Will the Mets let yet another season go down the drain?

The New York Mets were two and a half innings away from regaining first place in the National League East last night. Bartolo Colon was throwing a gem of a game but with one swing of the bat from Welington Castillo, of the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Mets were heading back to the losing column and remaining in second place in their division. The Mets have been blowing golden opportunities to take a stronghold of this division since their eleven game winning streak ended. Washington had been scuffling with their own share of injuries to start the year allowing the Mets to open up a sizable lead. That was back in April, the Mets now find themselves playing catch up to the Nats albeit by half a game at the moment. In between the Mets winning streak and today the Mets have seen David Wright, Dilson Herrera, Daniel Murphy, and Travis d'Arnaud all go down with injuries. Those injuries have taken their toll on the Mets' offense, with last night being a prime example. The Mets were only able to generate one run off ten hits. The lone run coming off a Juan Lagares scraper off the right field wall. The Mets need help and desperately.

Back in the offseason the Mets front office decided to give up their first round draft choice and sign Michael Cuddyer as a free agent. Many fans saw this as a sign that the front office was taking steps to make this team a legitimate playoff contender. However, they still needed to make other moves to ensure that could happen. As has been the case in recent years, the Mets reluctance to spend money on surefire free agents has comeback to haunt them. The Mets decided to go into the regular season with Wilmer Flores as their everyday shortstop and a bench that consisted of John Mayberry Jr, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Ruben Tejada and backup catcher Anthony Recker. The infield defense has suffered as Flores has 10 errors in 50 games by himself, his pairing with Daniel Murphy up the middle has led to numerous defensive gaffes that have cost the Mets numerous games already. The bench has been lifeless on offense, in 58 at bats this year Mayberry is hitting .190, Niewenhuis was designated for assignment before being traded to the Angels for cash, Recker is hitting .156, leaving only Tejada who was almost an afterthought to be the most productive off the bench. Although with all the injuries Tejada has now been pushed to start and lucky for the Mets he has been on fire lately, but not enough to get this Mets offense on track.

With the recent injury news on David Wright, the Mets maybe without their third baseman for the entire season. That leaves a huge hole for the Mets to fill. Teams are going to try to hold them up for a king's ransom knowing how desperate they are for offense. Rumors have been circulating that they have interest in Ben Zobrist of the A's, who can play Second Base, Rightfield and Shortstop. That would allow the Mets some flexibility to use him in multiple spots. But it seems they have taken themselves out of the running for his services, saying that multiple teams would be in on him and they would be outbid. The Mets are making it clear, through their GM Sandy Alderson, they will not mortgage their future for offense. The Cubs would be a perfect trading partner with the Mets,with the Cubs GM even saying so, as they have young hitters and the Mets have young pitchers but the Mets seem reluctant to give up on Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz. With good reason, they are the best young pitchers in their farm season. So that leaves the Mets left with trying to find a team that isn't interested in trying to get too much of a return for some hitters.

Enter the Milwaukee Brewers. The Brewers by all accounts have punted away the season after their lousy start and many around baseball believe they are hearing offers on all their players. The Mets reportedly have interest in two of those players: Aramis Ramirez and Jean Segura. Make no mistake about it, these players are not world beaters by any stretch of the imagination. Ramirez is retiring next season and Segura is a defensive liability up the middle himself. They do however bring intangibles assets that the Mets desperately need. Even at the age of 36, Ramirez can still hit the ball out of the park and play a respectable third base in Wright's absence. Segura can hit the ball for a decent average and brings the kind of top of the lineup speed this team has been missing since number 7 took his talents to South Beach. Make no mistake about it the Mets cannot continue to waste games in May and expect to be in it in September. The Nationals are too good a team to keep playing at this level, leaving the only route to the playoffs being through the wildcard. That wont be a cakewalk with teams like San Francisco, Pittsburgh, and the Chicago Cubs all vying to make the playoffs as well. 

The Mets do have reinforcements with d'Arnaud and Herrera currently about a week away, but that still might not be enough. If the Mets can't get this offense on track soon it maybe another long season in Queens with no playoffs again.