The New York Mets offense is struggling mightily without Juan Soto. But there’s no replacing that level of offensive output, which means the players on the field will need to figure it out.
Slugger Marcus Semien spoke about the club’s ongoing struggles and why the Mets miss Soto after their 4-0 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday.
The Mets (7-10) have dropped six straight games and are in last place in the NL East. They have scored nine runs in their current skid and have just six runs scored in their past four games, with three shutouts in that span.
Marcus Semien: The Mets Miss ‘The Best Left-Handed Bat in the League’
The Mets are teetering at the moment, especially on offense. Their series against the Dodgers could not be worse timed, especially without Soto, who hit the IL with a calf strain April 3.
They Mets found a way to win four in a row without their No. 3 hitter and left-handed slugger. Though they got some good news on Soto, in that he started running recently, their offense has fallen off a cliff amid their recent skid — the Mets had not scored a run in 20 consecutive innings entering play Tuesday.
“He’s the best left-handed hitter in the game,” Semien said. “We miss him, but we need to get him right and makes sure he comes back healthy.”
Calf strains can lead to Achilles tendon tears, which would be a more catastrophic injury than the two-to-three-week ailment Soto is currently dealing with. So Semien explained why keeping him on the shelf, even amid their struggles, is the right call.
“Definitely don’t want to see a situation where he comes back too soon and then something worse happens,” Semien said. “We’re trying to hold it down for him. It didn’t go well for us tonight. It has not been going well, but all we can do is work hard and show up tomorrow ready to go.”
Marcus Semien’s Tenure With the Mets is Not Going Well
The Mets traded left-handed-hitting Brandon Nimmo for Semien, in part to get more right-handed at the plate.
It is still early, since the Mets’ season is only 10.5% old, but thus far Semien has looked like a shell of his former self at the plate. He is sporting an unwieldy .532 OPS and has just four of 12 hits for extra bases, with only one home run and six RBIs through 17 games.
“These types of stretches are going to happen,” Semien said. “It’s tough when it happens early in the season. It’s tough when it’s happening, and we’re just not winning ballgames. The microscope is going to be right there on our offense.”
Despite Semien’s reassurances, his struggles are furthering a multi-year trend in the wrong direction. Semien’s full-year OPS has dropped in three straight seasons, as has his home run and RBI totals.
Semien has two more seasons on his contract, at an AAV of $26 million, which is looking increasingly like one of the worst contracts in baseball. Still, he is confident in himself and the Mets in turning the year around.
“Just the talent alone, the work ethic of everybody is there,” Semien said when asked of why he is confident. “You take those two things, and you come out and have a good day tomorrow and you get it rolling.”
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