhaps Ronny Mauricio and Jett Williams can be offensive answers later in the season, if need be.

Bottom line, a 6-3 record is an incredible start for the hand that was dealt to the Mets here in the early going. It may not be sustainable with the current level of offense yet it feels like the hitters assembled should be able to post markedly better results than what they have so far. And once the hitters pick things up, the pitchers won’t have to post a 1.91 ERA to stack wins.