2026 Mets Manger Only Mode

[Highlander]

I posted a bit about this project in the General forum because of some strange decisions the AI was making, but thought I'd share the results of my 2026 season (and hopefully beyond!). Overall, things went really well....this team was MUCH better than the real life Mets have been so far, but I'll let you see if it ended in a "Metsian" way or not. I play out every game so I am a true manager, but let the AI David Stearns make all the roster decisions for better or worse.


Here's how the final standings played out-





The only thing you can't see is that the Braves tied the Pirates for the last NL Wildcard spot and Atlanta won the one game playoff to take the spot.


Obviously, it was a great season for the Mets....anytime you have 9 more wins than any other team in the league, things are going well! It was pretty much a wire to wire run and there was never really any question as to whether they would win the Division.




Here’s a look at the players that made this season happen-








Transactions- Where did some of these guys come from?

3/29/26- Alex Faedo was signed as a minor league FA.
4/5/26- Richard Lovelady was released and ended up signing with Colorado.
7/14/26- Luis Garcia was released....no one else signed him and he has now retired. His numbers aren't shown above (because he retired maybe?) but he was pretty bad.
7/18/26- In probably the biggest deal David Stearns made, we traded minor league P RJ Gordon to the Texas Rangers for P Nathan Eovaldi and minor league P JD McReynolds. Eovaldi did really well for us and we have him for next year as well based on his contract. Gordon wasn't a big loss based on what I can see so if Eovaldi can be a solid #3 pitcher for us next year like he was for his 13 games this season, I am good with this deal.
7/28/26- We traded minor league P Jonathan Santucci to the Tampa Bay Rays for P Kevin Kelly. I'm a bit torn on this one as Santucci seems like he could be pretty good but Kelly is a solid RP and is young enough to help us for a while. He's arbitration eligible and shouldn't cost much so I think this deal was a good one for both sides. Tampa brought Santucci up to the majors already and he didn't fare well....seems like he's not ready to me. We'll see how he develops before really rating this deal, but right now I'm good with it.
7/29/26- I was very interested to see if Stearns could pull off one more big deal to help us make a big push into the playoffs and then he came through with this complete stinker of a deal. We dealt minor league OF Edward Lantigua to the Reds for P Sam Moll. I have no idea why this deal was made. Lantigua is 20 years old and looks like he has some really good potential. Moll is, in a word, AWFUL! He's 34, he stunk in Cincy, he stunk with us (8 Ks and 7 BB!), he got sent down to AAA after no one claimed him on waivers on 8/31 (surprise, surprise!) and now I see we just signed him to an extension for next year worth 1.32 M!! What?? David and I need to have a talk about this one!

I'll go through injuries, awards and other related stuff next.

[Highlander]

Injuries- A major factor on the season

AJ Minter- Preseason injury- came back on 5/31/26

Mike Tauchman- Preseason injury- came back 6/10/26

Marcus Semien- 5/10/26- Herniated Disc- out 6 weeks

Brooks Raley- 5/15/26- Elbow Ligament Reconstruction Surgery- out 12-13 months

Bo Bichette- 8/16/26- Fractured Rib- out 4 weeks

Luis Robert- 9/9/26- Strained Oblique- out 5-6 weeks.....out for the playoffs

Devin Williams- 9/15/26- Ruptured Disc- out 8 months....out for the playoffs

Kodai Senga- 9/23/26- Elbow Inflammation- out 4 weeks....out for the playoffs

Sean Manaea- 9/27/26- Sprained Elbow- out 6 weeks....out for the playoffs

Carson Benge- 9/29/26- Concussion- out 5-6 weeks...out for the playoffs

Nolan McLean- 10/5/26- Wrist Soreness- out 3 weeks....went down 2 outs into his 1st playoff start

So to recap, we lost 6 major players from our lineup and pitching staff in the last month or so of the season and other than 2 outs for Nolan McLean, none of those guys could contribute to our playoff run. The hits just kept coming....Even though Senga had a really great year, I think he was the easiest one to overcome with the rest of our roster. Benge and Robert were huge losses to the lineup and losing Williams and Manaea out of the bullpen were massive losses. Manaea was a guy we really leaned on in lots of situations. I'll save the playoff results for another post, but you can probably guess.....

Awards, Milestones, Etc.

Juan Soto- MVP winner, All-Star, Silver Slugger in LF, League Leader in Plate Appearances, Runs, HR, BB, OBP, RC, RC/27, OPS, wOBA, wRC+ and WAR.....quite a season!

Francisco Lindor- All-Star, 300th Career HR

Jorge Polanco- Gold Glove at 1B, League Leader in RBI and Sac Flys

Carson Benge- ROY winner, All-Star

Bo Bichette- All-Star, Platinum Stick at 3B, Batting Champion

Luis Robert- All-Star, Platinum Stick at CF

Francisco Alvarez- All-Star, Platinum Stick at C

Marcus Semien- 1000th Career Run

Nolan McLean- League Leader in BABIP and H/9

Kodai Senga- All-Star

Luke Weaver- League Leader in Holds

Freddy Peralta- Pitched the only Complete Game Shutout in the NL

Clay Holmes- League Leader in GB%

[Highlander]

2026 Playoffs and Other Notes Around the League

The Wildcard Rounds went as follows-

Seattle over Baltimore, 2-1

Detroit over Boston, 2-1

Philadelphia over Milwaukee, 2-0

San Francisco over Atlanta, 2-1

We were matched up against the Phillies in the Division Series and did our best to overcome all of those last minute injuries, but just didn't have enough. We were able to take the series to 5 games, but lost convincingly in game 5 by a 9-1 score. Freddy Peralta really struggled with a 10.80 ERA in 2 starts and Lindor only had 2 hits in 20 AB....with those two guys falling apart and the other guys we were missing it was a tall task to beat anyone....never mind a still strong Phillies team.

