The Mets offense that excelled at timely hitting and methodical scoring has hit a bit of a wall.
Over their last 25 games entering Wednesday’s series finale against the Atlanta Braves, they’re averaging just 3.8 runs per outing with a team batting average of .226.
An overwhelming lack of power outside Pete Alonso remains a glaring issue, too, as Buck Showalter’s men are slugging just .378 during that stretch. It’s a big reason why they’ve been treading water at around .500 at 13-12.
Top Sportsbook Offers
With Major League Baseball’s trade deadline looming in roughly three weeks (Aug. 2), the Mets’ biggest culprit in its struggles is originating from the DH spot.
Of its trio of preseason options, JD Davis and Dominic Smith have woefully underwhelmed while Robinson Cano is now being paid by the Mets to play for the Braves.
Davis is batting just .240 with a .681 OPS, three home runs and 19 RBI in 59 games this season.
Smith, who was demoted to the minors earlier this summer, is providing even less with a .203 average, .581 OPS, zero home runs, and 17 RBI.
“We’ve got among the lowest DH productivity in the game,” Mets president Sandy Alderson Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman on The Show Podcast. “Take [Pete] Alonso out of it and it’s been very poor… We’ve been waiting all season for one or two of those players to ignite, and that hasn’t happened.”
Needless to say, that spot in the order is a priority for Alderson and general manager, Billy Eppler, to address before the deadline — and the most likely scenario is that it will come from outside the organization.
That would suggest potentially-available trade targets like Josh Bell and Nelson Cruz of the Washington Nationals along with Trey Mancini of the Baltimore Orioles.
Alderson also revealed that it would be highly unlikely that top prospect Francisco Alvarez would be called up to the majors after his recent promotion to Triple-A, citing a need for him to show established success at that level before getting the call.
