The Mets' offense is better than it's looked thus far in 2016

To say the Mets' lineup has underachieved through the team's first eight games this season would be an understatement. With just 2.5 runs scored per game, the Mets rank 29th in baseball, ahead of only the Twins. Their .194/.285/.250 line as a team translates to a 53 wRC+, which measures performance at the plate relative to league average and ballparks. The Mets rank 30th in baseball by that metric.

The good news is that Mets hitters are better than this. Of the thirteen Mets position players who have played so far this year, only two have hit better than league average: David Wright at 136 wRC+ and Michael Conforto at 123 wRC+.  The other eleven players have all been well below league average, and of that group, Yoenis Cespedes leads the pack by a wide margin at 85 wRC+.

All of the hitters except Wright and Conforto have been much worse than their career averages. All eight regulars have all been league average or better in their major league careers. The bench players have been below league average, but aside from Kevin Plawecki, they haven't been too far below. The regulars have hit drastically below their norms.

There might be a little more concern about the Mets' run-scoring troubles right now because of the team's dreadful performance at the plate in June last year. But that lineup didn't feature eight good major league hitters at the time.

These Mets don't figure to set any records for runs scored in a season, but they should have a pretty good offense that ranks at least in the upper half in baseball by season's end. That might not sound exciting, but combined with the team's pitching staff, that should make for a pretty good rest of the season.