The rest of the Division Series went as follows-

Seattle over New York, 3-2

Detroit over the A's, 3-1

San Francisco over Chicago, 3-2

The World Series ended up being a West Coast affair with Seattle getting past Detroit, 4 games to 3 and San Francisco as a surprise team, beating the Phillies 4-2. Both teams came in with identical 88-74 records in the regular season and the Giants had swept Seattle 3-0 when they met. However, it was the Mariners that brought home their very first World Series Championship, 4-2. SS JP Crawford took home the World Series MVP.

This is pretty much where I've left off. So, going forward I will update roster moves as they happen and probably look to give quick updates of the team each month of playing time. As I mentioned, I play games out so it may be a bit between updates. The offseason ones will come quicker though as I sim through days quickly.

[Highlander]

I forgot to mention a few "around the league" notes-

Other major award winners were-

MVP- Aaron Judge (NYY)
Cy Young- George Kirby (SEA), Chris Sale (ATL)
Relief- Aroldis Chapman (BOS), Abner Uribe (MIL)
ROY- Chase DeLauter (CLE)

League Leaders were-

Vladimir Guerrero (TOR) led the AL in batting at .300
Aaron Judge (NYY) led the AL in HR with 49
Nick Kurtz (ATH) led the AL in RBI with 129
Jazz Chisholm (NYY) led the AL in SB with 44, David Hamilton (MIL) led the NL with 47

On the pitching side, the Wins leaders were Jack Flaherty (DET) with 15 and Logan Webb (SF) with 16. The ERA leaders were Ryan Weathers (NYY) at 3.01 and Chris Sale (ATL) at 2.31. Strikeout Leaders were Cole Ragans (KC) with 212 and Yoshinobu Yamamoto (LAD) with 221. Saves leaders were Cole Sands (MIN) with 38 and Jhoan Duran (PHI) with 44.

[Highlander]

Early Offseason Roster Moves/Contracts

Besides Luis Garcia, we had one other pitcher who I totally forgot that retired at season's end and seemingly was taken off the stat report because of that. Huascar Brazoban has officially retired and, while he spent the whole season with us, he was just awful. I tried to use him only in blowouts but because he was on the roster all year, he was forced into action more often than that. In 57 IP he had a 7.74 ERA! I don't understand why he wasn't released but David Stearns seems to like who he likes, the team be damned (MJ Melendez on the offense side is another!).

- We did not take the team option on Luis Robert so he will be a Free Agent.

- The following players appear to be heading to free agency as no extension has been signed as of 11/14/26- AJ Minter, David Peterson, Freddy Peralta, Brooks Raley, Tyrone Taylor, Luis Torrens, Mike Tauchman, Ben Rortvedt, Vidal Brujan, Joe Jacques, Austin Warren, Christian Pache

- The following players were signed to extensions or have an Auto-renew contract- Francisco Alvarez (5 years, 90.1M), Alex Faedo (Auto-renew at 2.4M...yuck!), Jared Young (Auto-renew at 1.1M), Kevin Kelly (1 year, 1.5M), Sam Moll (1 year, 1.3M...double yuck!!), Nolan McLean (Auto-renew at 792K), Adbert Alzolay (1 year, 2.6M), Brett Baty (1 year, 3.1M), Mark Vientos (5 years, 58.4M), Christian Arroyo (1 year, 1.6M...really?)

Everyone else either has an existing contract that keeps them with the team at least one more year or is still under team control. A few questionable decisions on Faedo, Moll and Arroyo, but the others I am good with. I'd like to see us sign Peralta, Torrens and maybe Peterson who did pretty well in a relief role and can be a swing man. We will see what Mr. Stearns has in store as the offseason progresses.

At this point, we seem to be in need of bullpen help (especially with Williams out to start the season and losing a number of guys from last season). Centerfield is a need with Robert being let go, but AJ Ewing had a strong year in AAA so maybe he is in the plans. With Tauchman and Taylor leaving, we will need OF depth as well. Infield depth could be better too. The bullpen is the only real place where I'd see a need for a real top notch pickup or two, though.

[Highlander]

Arbitration/Free Agency

Arbitration decisions have been made and players have filed for free agency.....the following moves affect the Mets (a few were not ones I mentioned earlier...missed or misinterpreted a few I think!)-

Vidal Brujan was awarded 1.4M.

Tylor Megill was awarded 5.5M after missing all of 2026 with an injury. Hopefully he can have some success in 2027.

Christian Pache was awarded 2.4M. He and Brujan are both defense first (only?) players who didn't join us last year. Hopefully only looking at them as "break glass in case of emergency" guys.

Dedniel Nunez was awarded 1.4M after missing all of 2026. Not sure what we can expect from him.

Austin Warren, who I thought was already a FA was awarded 1.4M as well. Another "break glass" guy but I guess we need a few....has to be some better guys out there though.

We had two guys file for Free Agency in Luis Robert and Freddy Peralta. Robert I knew and was ready for. Somehow I was still holding out hope that Freddy would get signed. Add a top line starter to the pickups we need. Megill better not be the guy they are looking at to replace Freddy because he's not going to cut it if we really want to contend.

[Highlander]

Offseason Signings and Trades

Mets Related- Anything we do

- Freddy Peralta was signed by the White Sox to a 4 year/105.6M deal. Seems like a deal we could have done or beat but maybe better things are coming?

