So last year, the Mets were never once were any better than 11 games over .500, a point they reached just once, following a sweep of the Cubs in June. Their failure to exit that range-bound 6 or 7 over .500 while the rest of the division was worse during the season’s first months was the story of the year, until that club revealed all kind of other problems (injuries, underperformance, lapsed priorities and so on) when they ultimately revealed their level was not actually 6 or 7 games over but 6 or 7 games under.
So it’s with a small amount of trauma that I’ll note this team has so far twice had the opportunity to exceed last year’s high-water mark and twice failed to get there, and doing so with games that weren’t so fun to watch. We shouldn’t be losing to Paul Sewald, as nice a guy as he was (he once acknowledged me yelling “Sewald!” through the bullpen fence at the Cyclones park). If this is really to be as good a year as it looks like it can be, we can’t hover while the rest of the division struggles. Now’s not the time to hover–get to 20 over, a point at which hovering will likely get you to the playoffs.
Catching up again on the comings and goings, we saw Stephen Nogosek and his ridiculous 85 jersey come ago go, and recently welcomed back Jake Reed, who’s still wearing 72. James McCann’s broken hamate–a bad injury for a catcher who already can’t hit, I’d reckon–is out for several weeks and Patrick Mazeika is back. 
That’s notable only because Mazieka, unlike Nogosek or Reed, got reassigned a normal number and what was 76 last year is now 4.
For a number that has been in constant circulation, 4 has been pretty unmemorable – especially over the last 20 years. With the exception of Wilmer, a lot of forgettables. Strange since it had such a good start with Snider, Swoboda, Staub, Dykstra and Ventura.
I theorize that this is due in part to all the numbers this team refuses to issue. 2, 4, 6 16, 18 are the handful of legitimate numbers they chose to issue and therefore rack up a lot of unremarkable players. Meanwhile 5, 7, 8, and 24 are in mothballs and numbers like 10, 11, 14 and 19 end up going to managers. And yes, koosman stengle and hernandez are special parts of mets history, but tarnish guys like seaver and piazza who got to the hof in major part due to their accomplishments as mets.
Start over. That’s my suggestion.
I still can’t understand why #7 is mothballed for Reyes. Hoping they are just saving it to assign it to a top prospect when they come up.
Agree 100%. Baty or Vientos would look swell in it.
Made it! 26-14!
Gosuke Katoh in #25.
Szupucki listed in #15 on MLB.com.
MLB.com was wrong. Szapucki still in #63
Mets get JT Riddle from Cincy. Instead of a number he should have a question mark.
Tommy Hunter resurfaced in #34.