BOSTON — You don’t have to be an MIT graduate to understand there’s one thing Mets and Red Sox fans agree on. That became plain over the past two days at Fenway Park, when chants of “Yankees suck,” became a frequent bonding exercises for the respective fan bases.
Of course, while the underachieving Yankees aren’t going to be disagreeing very strongly over that bold claim right now, the Red Sox are in the very same boat (tied for last in the stacked AL East), and the Mets are paddling hard just to try to get there.
The competition this weekend between two teams on the bubble (will they buy or sell?) could easily tell the tale for one or both. You might call it a matchup of the mediocre.
The Mets and Red Sox split their doubleheader Saturday, delaying tough decisions for yet another day. That it was a day-night doubleheader was only fitting, as to this point both teams seem almost precisely half-good and half-bad.
The Mets held on to win the first game, played over two days after it was suspended Friday night due to a torrential downpour. While that was an encouraging comeback victory, the good cheer lasted only until nightfall. In game two, the Red Sox tattooed future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer, hitting four home runs off him (and five in the game), which is doubly bad because it potentially reduces the veteran right-hander’s trade value if the Mets choose go that unhappy route.
They’re not there yet. Baseball’s most expensive team — nearly half-a-billion dollars spent, including the Steve Cohen tax and other smaller taxes — has about a week to decide whether to execute a sale that’s bound to be dissatisfying (more on that below) or try to right the ship in more convincing fashion.
The Mets are not without hope just yet. AP
“We’re not giving up. We’re never giving up,” Mark Canha said between games. “We’re just going to fight every day.”
No, these Mets, while among the sport’s most underachieving teams (right there with the Padres, Cardinals and White Sox, and ahead of the Yankees in that unpleasant regard), aren’t quite dead yet. They may need the help of one of the world-class medical centers here, but they still have the hint of a pulse.
Sure, their chances remain slim to get back to the postseason. Ninety eight games into the season, they are under .500, too many games out to mention and still no semblance of the team that somehow won 101 games last year before evaporating late.
Frustration has been building for months around the team from Queens. But every once in a while they show signs that make you believe there’s a chance. The Mets flexed the kind of muscle seen too infrequently this season Friday, clobbering two homers on Day 1 of the two-day game to spark a comeback win — one each by the beloved Brandon Nimmo and the not-so-beloved Daniel Vogelbach.
Then, on Saturday, the beleaguered bullpen combined for 5 ²/₃ innings of one-run relief against one of the better lineups going to wrap up the victory. Now that was a pleasant surprise!
Of course that came before Game 2, which turned into a real downer real fast. That has been the story of the season so far — when something good happens, it doesn’t last.
Maybe the Mets can take some inspiration from the Red Sox, who altered their course just enough that they moved from obvious sellers to likely buyers. And give them credit. If you think the Mets are flawed, you should check out the Red Sox’s defense, which would be racking up errors if the official scorer wasn’t so weirdly positive here (everything’s a hit!)
Mets players are trying to fend off that sale. But it’s touch-and-go at this point.
“It always comes down to that last week. We have a veteran group here that knows how it works,” Canha said. “We know how important these last few games are, for sure.”
The position here hasn’t changed. As we’ve noted in this space a few times already, there’s no sense selling since the Mets lack the kind of players that make a sale worthwhile. The only tradeable player who has “excess value” is David Robertson, and a 38-year-old reliever — even a great one — isn’t going to exactly bring back a haul.
The only way the Mets could extract top-100 type prospects is if they offered to pay most or all of the contracts of Scherzer and Justin Verlander, in effect buying a prospect or two. That seems unseemly.
But mostly, it doesn’t seem wise. Scherzer, despite his performance Saturday, and Verlander remain reasons 1 and 1A the Mets can still get back in this. They also provide hope for 2024. Without them, what do they have?
Before Saturday, Scherzer was showing positive signs. Verlander went eight innings the last time out. It was like the good old days.
“The talent on that club is more than enough to make a run,” one NL scout claimed.
That remains to be seen. But team higherups only have a week or so to decide whether they agree.
Mets not out of the woods yet but could soon start daring to believe