- We struck our first deal....surprisingly it was with the division rival Braves. We sent 3 minor leaguers- 22 year old P Cam Tilly, 24 year old P Zack Mack and 23 year old P Garrett Stratton for P Spencer Strider. The Braves will retain 20% of Strider's salary. Spencer still has this year and next with a team option in 2029. He wasn't great last year with a 5.53 ERA in 18 starts but he had 10.4 K/9 so hopefully we can bring out at least a facsimile of the Strider of 3-4 years ago. Interestingly, his FIP was 4.60 but his SIERA was 3.07 so maybe there is a little hope? At 22M (minus the 20%) per season, we have to hope for the best!

- We have also made a deal with the bust Pirates. We sent a group of minor leaguers, including 19 year old Dillon Stiltner, 21 year old P Min-kyun Woo and 22 year old 3B Jacob Reimer for OF Dominic Fletcher. I'll be honest....losing Reimer hurts. He had an .851 OPS in AAA. The issue with him is his defense, so while it would have been a challenge to find him a spot, that bat would be pretty valuable. Fletcher is a great OFer and will fill in for Taylor really well on the defense side, but he's 29 and had a .581 OPS in 416 AB last year. The Pirates got the best of this one, I am afraid.

- In a smaller deal, we picked up another great defensive OF who can't hit a lick in Albert Almora. He was acquired from the Reds along with 22 year old minor league IF, Dominic Pitelli. We sent 2 minor leaguers in 19 year old IF Giomar Ubiera and 18 year old IF Jose Padilla. No one of consequence here from the looks of it, but if Almora is going to have to take up a roster spot with his .544 OPS from last season, that WILL have consequences.

- Looks like we are stockpiling weak hitting OF! We sent 2 minor leaguers in 22 year old P Frank Camarillo and 18 year old OF Cleiner Ramirez to Colorado for OF Jake McCarthy. To be fair, McCarthy is the best of the guys we've acquired at OF so far with a .688 OPS and he led the league in triples with 8. He plays the corner OF spots well and is passable in CF. He also runs well and stole 27 bases. Not sure where all these OF are going to go, though.

I guess we still don't have enough OF as we just made a deal with the Astros to get OF Jake Meyers. We gave up 2 minor league pitchers in 24 year old Jack Wenninger and 16 year old Bobby Santos. Wenninger has some promise and it's way too early to know about Santos. Meyers is a very good CF but his .651 OPS last year doesn't really stand out from the other guys we've gotten. Seems like some good assets have been sent out and could have been combined for more quality over quantity.

- We finally made a FA signing and it's not a bad one. We signed P Brusdar Graterol to a 3yr/8.2M deal. Not bad for an extreme groundball guy who has fought injuries over the years but also can be very effective.

- Well, we've signed another free agent and I am scratching my head. It's a 2 year/24.4M deal with the 2nd year being a vesting option for Salvador Perez. Now I like Sal....but where am I supposed to play him? He can only play C right now and we have Alvarez coming off a huge year and we signed him to a big 5 year deal. Are we really paying 12M for a back up catcher? I'll try to DH one of them when I can I guess, but if the C gets hurt in the game, that is tough to deal with. This is going to be a very interesting roster....hope none of our IF get hurt!

-On the lighter side, I believe we may have the player with the best digestive system in the league. We just signed a minor league free agent named Kade Shatwell.

- Luis Robert has chosen St Louis as his new home as he signed a 5yr/59.5M deal with them.

- We signed P Pierce Johnson to a minor league deal. He might have enough left to help us out at some point this season.

- AJ Minter signed a 1 year/2.4M deal with the Padres. We gave that deal to much worse pitchers....frustrating.

- David Peterson ended up with just a 1yr deal for 12.8 M with the Rangers. I'm OK losing him at that price.

The Mariners took a shot with Brooks Raley on a 1yr/1.7M deal, but now it has been announced that he had a major setback and will miss another 15 months. At his age, that might be it for him.

The Rest of the League- Only the biggest/most interesting signings and trades

- The Pirates have been busy trading a number of guys and they just completed a big one with the World Series Champion Mariners. The Pirates are cashing in on a big comeback season by Marcell Ozuna, who hit 28 HR and drove in 102 by trading him for a prospect package that includes the #42 overall prospect in P Kade Anderson.

- The Twins pulled off a very interesting trade with the Yankees. They sent 26 year old minor league P Justin Lawson, who looks like a release candidate to me, for 21 year old minor league IF George Lombard. Now George has lost his top 100 prospect status, but he still looks like a very high potential guy who did well in AAA as a 21 year old. No idea what the Yankees were thinking here, but good for the Twins.

- Well, now I know why the Yankees wanted to trade Lombard...although it seems they could have gotten much more for him. The next deal they made was with the Reds. The Yankees sent the current #1 prospect in baseball in 17 year old P Manny Marquez (he was a scouting discovery from the Dominican Republic), along with 23 year old minor league P Bryce Cunningham for SS Elly De La Cruz. Now that is a big trade!

- The blockbusters keep coming! The Dodgers have traded C Dalton Rushing and 24 year old minor league P Patrick Copen (#90 Prospect) to the Rangers for P Jacob DeGrom. That 81-81 finish didn't set well in LA, so look for them to make some big moves to get back on top.

- The White Sox continue their quest for improvement by trading for Texas closer Robert Garcia who had a 2.50 ERA and 30 Saves last season. They gave up a couple of minor leaguers who don't even look worth mentioning....not sure what Texas was doing.

- Seattle took another step towards trying to repeat by trading a minor leaguer in 22 year old P Mason Peters to Colorado for OF Mickey Moniak who drove in 95 last year.

