Mets Player Performance Meter: Position players, June 4-10

Warning: The number of poop emojis and down arrows you are about to see is truly unprecedented.

I was very tempted to just make this week’s meter one giant poop emoji, but that would have been unfair to Brandon Nimmo and...a couple of other people. But needless to say, the offense has been bad. Historically bad. During the Mets’ eight game losing streak that was snapped last night, the starting pitching had a collective 2.16 ERA. The last time a team had an ERA that low over an eight game span and lost all eight games was the 1919 Washington Senators. So we’re talking about breaking Deadball Era records here, folks. It’s not great. So let’s just rip off the band-aid quickly and make this as painless as possible.

Five players this week had a wRC+ that was a negative number. Five. However, one of those was Luis Guillorme, who only had two plate appearances this week and went hitless. Let’s review the other four. Jose Bautista has five plate appearances this week as a pinch hitter and went hitless in all of them, striking out twice and drawing one walk.

Adrian Gonzalez has had an up and down season and has been mediocre overall, but last week was one of his worst as a Met. He had just one hit in 16 plate appearances this week, good for a -55 wRC+ on the week. He struck out a team-leading seven times. The Mets announced last night that he has been released. Dominic Smith will now get a shot for the Mets at first base.

Amed Rosario, who had been making some positive strides at the plate lately, had a dreadful week also, posting a -45 wRC+ in 16 plate appearances. He also had just one hit and one walk over that span, but he did steal a base. In an effort to shake things up, Mickey Callaway batted Rosario leadoff on Saturday and ironically his one hit came in that game. But he was back in the familiar nine hole in last night’s win.

Of the numerous Mets struggling at the plate this week, no one has struggled more than Michael Conforto, who holds a -86 wRC+ this week, going hitless over 18 plate appearances. Earlier in the season when he had been struggling, he had at least been drawing walks. Not so this week—he has just one walk and his on-base percentage for the week stands at a paltry .056. Mickey Callaway has expressed disappointment in Conforto and there have been rumblings that Conforto may see a stint in the minor leagues upon Yoenis Cespedes’ return to the lineup.

Even though we are now exiting the realm of negative numbers when it comes to wRC+, it doesn’t get a whole lot better from here. Devin Mesoraco, who had been excelling since being traded to the Mets, fell off with the bat in a big way this week, posting a 21 wRC+ in eight plate appearances. His playing time has diminished with the return of Kevin Plawecki, who was one of the few Mets to have a good week at the plate, putting up a 177 wRC+ for the week with three hits and two walks. The Mets have opted to forego the third catcher on the roster in favor of Ty Kelly and will designate Jose Lobaton for assignment ahead of tomorrow’s game.

Last night’s game-winning home run capped off a pretty good week at the plate for Todd Frazier coming back from the disabled list. He leads the team in both hits and RBIs for the week, with five and three, respectively. Yes, you read that right. Three RBIs leads the Mets for the week. Frazier posted a 116 wRC+ this week and his return provides a pretty substantial boost to the Mets’ lineup.

Brandon Nimmo remains the one constant in the Mets’ lineup right now. His 143 wRC+ this week in twenty plate appearances is second only to Kevin Plawecki. He has four hits, including a home run, two runs scored, and an RBI. The one concerning trend to note with Nimmo this week has been his strikeout rate, which stands at 35% for the week, way above his usual clip. But hopefully that’s a blip on the radar for Nimmo, trying to push to make up for the lack of production from the rest of the lineup.

Asdrubal Cabrera, who had been the other constant in the Mets’ lineup, has fallen back down to earth in a big way this week, putting up a 45 wRC+ over 18 plate appearances. This is his second bad week in a row, as he’s entered his first true slump all season.

Meanwhile, Jay Bruce’s season-long slump continues, with a 71 wRC+ in 20 plate appearances for the week. He had three hits and scored a run. He does lead the team in walks for the week with four.

Jose Reyes’ single last night set the table for Todd Frazier’s game-winning two run homer in the fifth inning. He was in the game replacing a hobbled Asdrubal Cabrera and may see more playing time over the next few games depending on the severity of Cabrera’s hamstring issue. He had two other plate appearances this week and was retired in both.