So, Another baseball season, Another year in which the Mets won't make the playoffs. Well, It was expected by many experts that the Mets are in rebuilding mode and was expected to tank while getting rid of half their team along the way.
So, The season has gone along as expected record wise (about .500) but despite that they've been interesting to watch. A lot of people however are saying that the Mets are overachieving with a bunch of minor leaguers and castoffs when several of their top players went down with injury. Still, I think even with that though they are underachieving in my opinion.
How can I have this opinion? Let me take it bit by bit. Jose Reyes is overachieving, There's no doubt about it. Finally gets back from nagging injuries and has his best year by far, or is it? Yeah, His batting average is way up there compared to his collective average. His power is a little down and he isn't stealing as many bases. I can't deny he's over achieving.
Carlos Beltran on the other hand I can say is not over achieving. Is he underachieving? Well, no. He's definitely playing to what he normally plays. It's great he's healthy, Which you couldn't say that he was the last few years. But overachieving? nah.
Francisco Rodriguez, before he got traded was doing well. Overachieving? Hell, no! Though he had a better year than last year, It's still below his average. His save total was at his usual pace but his ERA is a little higher.
The starting pitching on the Mets are in my opinion underachieving. Particularly the top two starters for the beginning of the year. Mike Pelfrey is definitely underachieving. He is young, Had a heck of a first half last year and was put in the spot to be the number 1 starter. He was called on to take the next step to become a solid starter. 5-9 with a 4.73 ERA can be only described as underachieving. R.A. Dickey came out of nowhere last year with a newly developed knuckleball. A feel good story for a journey man and he got rewarded with a two year contract. It was expected he would have more or less the same kind of season. His record is 4-8 and his ERA isn't too bad at 3.81 but a little disappointing and definitely not overachieving.
Jon Niese is developing quite well. He's having a good year but is not overachieving. He is going the way he should and actually should be doing better. Capuano was a scrap heap pick up pitching .500 baseball. Average. Not overachieving.
Dillon Gee on the other hand came out of nowhere when another off season pickup Chris Young went down to injury. A great surprise. Overachieving? Yeah. From nothing. He's slowing down a little, But hopefully his future is bright.
Now, Let's look at the rest of the players who were part of the team last year that didn't get injured. Angel Pagan had a breakout year last year when Carlos Beltran went down to injury. This year, his production has gone down a lot. He's batting about 50 points less than usual and has shown much power. Underachieving, no doubt.
But no Met has underachieved like Jason Bay. He signed last year for the Mets to fill a gap the Mets had for several years in left field. Bay had some good power years with the Pirates and especially with the Red Sox. I wasn't looking fopr him to do the same but I thought the worst we would get would be a George Foster drop off. Even if he did that, the Mets would be much better. Instead he has Doug Flynn like production numbers, Which would be fine if you're Doug Flynn. But his lack of contributions is horrifying. yeah, he was injured last year but c'mon.
Now, the players who have filled in the gaps with the injuries to David Wright and Ike Davis. Daniel Murphy in particular has done well at the bat but still hasn't improved much at defense. It's not overachieving as much as it's showing what he can do with the bat when he gets a chance to play everyday. Justin Turner came through with clutch hits when David Wright went down. However, Even though he was expected to be in the minors, His batting average and power is not what I would call overachieving.
The catcher situation isn't good as far as achievement. Both the batting and fielding have been less than spectacular. Underachievement.
Pretty much, In my opinion. The Mets should be about 8 games over .500 and improving if they were collectively overachieving. Oh, well.
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