- Former batting champion Luis Arraez signed a 4yr/49.8M deal with Arizona.

- The Rangers replaced their closer Garcia by signing Raisel Iglesias to a 2yr/24M deal.

- The Royals signed P David Bednar to a 3yr/17.2M deal. He had 36 saves last year.

- Tampa Bay picked up OF Ramon Laureano, who hit .281 with 24 HR last year on a 4 year/64M deal.

- The free agent we were all waiting to see where he would go has made his decision.....and it's a strange one! Tarik Skubal has signed a 6yr/302.5M contract with the Angels! Time will tell if they will actually put a team around him or if Tarik will become the pitching version of Mike Trout.

- The Twins opened up their wallets in a big way as they just signed 2B Nico Hoerner to a 7 year/217M deal. Nico was an All-Star, Platinum Stick and Gold Glove winner.

- Eugenio Suarez has taken his 36 HR from last year to the Marlins with a 3 year/18.2M deal.

- In addition the Robert signing, the Cardinals have added even more to their OF by signing Randy Arozarena to a 5 year/50.5M deal.

- The Brewers added some big power to their lineup by trading for 1B Munetaka Murakami and his 42 HR (and .226 BA) from the White Sox. The gave up a couple of minor leaguers to get him including the #70 overall prospect in 22 year old P Bishop Letson.

- P Tatsuya Imai signed a 3yr/49.2M contract with Cleveland.

- The Rangers aren't messing around with the bullpen as they signed Dennis Santana to a 2yr/7.8M deal. He had 38 saves and a 2.66 ERA last year....would have been a good addition for us!

- P Shane Bieber signed a 1yr/18.8M deal with Baltimore. That's a lot for a guy who can't seem to stay healthy lately.


Whew, I think that's it. Time to set the Opening Day Lineups and Pitching Staff!

[Highlander]

Opening Day Pitching Staff

SP1- Nathan Eovaldi
SP2- Spencer Strider
SP3- Kodai Senga
SP4- Clay Holmes
SP5- Tylor Megill

So you may notice a major name missing....Nolan McLean! He was one of our very best pitchers last year and now we have a weaker staff with the loss of Peralta and we are starting McLean in AAA??? What kind of decision is that? Maybe the real David Stearns has taken over??

CL- Luke Weaver (remember Devin Williams has a long term injury...due back in 8 weeks)

SU- Brusdar Graterol, Kevin Kelly

MR- Pierce Johnson, Sean Manaea, Adbert Alzolay

LR- Tobias Myers, Dedniel Nunez

When Williams comes back this could be a solid pen....I think it may be better than last year...in some ways anyway. The one area where it is not better is the lack of a lefty. Manaea is the only LHP on the whole staff. The best two lefty relievers I see are both in AA- Evan Sisk and Justin Bruihl. They were both minor league FA signings, but I'd rather have either one of them or even both in place of Pierce and Dedniel. I guess we'll see how things go in due time. Hopefully our offense continues to be as good as last year and we can outslug everyone.

[Highlander]

Opening Day Lineup/Bench

C- Francisco Alvarez

1B- Jorge Polanco

2B- Marcus Semien

3B- Bo Bichette

SS- Francisco Lindor

LF- Juan Soto

CF- Jake McCarthy vs. RHP, Jake Meyers vs. LHP

RF- Carson Benge

DH- Brett Baty vs. RHP, Mark Vientos vs. LHP

Bench- Other than their DH roles, Baty will back up at 2B and 3B and may find himself in the OF at times, while Vientos will back up at 1B and probably 3B at times. McCarthy and Meyers will back up all 3 OF spots when they aren't starting. Sal Perez is our backup C which seems crazy. I have to find him more AB with his power, but DH is the only option and he will have to really hit to overtake what Vientos did last year. Finally, we have Jared Young who can play 1B, 3B and both corner OF spots. I'd rather have a MI guy Stearns never wants us to have someone like that it seems. Young isn't great anywhere but 1B, but he has some thump in his bat and can steal a base.

The offensive roster doesn't have anywhere near the issues as the pitching staff with McLean being left in AAA, but there are a few guys down in AAA I would think could have contributed.....mainly Ronny Mauricio who had an .896 OPS there last year and AJ Ewing who looks ready to take over in CF, hitting .280 with 119 R, 37 doubles, 7 triples and 66 SB last year in AAA. Ryan Clifford's lack of contact scares me, but last year he had an .899 OPS with 34 HR and 100 RBI.

[Highlander]

Quick update-

I am up to April 16th and the Mets are off to a fantastic start at 10-3. Sanity finally has prevailed as Nolan McLean was brought up so I can put him in our rotation where he belongs. To make room for him, Tobias Myers was put on waivers. I moved Tylor Megill into the long relief spot Myers was in. Megill struggled as a starter, with a 6.75 ERA in 2 starts. Myers was actually doing well in the long spot- he pitched 8.1 innings over 3 games and had a 2.16 ERA, a win and a save. He also had just a .84 WHIP but only 2 Ks.

Unless something else of note happens, I'll report back at the end of the month.

[Highlander]

The Mets had a strong month of April, going 19-8. Other highlights of the month include-

- Clay Holmes was named Pitcher of the Month, going 5-0 with a 1.93 ERA. Nathan Eovaldi may have been robbed, as he went 4-0 with a 1.78 ERA.

- Bo Bichette currently leads the league in hitting at .402.

- On the ugly side, Kodai Senga somehow won 2 games despite having a 10.48 ERA for the month in 22.1 IP. Dedniel Nunez is our bullpen equivalent of that with an 11.74 ERA in 7.2 IP for April. Seems like moves should be made, but for now I have to keep using them.

