David Lennon: New Mets have disappointed in season's opening week
Mets second baseman Marcus Semien looks on against the Pirates on Opening Day at Citi Field on March 26, 2026. Credit: Getty Images/Ishika Samant
SAN FRANCISCO — A big part of David Stearns’ winter strategy was creating a Mets roster that wouldn’t carry the PTSD of last year’s second-half disintegration into the 2026 season.
On paper, it was a smart play. If nothing else, Stearns’ makeover would allow this group to start fresh, free of those September scars.
Then again, even the new faces are wearing Mets uniforms, and sometimes the burden of erasing the previous year’s disappointment isn’t as simple as switching up the clubhouse personnel.
And it rarely happens overnight.
On Opening Day, the Mets did a decent job of convincing us that they could do it by ambushing reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes with grinding at-bats that Stearns had imagined all winter. In the giddy postgame, even Bo Bichette was celebrated for his 13-pitch strikeout.
The Mets, for that one afternoon, could do no wrong.
Since then? Not much has gone right from an offensive standpoint, with many of the new Mets doing a worse job than the handful jettisoned by Stearns during the offseason, to varying degrees.
After that 11-run outburst at Citi Field, the production overall has plunged, with the Mets scoring a grand total of 14 runs in the next six games, including their 7-2 loss to the Giants on Thursday night at Oracle Park. Stearns’ recruits are among the principle culprits.
Marcus Semien (1-for-18, seven strikeouts in the past six games) is at the head of the class, but it’s a group with low marks. Luis Robert Jr. (one homer), Jorge Polanco (two doubles) and Bichette (one double) are the only newcomers with extra-base hits in that span. Combined with Carson Benge, those frustrated five are batting .141 (14-for-99) with 24 strikeouts in the six games.
Obviously, we’re dealing with tiny sample sizes here. But this is all we have to go on at the moment, and if not for the Mets’ stellar pitching performances, they wouldn’t have been sitting at .500 (3-3) entering Thursday. Against the Pirates and Cardinals, too. Not exactly MLB heavyweights.
“I think it’s just baseball,” Carlos Mendoza said before Thursday’s game. “It’s been hard for us the past few days, I’m not gonna lie. But I like the at-bats, the fact that we’re creating traffic. That’s the one thing with our offense — because we’re deep and we got guys that are going to get on base, we’re going to create a lot of opportunities. And more times than not, those guys will come through.”
Mendoza again went with a righty-heavy lineup Thursday against Giants lefthander Robbie Ray, starting Mark Vientos at first base and Tyrone Taylor in rightfield with Polanco at DH. That configuration generated five hits and one run in 11 innings (0-for-11 with RISP) during Wednesday’s 2-1 loss to the Cardinals.
During the dreadful five-game stretch that preceded Thursday, the Mets’ offense ranked 27th in batting average (.189) and OPS (.563). They also were hitting .113 (6-for-53) with runners in scoring position, including .034 (1-for-29) for the series loss in St. Louis.
That’s difficult to do, especially with a $370 million roster that just added one of the sport’s best clutch hitters in Bichette, who led the majors with a .381 average with runners in scoring position last season. Stearns recruited Bichette for that singular purpose, giving him a three-year, $126 million contract that allows him to opt out after the first $47 million season.
To make that next big payday happen, Bichette will have to be the No. 3 hitter the Mets envisioned, so there’s mutual benefit there. Also additional pressure on Bichette, who recently provided a candid assessment of the new-player mindset, with symptoms that we’ve seen before in Flushing.
Bichette talked about pressing too much to deliver that “moment” — for his teammates, for the fans. It’s also another way of suggesting that he wants to prove his worth, and he probably isn’t alone in feeling that sentiment.
“I guess I didn’t anticipate it affecting the way I would play,” Bichette said.
In Stearns’ winter blueprint, Bichette is taking the place of homegrown slugger Pete Alonso, the former No. 3 hitter, and those are some huge polar bear paws to fill. Look at Semien. He’s a multiple Silver Slugger who twice finished third for MVP but also was traded straight up for Brandon Nimmo, who’s off to a fast start for the Rangers (.360 batting average, .949 OPS). “I’d say as a group, we’d all like to do better,” Semien said recently.
Polanco has been kept at DH lately by an Achilles condition, but Mendoza said he’s “close” to returning to first base.
The Mets sat the red-hot Robert in Monday’s series opener against the Cardinals for the sake of load management — he previously had played three games in four days — so there’s still a feeling-out process on how to use the new pieces on the roster to optimal effect.
That’s the same for Benge, a 23-year-old rookie who had the thrill of his young career with an Opening Day homer. But it’s important to remember that there are only 19 career at-bats on his resume, and growing pains are unavoidable.
“He’s learning as he goes,” Mendoza said. “That’s part of his development. We got to continue to support him and give him opportunities.”
The 2026 Mets have an idea of what their identity should be, and this isn’t it. They’ll get there, but the wait has been painful to watch at times.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
