On the whole, the New York Mets have enjoyed a very successful 2021 season so far.
Entering play Friday, the team’s 30-24 record was good for first place in a very weak National League East.
While this article will focus on three things that Mets fans should be upset about this season, they should also be incredibly grateful for the quality (or lack thereof) of their division.
Let’s get into the negatives of the season so far.
3. No Run Support For Jacob deGrom
The fact that Jacob deGrom somehow has two losses this season is hard to fathom.
The 32-year-old ace has allowed one run or less in all but one of his starts this season, and the lone outing in which he did allow more than one run was still a quality start.
deGrom has a minuscule 0.62 ERA through nine starts, but has received an average of just 3.33 runs of support per outing.
Jacob deGrom now has a 0.62 ERA through 9 starts.
That's the best ERA by any pitcher in his first 9 starts of a season since earned runs became official (1912 in NL, 1913 in AL).
Hall of Famer Juan Marichal had the previous record (0.69 ERA in 1966).
h/t @EliasSports pic.twitter.com/u6g367jDZZ
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) June 6, 2021
Despite that, the righty has a solid 5-2 record, but he could realistically be 9-0 on a team with an elite offense.
2. Frustrating Losing Streaks
The Mets have lost three consecutive games on four different occasions this season.
Fortunately, none of those skids ever extended beyond three games, but it is frustrating to think about where this team could be now if not for those poor stretches.
It’s worth noting that the Mets have been able to offset their short losing streaks with longer winning streaks.
New York has already enjoyed a four-game win streak, a five-game win streak, and a seven-game win streak this season.
1. Back-End Of Rotation
The Mets do have the most dominant pitcher in baseball in deGrom, but he can only pitch every fifth day.
Marcus Stroman and Taijuan Walker have been phenomenal out of the two and three spots in the rotation, but the back end of the staff has been a mess all year.
Mets rotation has 3 of the top 15 MLB starters in ERA:
1. Jacob deGrom 0.62
6. Taijuan Walker 2.07
15. Marcus Stroman 2.41— Michael Mayer (@mikemayer22) June 10, 2021
David Peterson (6.32 ERA over 11 starts) and Joey Lucchesi (5.79 ERA over nine outings/six starts) have gotten the majority of the work out of the four and five spots, and it has not panned out for either one.
The fact that Peterson and Lucchesi are the only two lefties in the rotation likely has helped their job security, but the leeway might not last much longer if the results don’t come quickly.
Peterson has a -1.1 WAR on the year.
In addition to the aforementioned ERA, he has an ERA+ of just 61, a 4.91 FIP, and a 1.51 WHIP.
His FIP suggests that maybe he has been better than his ERA suggests, but 4.91 is still a high number in that department.
Lucchesi, on the other hand, has a -0.5 WAR this season, but his outlook might be brighter than Peterson’s.
Lucchesi has a very solid 3.47 FIP and 1.21 WHIP.
Those are two very sustainable numbers, both of which imply that the southpaw could start to see his ERA come down very soon.
Mets fans won’t be satisfied until they see real results from the two lefties, though, and no one can blame them.
New York is just 6-14 when Peterson or Lucchesi appear in the game.
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