- Injury-wise, Devin Williams has about 4 weeks and then however long he needs to rehab before he will be back.. Kevin Kelly has about 2 weeks...not sure if a rehab will be needed for him.

- No major transactions happened this month other than the aforementioned promotion of Nolan McLean. He's gone 1-1 with a 3.50 ERA since coming up. We've had a few guys up and down in the bullpen....Tobias Myers, Jonah Tong and Evan Sisk have all seen time. Right now that spot belongs to Christian Scott. Personally, I'd like it to be Sisk for now as we need that 2nd lefty. Once Kelly and Devin are back, I'd still like the lefty but we will be a much deeper pen for sure.

[Highlander]

The month of May has started off with some bad luck. Francisco Lindor was hit by a pitch that broke his arm. Surprisingly, he will only be out for about 5 weeks....seems like it could have been much worse but we'll see if there are any setbacks. Grae Kessinger was called up to take his spot. He's a solid defender in 2B, SS and 3B but not much with the bat.....although in his first game he had two hits including a walkoff in the 10th inning! He won't play a lot, but he's already made his mark.

[Highlander]

Another strong month for the Mets at 17-11. There were no monthly award winners, but still some strong performances.

- Bo Bichette "only" hit .296 in May but still leads the league in hitting at .351.

- Francisco Alvarez hit 10 HR in May to move up to 3rd in the league with 13. Ohtani is off to a ridiculous start with 22 HR already!

- Speed-wise, Jake McCarthy is now leading the league with 23 SB.

-On the pitching side, the Mets have the top two wins leaders in Eovaldi with 8 and Holmes with 7. Also, Luke Weaver is 2nd in saves with 18.

- After that horrible start for Kodai Senga, he turned in a MUCH better May- 2-1, 2.33 ERA, 1.19 WHIP...hope it lasts for him!

Speaking of saves, Devin Williams is now on his rehab assignment in Syracuse and should be back soon. He will step right back into the closer role....that should really give some more depth to the bullpen overall. Lindor is only a few days away from his return as well. He will likely have a short rehab, but I'm not positive of that yet. No other injuries caused any trouble this month.

The roster hasn't had many changes since injuries have *knocks on wood* stayed away this month. The bullpen has Weaver, Kevin Kelly, Graterol, Alzolay, Pierce Johnson, Manaea, Megill and Dedniel Nunez. My choice would be to send Nunez down when Devin comes back, but we'll see. Thankfully Nolan McLean has settled into the rotation since his mystery start in AAA.

The biggest change on the offensive side of the roster was that Ronny Mauricio was brought up in place of Grae Kessinger. Ronny was injured when the Lindor injury happened so once he was healthy, he was brought up.

One impressive start to the season on another team I just noticed. Brooks Baldwin of the White Sox (who we are currently playing) has gotten off to an incredible start. He was in AAA for a while and hit .402/.466/.750 in 92 AB with 10 doubles, 2 triples and 6 HR. He was brought up to the White Sox and in 45 AB, he is hitting .400/.460/.867 with 4 doubles, 1 triples and 5 HR....yes, in 45 AB!! And he's only 1-7 in the two games against the Mets so far so before that he was 17-38 to start his season.

[Highlander]

There was a little bit of a lull in June for the Mets, but they still went 15-11. That 10.5 game lead in the NL East is looking awfully tough to overcome....but the team still needs to keep their foot on the gas. (See the next post for the Standings)

With us being pretty much at the halfway point of the season, I thought I'd do a recap of where the roster is right now and how things are going for each spot.

C- Francisco Alvarez- After a solid BA last year at .261, Alvarez has disappointed a bit with just a .212 average so far. His power, however, hasn't disappointed as he has 16 HR on the year.

1B- Jorge Polanco- It's been another strong season so far for Jorge, as he is hitting .286/.340/.483 with 15 HR and 42 RBI. Not on the same RBI pace as last season when he led the league, but he's on pace to score over 100 runs. Defensively, he's been a bit rough this season. After just 2 errors at 1B and 3 overall last season, he already has 6 at 1B this year. Hopefully it's out of his system for the 2nd half.

2B Marcus Semien- He's having a pretty similar season with the bat as last year, although his batting average is down about 20 points from 2026. He has had a rough time in the field as well.....5 errors all last year and 6 already so far in 2027. Not sure why so many errors on that side of the infield so far, but hopefully it turns around soon.

3B Bo Bichette- Bo spent a lot of time at SS when Lindor was out, but is back at 3rd now. He continues to lead the league in hitting and has a slash line of .333/.378/.551 with 24 doubles and 14 HR. He's also got 56 RBI. A very nice season so far!

SS Francisco Lindor- Mr. Smile spent quite a bit of time on the IL, but is back and has continued where he left off. He's got a .902 OPS right now and while his totals won't look as impressive as last year because of the missed time, he is having a great season.

LF Juan Soto- Juan is having another great season but has dropped off a bit from last year. His line is .269/.398/.494 with 17 HR. He only has 8 doubles as well. He has driven in 57 runs which puts him on pace for a career high 113.

CF Jake McCarthy and Jake Meyers- The "2 Jakes" have done an admirable job platooning in CF (while also spelling the corner guys at times. McCarthy has a slash line of .262/.331/.379 with a league leading 29 SB. Meyers has hit .255/.331/.409 and has provided much better defense.

RF Carson Benge- Last year's rookie phenom got off to a slow start, but has really picked it up as of late. He hit 7 HR in June to get up to 11 on the season, but still only has 7 doubles....which puts him on pace for just 14 after hitting 25 last year. Overall, his OPS is down to .729 after being at .826 last year. He had a .924 in June, though so hopefully that will continue.

