Thoughts on the Mets' slump, potential trade deadline moves and Pete Alonso's last 200 PA

With the Mets in the midst of a June Swoon, what better time to touch base with the former Mayor of Panic City, Chris Flanders? What follows is an email conversation between me and Chris over some current topics in Metsland.

Brian: The Mets went into a tailspin that matched the Kodai Senga injury, along with playing the Braves and Phillies a bunch. Are they both coincidences or do you feel there's more at play here?

Chris: My lurking suspicion is that there is a bit of both at play. Senga going down was not inevitable to happen in front of this stretch of games, while at the same time this stretch of games against our rivals who badly want to beat the Mets did focus light on some of the shortcomings that are going on. It's easy for Mendoza to say, look, the pen is getting rest, but there are long outings and plenty of high leverage situations that drain the tank. From a performance perspective, the team is asking a lot of people that may not be ready to escalate at the pace the team needs for this season. The other thing we need to understand somehow is that this team feels prone to team-wide shutdowns, especially at the plate. It feels like club DNA, and it seems to be triggered when the Braves are somewhere nearby.

It was really good to recover these last two games from Atlanta, and now with the Pirates on tap, so you think this skid is over, or with Canning popping his Achilles (that was painful to actually see it happen), has the team just bobbed up for a gulp of air before facing more problems? And if the latter, what kind of moves do you see Stearns having to make next month?

Brian: I tend to side in the "coincidences" camp. And the more I think about it, it's better to have happened when they played the Braves and Phillies. How bad would it have been if the 2-10 stretch happened when they played the White Sox and Rockies nine times in 13 days?

As for your question, the first thing that pops into mind is the old saying that momentum is the next day's starting pitcher. Is Frankie Montas for real? Is David Peterson going to continue his good pitching? Is Clay Holmes recovered from his Coors Field exposure? Is Sean Manaea's setback limited to just a few days? No one can answer those questions ahead of time - we have to just wait and see.

I'm on record as believing that if the Mets are going to make a move at the trading deadline, they should be considering ceiling much more so than floor. We talked about this briefly in the offseason and at that time, my opinion was that it wasn't the right time to go all in. But with the start they got off to, the calculus has changed for me. I do think it's the right time to make a major move, whether for an SP1 or SP2 or an impact late-inning reliever or a CF who can bat in the top five of the order. Those things will be expensive. Yet there's nothing wrong for paying fair market value for quality for a team that can win 95 games in the regular season and has legitimate aspirations to make the World Series.

Chris: Oh, if they went 2-10 facing the Rockies and ChiSox then we would know the team was not for real. But if you ask me would a depleted Mets be better suited to win those games, I would have taken that bet. Would a full-strength Mets squad have done better in this current stretch? My guess is much better, so overall, I suspect that they would have emerged with a better record than they have now. However, a share of the top of the Division is nothing to sneeze at and I sure am hoping that they can return to .550 ball and that the circle aligns in our favor.

I've made no bones about the need for more top of the rotation arms, and I am still there. I'd like to see Stearns woo away Sandy Alcantara, as long as Jonah Tong and Nolan McLean are not involved, but Tong in particular. I think they can get Alcantara into the pitching lab wizardry and fix what has been going wrong. Like you said, the needs are going to be expensive and not for the faint-hearted.

So, all the talking heads keep saying aside from pitching, the top needs are center field and 3B. Where do you sit on the needs for these positions? Like would you turn to St. Louis and ask about Nolan Arenado? I keep hearing rumors about Cedric Mullins or Luis Robert Jr. for CF, and truthfully none of these options excite me at all.

As the calendar changes to real summer, what about Juan Soto? I read he's on track to have the best numbers for a Mets position player in the team's history. He mentioned his swing and play has improved with the weather getting hot. Maybe having come from Upstate as a kid, I loved playing in cool weather and much less so when it got hot and steamy outside. Do you see Soto's productivity as weather-related or more the expected picking up after changing teams and all that tags along?

Brian: Last year, the Mets were 9-19 in their worst month. This year, they're 12-13 in June and can finish with a winning record in what we hope will be their worst month. I'll gladly take that.

As for Soto, I’m sure the weather heating up has helped some. But not sure that should rate above his actual numbers finally matching his expected numbers based on contact.

Additionally, my take is that neither 3B nor CF are a great need for the team. There's no way I'd trade for Arenado nor Robert and while Mullins has some appeal, my guess is that the Orioles want more than would make sense to me. But, if the Pirates were to make Oneil Cruz available, that would be a different story. That's a guy you pay what it takes to get. Like you, it seems like pitching is the greatest need to me. But Cruz is in his age-26 season and has made the transition to CF from SS that we've talked about in an aspirational way with both Luisangel Acuna and Jett Williams. That's worth something. And so is his 30-30 talent.

My last question for you is this: After a magical 36-game start to the season, where he was tremendous, Pete Alonso has been the same guy he was in 2024 since that hot start. In his last 47 games and 203 PA, Alonso has a .769 OPS, compared to a .788 OPS last year. So, has anything really changed for Alonso? Should we view him now any differently than we did last November?

Chris: For sure, it is way better to be this year's Mets. I just wish when they had the snake trapped, they cut the head off instead of giving it life. The Braves are very much a contender for the Division now. Look, if you open the door to Cruz, you might as well make it a two-fer and make it Paul Skenes as well, and just have the Pirates FO come to NY and pick six or seven prospects, including Brett Baty, Ronny Mauricio, Mark Vientos, of whomever they want and call the presser!

Any player is gonna have some ups and downs and it would be just as easy to say the same thing about Francisco Lindor. Alonso’s been getting the hits and driving in runs recently. I’m not worried. He was on a pace that would need PEDs to sustain.