Mets' closer is gone, and so are any hopes for 2023
Mets relief pitcher David Robertson walks to the dugout after the top of the ninth inning against the Blue Jays in an MLB game at Citi Field on June 3. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The worst team $377 million could buy went bust late Thursday night, accepting the hopelessness of its position and signaling the start of selling season.
The Mets traded the ace of their bullpen, David Robertson, to the Marlins for two minor leaguers you never have heard of, presumably part of an effort to improve a farm system that owner Steve Cohen has found lacking.
There is nothing wrong with that in theory, and there was nothing surprising about the Mets officially becoming sellers as the trade deadline nears next week.
But none of that softened the cold slap in the face that accompanied their reality after a 2-1 victory over the Nationals at Citi Field.
There is no denying now that a team that won 101 games last season and has the most expensive roster in baseball history is a dud of historic proportions.
The Mets are 48-54 with 60 games left, and now will be without the guy who saved their bullpen after Edwin Diaz was lost during the World Baseball Classic.
Robertson, 38, was 4-2 with 14 saves and a 2.05 ERA. Then, poof, he was gone, not long after it appeared he would enter Thursday night’s game.
Sometime during a rain delay of 1:37, general manager Bill Eppler told manager Buck Showalter not to use Robertson, so Brooks Raley got the save instead.
Robertson had to settle for a ticket to the wild-card race.
Showalter said he needed some time to “let it soak in a little bit” before discussing the trade and the selling strategy publicly.
He called Robertson “a rock,” then asked reporters what the Mets got in return for him. “Minor leaguers,” he was told.
“Everybody here playing was a minor leaguer at one time, right?” he said unconvincingly. Later, he added, “I’m just here to manage the team and the players.”
The trade’s larger implications were lost on no one in the clubhouse.
And the Mets knew they had no one to blame but themselves. These guys are pros. They understood what the trade meant as well as you and I did.
Francisco Lindor doggedly refused to give up on the notion of a playoff push, but he did not deny that the Mets were responsible for getting into this position.
“That move right there means there’s players that are going to have to step up,” he said. “Roles are going to change and players have to step up. We have to be there for each other.
“That’s also a move that comes from when you don’t play as well as you’re supposed to play early in the year, stuff like this happens. However, we have to step up and we have to go out there and win ballgames.”
Well, sort of. Winning now is more a matter of pride among veterans and development for younger players than postseason hopes.
“They can call it selling,” Lindor said, “but I don’t think in the clubhouse it’s going to be one of those things where, ‘Oh, yeah, we’re done.’ With this group of guys, I don’t see it happening like that.”
There will be other veterans who join Robertson as former Mets before the deadline now that the dam has burst.
The Mets have been so underachieving that the numbness long ago had set in among fans. But there was something about Thursday’s milestone that made it all seem real.
These guys have only a few days of relevance left. After the trade deadline, they will be staring at two empty months, something that would have seemed impossible in March.
The 2023 Mets now will take their place among famous New York-area flops, most recently the Brooklyn Nets.
“We just have to play better,” Lindor said. “Roles change. Embrace the roles that we have and whoever comes into his clubhouse is going to be part of the opportunity we have moving forward.”
Then he took one more stab at the postseason thing, saying of the front office, “They’re definitely moving on from a player like [Robertson] and maybe some other players, but I don’t think they have moved on from playoff hopes.
“We definitely haven’t. I know our coaches haven’t. And I’m pretty sure our front office hasn’t, either.”
It has, Francisco. It has.
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