DH Mark Vientos and Brett Baty- These guys have DH'd and filled in at 3B and 1B as needed through the season, plus 2B for Baty. Vientos has struggled compared to last year with just a .738 OPS after being at .839 last season. Baty has actually improved a little on last year's numbers with a .732 OPS after being at just .705 in 2026. Strangely, they both have 8 HR and 28 RBI on the season.

On the Bench.....Sal Perez and Jared Young- The "other guys" on the bench haven't gotten a ton of playing time but have both made their presence known. Sal has mostly been the backup catcher while seeing a little time at DH. He's got 6 HR in just 110 AB, but hasn't done much else of note. Young has only hit .189 but has a solid .760 OPS thanks to 5 HR in just 74 AB and 14 walks. Most of his production has been in June when he had a 1.234 OPS.

I also have to mention Ronny Mauricio, who is currently in AAA. He had an injury early in the year and then came up while Lindor was hurt. He did well in very limited time with an .869 OPS in just 45 AB. His AAA performance, however, has been ridiculous. He's only got 56 AB, but he is currently hitting .429 with a 1.288 OPS. I'd really like to see him come up over Jared Young.

SP Nathan Eovaldi- Tied for the league lead in wins with 11 so far, Nathan has been a fitting #1 guy so far. He's had a 2.79 ERA and 1.11 WHIP as well.

SP Nolan McLean- After Nolan's strange start in AAA, he was a bit up and down for a pretty long stretch which has led him to a 5-3 record with a 4.03 ERA. Not bad, but not #2 SP territory. However, his last start gave a glimpse at what could be....he went 8 innings, giving up 3 hits, no walks and had 13 Ks. One of the hits was a solo HR so it wasn't a perfect outing, but there aren't many 13 K games in the league any more.

SP Spencer Strider- The former Brave has had a bunch of nagging injuries that have taken him out of games early. When he has pitched, however, he's been solid, going 3-3 with a 3.30 ERA, 1.25 WHIP and 9.5 K/9.

SP Clay Holmes- Clay is having a career year so far, as he is the other wins leader with 11 and just moved into the top spot in the league for ERA at 2.15. Not sure he can continue that into the 2nd half...but if he does, wow!

SP Kodai Senga- After a 10.48 ERA in April over 6 starts, Senga has had ERAs of 2.33 in May and 1.99 in June. He s still at 4.74 for the year with a 1.51 WHIP, but most everything else about his performance says those numbers will keep going down. I'd still feel better with a slightly more reliable guy as 5th starter, but at least he is just a #5.

CL Luke Weaver- Filling in for the injured Devin Williams, Weaver has racked up 19 saves and has pitched really well in pretty much all but one game. That game really messed up all of his numbers and it was my fault. I got really tired while playing one night and must have been half asleep trying to finish a game. I apparently kept hitting the button to have him pitch over and over as I was nodding off (I play one pitch mode). He ended up throwing 78 pitches and gave up 8 ER in 2.1 IP. I have no idea how it went that long. I don't drink or do any kind of drugs, so I can't blame that! Just a really long day with elementary students a couple weeks before summer vacation!!

RP Kevin Kelly- After missing 4 weeks to an injury, Kelly has been fantastic. He's had a 1.82 ERA, .89 WHIP and has yet to give up a HR in 24+ IP.

RP Brusdar Graterol- It's been a rough year for the former Dodger. The hope was he could be a high leverage guy and he has been in that role more than I'd like so far. The results show it can't last- a 5.20 ERA and 1.55 WHIP. He's been tagged with 4 losses as well.

RP Pierce Johnson- Signed as a minor league FA, Pierce has been a major surprise for us. A 3.57 ERA and 1.19 WHIP show he's been effective, but with the dearth of LHP on the staff, he has been tasked with facing a lot of tough leftys which makes his performance even more impressive.

RP Sean Manaea- After an incredible season as a swing man last year, Sean has dropped off this year. He is the only LHP we have, so he has been used more in shorter stints when there's a stretch of LHB coming up in a tough spot. He's got a 4.17 ERA and 1.22 WHIP, so he hasn't been terrible, but not as dominant as he was for much of last year.

RP Adbert Alzolay- If you saw his numbers last year and thought he'd drop off this season, I would have agreed with you.....except he's actually gotten better....A 4-0 record combined with a 2.41 ERA and 1.05 WHIP with 10 K/9.

RP Tylor Megill- Tylor has been a swingman of sorts with 2 starts so far. He hasn't gotten a lot of IP but has a 3.73 ERA and 1.12 WHIP so his time should increase as we go along.

RP Dedniel Nunez- A 5.17 ERA and 1.56 WHIP show that Nunez shouldn't be in much....and he's not. He pretty much only gets time when the game is way out of hand to eat up some innings. He actually got his most innings in June and did really well- a 2.35 ERA, 1.04 WHIP and 20 Ks in 15.1 IP. Still not going to see much time outside of garbage time, though.

One name you didn't see was Devin Williams. He has recovered from his injury and has been on a rehab assignment.....my question is how long it will last?? He has pitched in 9 games and has 6 saves so far for AAA Syracuse. I'm not sure what else he needs to show. Bring him up already! Nunez has an option left, so there isn't an excuse I can see.

Transactions
We haven't made any trades or other signings yet....hopefully it will be a productive deadline for us though. A couple of early trades have been made however-

The Dodgers reacquired RP Evan Phillips from the Marlins who had signed him as a FA. Los Angeles gave up 2 prospects to get the deal done.

