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The New York Mets’ disastrous and disappointing season hit its nadir on Friday after the team fell behind 14-2 to the Pittsburgh Pirates en route to a 14-7 defeat.
Despite the early-season struggles, Mets owner Steve Cohen told the New York Post‘s Joel Sherman he isn’t looking to make wholesale changes at the moment.
“When things get really bad, I’m not going to blow up. I don’t think that’s the proper response. I don’t think it solves anything, other than it gives people a one-day story. But it doesn’t really solve anything. There’s plenty of blame to go around from a performance point of view. So blowing up, I’m not sure it solves anything. It would demonstrate, ‘Oh, he really cares. He’s one of us.’ But the reality is it’s not going to solve our problems. And I think in some ways it can be demotivating.”
The 30-34 Mets have now lost seven straight contests, including a three-game series against the NL East-leading Atlanta Braves that saw New York hold three-run leads in the first two matchups and a 10-6 edge in the finale before losing each time.
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The Braves swept the Mets despite the Mets having an 85% win probability or higher at one point in all three games in the series 👀 pic.twitter.com/zdiUpiVSFE
The Mets are bad at the plate (11th in the NL in OPS) and on the mound (13th in the NL in ERA) right now.
Only two regulars (Jeff McNeil, Brandon Nimmo) are hitting .260 or better. Superstar free agent acquisition Justin Verlander has struggled out of the gate (4.85 ERA), and the bullpen has largely faltered outside of David Robertson.
Ultimately, it’s on the pieces in place to turn this around, led by general manager Billy Eppler and manager Buck Showalter.
When asked if he would ever fire someone to shake things up, Cohen said the following:
“I don’t run my business that way. I don’t run any business that way. In my hedge fund, there are moments where we’ve drawn down really hard for whatever reasons — whether it’s markets, whether it’s something that we did wrong — it doesn’t mean I completely change or let people go. I don’t operate that way. These are challenges. This is management. This is the moment where you get to witness how your management deals with problems.”
The Mets will look to snap their losing skid Friday at Pittsburgh. Kodai Senga will take the mound for the Mets against Johan Oviedo and the 33-29 Pirates.
