Mets' Offseason Overspending Puts the Team in a Terrible Position Moving Forward

The New York Mets had some high aspirations coming into this season after a very busy winter. The blockbuster trade with the Mariners netted the Mets a potential future Hall of Fame second baseman in Robinson Cano and an All-Star closer in Edwin Diaz.

Couple that with the signings of Jed Lowrie, Justin Wilson and Wilson Ramos, and the Mets were prepared to come in and make some noise in the difficult NL East.

So Robinson Cano gets put on blast for not running out ground balls, is benched, told he needs to run out plays, runs out a play today...and leaves with left quad tightness.

You can't make this stuff up.
— Laura Albanese (@AlbaneseLaura) May 23, 2019

Fast forward to Thursday, and the Mets are a game under .500 and entrenched at third place in the NL East. The new acquisitions have either been non-factors or total negatives, and it has become apparent the Mets simply need to tear it down and start over.

Starting with the Mariners trade, Diaz has been awful in his role as closer for the Mets. The flame-throwing righty is coming off of a season after which some were claiming him to be the best closer in baseball for Seattle. This season Diaz has a 3.22 ERA and 1.299 WHIP, a far cry from the 1.96 ERA and 0.791 WHIP he posted last year. He also has surrendered the third highest hard hit rate in the league at 55.6%.

Edwin Diaz homers allowed in 2018 (73 games): 5
Edwin Diaz homers allowed in 2019 (25 games): 5
— Tim Healey (@timbhealey) May 30, 2019

Cano has been awful as well, as the 36-year-old vet has posted -0.3 bWAR this season, with an anemic .658 OPS. Oh and by the way, he has four seasons left on his deal after this one at $23 million a season.

The combination of Wilson, Lowrie, and Ramos have combined for just 0.1 WAR as well. Lowrie has not even played a game yet as he has been dealing with injuries this season.

Mickey Callaway on Jed Lowrie: "It's still so far away...it's not like games are imminent right now" pic.twitter.com/TSU1peh9kj
— SNY (@SNYtv) May 24, 2019

The Mets simply need to rebuild, but they are in a bad position to do so due to their ineptitude this offseason. Most of their veterans have little to no value, and moving on from Cano's contract is going to be near impossible.

Luckily the Mets do have some young talent on the roster, but their minor league system is devoid of talent, and the contracts the Mets have on their payroll right now make the Bobby Bonilla deal look like a bargain.