In a bigger deal, Cleveland bolstered their OF by acquiring Kyle Stowers from the Marlins. They had to give up a lot, though....2B Travis Bazzana. He seems to have lost his prospect status, but it wasn't long ago he was one of the top guys in the league. Miami got 3 lesser prospects in the deal as well. Stowers better come through for Cleveland. He only had a .683 OPS for Miami this season.

[Highlander]

[Highlander]

A few things have happened that need mentioning before the end of the month-

- It's been a rough start to July as the Mets have gone just 1-5. We still have a 7.5 game lead in the NL East, but both the hitting and pitching have been rough as of late.

- Some good news is that Devin Williams was finally activated from his rehab assignment.....the bad news is that he is replacing Spencer Strider who fractured his elbow and will be out the rest of the season.

- In the same game that Strider got hurt, we also lost Brett Baty for 4-5 weeks with a fractured foot on a HBP. Ronny Mauricio took his spot. I thought we might lose Francisco Alvarez in the same game as well, but his HBP just caused a mild bruise and he will be good in a couple of days. Not a great game for the Mets.

- Still no deals for us as the deadline slowly approaches, but the crosstown Yankees are showing that they will be sellers. They have traded a couple of RP, including Camilo Doval to the Astros for 3 prospects. Strange to see the Yankees in sell mode and 15.5 games under .500 but the team is aging and the minor league system isn't great.

- Finally I will mention the incredible season Rangers OF Wyatt Langford is having. He leads by a wide margin in all 3 Triple Crown categories- .338 BA (2nd place- .323), 29 HR (2nd place- 19), 80 RBI (2nd place- 62). He also leads in OPS (1.113), WAR (5.7) and is 2nd in steals with 24.

[Highlander]

It was a very frustrating month of July for a number of reasons….but I’ll start with some of the good news. First, as you can see above, we now have an 11 game lead in the NL East. So, even though it wasn’t a great month, we actually maintained our lead.


Other highlights of the month were-


- A 19 game hitting streak for Marcus Semien
- Clay Holmes picked up 3 more wins, raising his total to 14….he had a 3.19 ERA and 1.13 WHIP which makes this his “worst” month so far. What a great season for him.
- The following Mets were named to the All-Star team- Clay Holmes, Bo Bichette and Francisco Lindor
- Lindor joined Holmes as the other real bright spot for the month. He hit .341/.412/.648 with 13 doubles and 5 HR.


Now for the multiple sources of frustration this month-


First, the team just went 12-12, which, when taking into account everything that happened, is actually really good. Hopefully, though, we can end this trend of having a worse winning percentage every month so far this season.


Second we have the injuries that occurred this month. We lost Brett Baty for 4-5 weeks with a fractured foot. Sal Perez was lost for the season with radial nerve compression in his elbow. Spencer Strider was also lost for the season with a fractured elbow.


Not only did we lose players to injury, but we also had a number of players completely fall apart this month. On offense we had Juan Soto (.212/.358/.388), Carson Benge (.163/.230/.225), Bo Bichette (.212/.277/.306) and Mark Vientos (.194/.242/.290) all fall well short of their usual output. For pitching, it was Nathan Eovaldi (7.77 ERA), Adbert Alzolay (5.06 ERA), Brusdar Graterol (5.62 ERA), Sean Manaea (6.07 ERA) and Devin Williams (4.50 ERA) all disappoint this month.


Then we come to the transactions made by our “higher ups”. While there were a few positive changes, I am pretty down on most of what happened. Probably the best move made was the promotion of Ronny Mauricio when Baty went down. Ronny has been a big reason this month wasn’t a total disaster, as he hit .279 with 3 HR and 12 RBI. To replace Perez at catcher, we had Chris Suero called up for a game and then we went out and signed Jake Rogers. Jake doesn’t have a great bat, but he is an excellent catcher….plus he is a very good clubhouse guy. He works just fine for a backup catcher.


The next deals are the ones I start to have an issue with. On July 20th, we sent a couple of minor leaguers to the Yankees for RP Jake Bird. He’s not a bad acquisition and if not for the next part of the move, I’d be good with it…..but to make room for Bird, Nolan McLean was sent down to AAA!!!! I really don’t get it. Nolan is coming off a season where he went 14-6 with a 3.65 ERA, 1.09 WHIP and had 185 Ks in 182 IP. This season he’s gone 6-4 with a 3.88 ERA, 1.23 WHIP and 109 Ks in 95 IP…he had a rough May with a 4.94 ERA and 1.52 WHIP but has been MUCH better since then. Why would he ever be sent to AAA? The next deal makes all this make even less sense…..


On July 21st, we made yet another deal with the crosstown Yankees, sending 3 prospects in return for SP Gerrit Cole. Now, if this was Gerrit Cole of 4-5 years ago, I’d be all in. However, this is a Gerrit Cole who has gone 1-10 with a 4.43 ERA, 1.27 WHIP and 74 Ks in 81 IP. On top of that, he is signed for next season too. On the positive side, the Yankees are paying 80% of his salary, but we still have to pay 7+M….that’s a lot for a pitcher that seems to be in decline….especially when we have a guy like McLean sitting in AAA. It makes no sense. Dedniel Nunez was sent down to make room for him….that’s who should have been sent down for Bird!


On July 28th we made a strange deal, sending 2 prospects to the Marlins for RP Josh White, who was immediately sent to AAA in Syracuse. He had gone 6-4 with 2 Saves, a 5.73 ERA, 1.57 WHIP and 45 Ks in 44 IP for Miami….not sure why we were interested. Especially since one of the guys we gave up was a pitcher named Eddie Smink who is 23 and was 6-4 with a 2.87 ERA, 1.06 WHIP and 122 Ks in 97 IP…..pretty promising to give up for a guy like White.


