What Mets stars old and new are still playing for down the stretch of lost season
Their season is finished in late July, which does not mean the Mets are playing out the string for nothing.An uptick from Tyrone Taylor and continued strong work from Huascar Brazobán, both of which were on display Monday, might translate to stronger trade returns by Monday’s trade deadline, which helps.But there also are longer-term ramifications from how the club performs over the final two-plus months of the season.
Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Mike Puma about the inside buzz on the Mets.And with all the caveats that are attached to the existence of the 2027 season, Monday was an encouraging night for next year’s Mets.Francisco Lindor looked like a superstar shortstop still worth building around.Marcus Semien provided a bit more hope he is not the dead weight he looked like for much of the campaign’s first three months.Zac Thornton looked like he belongs alongside Nolan McLean, Christian Scott and probably Sean Manaea in next year’s rotation.“It sucks the position that we’re in,” Lindor said after the 14-3 blowout of the Braves and before Tuesday’s game was postponed, “but we enjoyed today.”There might not be a more important Mets player in August and September — provided, of course, that he remains a Mets player after Monday, which is likely but not guaranteed — than Lindor, who is owed $160 million over the final five years of his contract.His age-32 season has been the worst of his career, consisting so far of injury, underperformance and injury, in that order.
Is this a continuation of a natural downward slope for a fading star in his 30s, whose OPS has dropped each of the past three seasons? Or is this the kind of aberrational, injury-filled year that so many encounter?Lindor’s final few months can begin to answer that question — and the Mets hope his past two weeks have been revealing, too.Lindor entered play July 12 hitting .208 with a .636 OPS.
Eleven games, fo...