The Mets have been outhomered by their opponents every year since 2008.
Since Sandy Alderson took over as general manager for the New York Mets, the offense, which has often struggled generally, has lacked power in particular. As Marc Carig from Newsday writes in his article today, the Mets have not finished a season with more home runs than their opponents since 2008.
This year has been no different for the Mets. Terry Collins has voiced his frustration over and over about the team’s lack of power in the lineup. Although 13 of their pitchers have a sub–4.00 ERA this season, they have allowed opposing batters to blast 118 homers against them.
That importance shows up all throughout the franchise's history. Of the club's top five teams by winning percentage, all but one (1969) outhomered their opponents. But under Alderson, the Mets' attempts to add power have yielded mixed results. Since taking over after the 2010 season, Alderson has brought in two players who have hit at least 20 homers in a season, Marlon Byrd (21) and Scott Hairston (20). They also made the correct decision to trade Ike Davis over Lucas Duda, who has hit 23 homers in a breakout season.
With the offseason rapidly approaching, the Mets may have only a small amount of money to spend to upgrade the offense. Chris Young was taken off of the roster after hitting a horrendous .205 in 88 games with the Mets. Carig notes that Curtis Granderson, who Alderson hoped to be the main source of power for the club this year, has hit a mere 15 homers in what has been a mediocre season for the 33-year-old.
The team’s starting pitchers have performed well this year. Jacob deGrom has been splendid this season with a 2.87 ERA since moving up to the majors, yet due to the lack of power from the offense he has just six wins on his résumé. The same is true for the rest of the rotation. Bartolo Colon is the only pitcher on the team to have more than 10 victories this year, but he has given up more hits than innings and has allowed 17 home runs in 24 starts.
As Alderson stated in the Newsday piece, the Mets have plenty of pitching prospects. However, the club lacks power all around, and they might need to give up a few of these young pitchers in order to trade for a big bat.