THE METS DISPELL APRIL'S HOT TAKES

It’s easy to make hot takes in April. The weather is changing, the sun is shining, the world is your oyster and you think you know everything. You go to a game in just a jersey and blue jeans because 55 degrees sounds tropical. You’re bound to make hot takes in April, whether it’s due to bravado or as a means to keep yourself warm. We’re all guilty of it, I was seeing them all month. But there were three hot takes that Mets fans constantly uttered in the early weeks of the season that have already been disproven. Let’s start with the most popular hot take, one that nearly every Flushing Faithful agreed on:

 

Brett Baty Deserves To Be Shot Into The Sun

 

I get it, I get it, he had an awful start. It took him 14 games to bat above The Mendoza Line and when it was announced that Jeff McNeil was coming back, his slash line was a ghastly .192/.236/.288. This was a far cry from the player that was the team’s best hitter in Spring Training. I was so convinced that he would have a breakout year that I wrote an email to FanDuel asking for them to put up a prop bet on his season home run count (I was willing to put big money down on 14.5+). It broke my heart to see him struggle at the plate and for every fan to want his head on a stake (or worse, Cincinnati). The day before he got sent back to Triple-A, that glimmer in his eye came back, mashing a 2-run homer off Zack Wheeler, which ended up being the difference-maker in a 4-3 win. He spent two weeks away in Syracuse before team injuries sent him back eastward. In his 6 games back, he has been batting .316 with 4 home runs. Suddenly, the guy that nobody ever wanted to see again is single-handedly winning games. It’s easy to make hot takes in April, but they rarely hold true. 

 

Juan Soto Is Broken And Most Likely Hates Being A Met

 

When a player comes to your team on a billion dollar contract, it’s hard to not watch his every action under a microscope. The inherent flaw in sports fandom is that we will believe that whatever money the owner of the team spends is our own hard-earned dollars. It’s simply not the case. The financial burden that Steve Cohen is feeling from the Juan Soto contract is the equivalent of us buying a Playstation 5. And you know what? Most people complain about their Playstation 5, so touché. Steve could field a whole team of Juan Sotos and still be the wealthiest owner in baseball. Simply put, we should not judge Soto for his contract, but for his performance on paper. So let’s look at it on paper:

 

In March/April, Juan Soto put up rather pedestrian numbers. His .241 batting average was a far cry to last year’s .325 average. His 3 home runs paled in comparison to last April’s 8. For a superstar like Soto, this is reason to panic, but nobody read between the lines. Last year was an anomaly. Every other year, Juan Soto has slumped in April. His numbers last month were on par with 2019, 2022 and 2023, all years where he had stellar numbers all-around. The numbers don’t lie and they have rung true this month, where he’s slashing .289/.411/.667. For those keeping score, that’s way better than he performed last May. In fact, he’s on pace to have the best May of his career. All the hot takes went cold as soon as he started mashing. As far as his personality goes, we don’t know if the old playful Soto will ever come back. People have cried that his lack of signature shimmy shows that he’s unhappy with being a Met. The way I see it, he’s making big money now and it’s hardened his mindset. He’s not a kid anymore and he’s decided to act as such. He’s trying to set an example, to be an adult. You can still catch him having fun, whether it’s shooting the breeze with the guys in the bullpen or sharing smiles with his dedicated right field fan club every night. 

 

Whichever way you cut it, Juan Soto has been an integral part to the team’s early success and he’s the boulder holding down the middle of the most frightening 1-2-3 lineup in baseball. 

 

The Pitching Staff Is A House Of Cards Just Waiting To Tumble

 

While it does seem suspect that household names are a scarcity, the pitchers have proved over and over that they can be trusted. The Griffin Canning Experiment has been paying off dividends. Dealing with diminished velocity, he is now implementing his slider as his dominant pitch, which is throwing off everybody at the plate. His ground ball rate has jumped over 13% and his 2.36 ERA is ranked 5th in the National League. And who’s 1.22 ERA ranks first in the National League? That would be Kodai Senga. Finally at full health and full confidence, Senga has become a main character on the team. His forkball is unhittable (the only hit he gave up was due to his inability to cover first base (he’s working on it)) and considering it’s his third season, it may stay effective. If he can remain healthy, he could very well be in the Cy Young conversation, unlike all the Japanese imports living in Southern California. The bullpen is also holding down the fort. Their combined 2.98 ERA ranks in the top 5 in the league. This is extremely helpful, because the starting rotation has a problem with walks and pitch count. Just a teeny tiny problem, one that gets ignored because the infield defense has been so good. Defensively, the team exudes an intangible clutch factor of the likes I haven’t seen in a while. As long as the trust holds up, there’s no reason to believe that they don’t keep rolling. 

 

After 3 straight series wins, the Mets get a much needed day of rest before their long commute to The Bronx for the Subway Series. We have to emphasise the word “Subway“ because with the New Jersey Transit strike looming, it will be for locals only. This will be must-see-TV, as it’s Juan Soto’s return to the baby park. Expect a lot of noise and fan ejections. Also, the last time the Yankees beat the Mets, a dozen eggs cost only $2.00. Everybody has a lot of things to prove and the staff at BCP+ will be watching closely. In any event, the Mets sitting at the top of the NL standings at 28-16, a true testament that whatever hot takes the fans had last month still haven’t come to fruition and hopefully never will.