The New York Mets aren’t having a great season. Despite a big win last night against the Rays, the club are 21-23 this season (before their game of the day), which is far from meeting expectations.
While we wanted to aim for the World Series, we find ourselves rather 6.5 games from the Braves and from the top of the division at the quarter of the season. It’s not exactly a flying start.
On the field, the guys don’t really measure up. Excluding Pete Alonso and Brandon Nimmo, the guys aren’t knocking. And they are not helped by pitchers, while Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander are not breaking anything at the start of the season.
But, according to former player Jason Kipnis, there’s an even bigger problem in town: there’s a serious lack of leadership among the club’s veterans.
And among those who pass in torpor, we find the former teammate of Kipnis in Cleveland: Francisco Lindor.
For Kipnis, it’s appalling to see a club with so many veterans not have a shred of leadership. That’s a big claim, considering there’s also Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander in the organization.
That said, Kipnis played a few seasons in Cleveland with Lindor, so you can tell he knows what he’s talking about the shortstop. Remember that the two men did not always have the most lenient relationship at the time when they were shooting double games together.
I don’t know if Kipnis is right, but clearly, with the Mets struggling to win on a regular basis, the club leaders need to step up. Whether it’s Lindor, Verlander, Scherzer or someone else, we will have to lead by example one day or another.
Otherwise, the Braves will be heading for a fairly easy division title and the Mets will have to hope to be among the teams drafted into the National.