On July 29th, we traded another minor league P with some promise to Washington for another RP, Bowden Francis. Bowden didn’t pitch at all in 2026 and has only 15 AAA innings and 1 MLB inning this season so far. He seems OK, but nothing exciting. He better step up though because to make room for him, we decided to waive and later cut Pierce Johnson! He was 4-2 with a 3.72 ERA, 1.24 WHIP and 43 Ks in 46 IP….not fantastic, but he’s been a solid pitcher for us all year. Hopefully Bowden shows he really is an improvement, but it’s certainly no guarantee.


I thought we might be done with deals, but the next day, we pulled off a bigger one. We ended up sending 5 prospects to the Royals for RP David Bednar. He is signed for 2 more years after this and KC will pay 35% of his salary….but we still will owe about 11M per year. I do like getting a guy like Bednar to pair with Devin Williams, but the prospects we gave up were a lot….both in quantity and quality. We gave up Elian Pena (#6), Peyton Prescott (#12), Chris Suero (#23), Antonio Jimenez (#29) and Danny Sosa (unranked) to get Bednar. The rankings are for our system, not overall, but still….that’s a lot to give for a reliever. We’ll see how it works for us. The other part of this deal I don’t like is who was sent down to make room for Bednar….we sent down Kevin Kelly! He’s been one of our very best guys- 3-1, 2 saves, 2.45 ERA, 1.06 WHIP and 28 Ks in 33 IP.


So, at this point, we have gained Gerrit Cole, David Bednar, Bowden Francis and Jake Bird…..and basically lost a bunch of minor leaguers (some pretty promising), Nolan McLean, Kevin Kelly and Pierce Johnson from our big league team. I don’t see that as even close to a win.


At this point, I am pretty frustrated with how the team is being controlled by the “GM”. I think I am going to sim through to the playoffs and then play them out…assuming we don’t blow the lead we have and miss out! I thought with the right moves we had a real chance to make it to the World Series, so this is pretty disappointing. I should also mention that we have a number of guys in AAA who really seem ready to contribute too….McLean now, obviously, but also AJ Ewing, Jonah Tong and Dylan Ross among others. I’ll re-evaluate what I am going to do going forward once the playoffs are over. I’ll update with final standings and any other developments at season’s end.

[Highlander]

Well, we limped into the playoffs, going 28-28 over the last couple of months. It was enough but it wasn't pretty. Injuries are definitely going to be a factor as we head to the playoffs. Bowden Francis went down needing TJS, but wasn't doing much in his time with us as his 5.75 ERA and 1.77 WHIP in 20 IP show. The big loss is Luke Weaver- he was lost for the season with bone chips in his elbow. His July and August were fantastic....until that injury hit. Jake Bird has wrist soreness but since we did get the Bye, he will hopefully be back by our first series. Also, for some reason, Ronny Mauricio got sent back down despite an .801 OPS with 12 HR in 265 AB as well as Kevin Kelly still being down in AAA with Alex Faedo being on the big club. We do have Jonah Tong on the active roster as well, but he has been pretty bad in very limited time. Lots of strange decisions, but we'll soon see how they come out. We are going with a 4-man rotation of Eovaldi (who really struggled down the stretch), McLean, Holmes and Cole with Senga moving to the bullpen. Kodai has an injury pending as well....maybe Kelly would come back for him if he goes down.

[Highlander]

It ended up that we face off against a surprising Colorado Rockies team in the Division Series. First a look at the pitching staff we take into the Playoffs-

SP- Eovaldi
SP- McLean
SP- Holmes
SP- Cole
CL- Williams
RP- Bednar
RP- Bird
RP- Kelly (brought up to replace Senga)
RP- Manaea
RP- Alzolay
RP- Faedo
RP- Megill

No real surprises/differences on the offensive side.

In game one, it was Nathan Eovaldi up against Jake Bennett. Eovaldi ran into trouble in the 3rd when the Rockies got an HBP, then an out...but then 3 straight hits to drive in 2 runs. Luckily for us, Carson Benge gunned down the 3rd run at home and Eovaldi got out of the inning down just 2-0. He settled down after that and ended up going 7 innings, giving up just those 2 runs with 4 hits, 1 BB and 9 Ks. Unfortunately, the Rockies pitching staff was even better, as they shut us down completely. An embarrassing 3 hits was all we could muster. The Rockies won the game 4-0 as a shaky Devin Williams gave up 2 runs in the 9th trying to keep it close to give us a chance. As an extra kick in the butt, Jake Meyers was injured at the game and his diagnosis is pending....it was some sort of leg injury as he was running the bases.

[Highlander]

Game 2 of this series saw Nolan McLean take the hill for the Mets against Tomoyuki Sugano. Tomoyuki has somehow been much better in his 2 seasons in Colorado than he was in Baltimore....13-9 with a 4.05 ERA this year. In this game, however, he was out of the game before the end of the 4th inning thanks to a 3-run HR by Juan Soto. The Mets led 4-2 at that point. McLean went a solid 5 innings for us, giving up 2 runs on 3 hits with no walks and 7 Ks. Kevin Kelly came in for the 6th and was not close to his old self as he gave up 2 runs on 3 hits, including a HR, without getting an out....leaving the game tied at 4. Both bullpens were solid until the 8th inning when the we brought in Devin Williams......who promptly gave up a HR to Ezequiel Tovar to give the Rockies a 5-4 lead. They didn't score and more, but neither did we....so the Mets find themselves down 2 games to 1 against this upstart Rockies team. Hopefully Clay Holmes has some magic left in that arm of his.