Baseball great and former Mets pitcher Pedro Martinez weighed in on the current state of affairs of the Amazins’, who have been in a free fall this season even after grabbing a 3-0 win on Tuesday over the Blue Jays on Tuesday night in Toronto.
While the Hall of Fame hurler was optimistic the Mets still could turn their season around, he said the biggest issue for his former ballclub was that it lacks any sort of identity. He also believes there’s no leadership among the group.
The Mets’ ugly season cost manager Carlos Mendoza last week, and the team has had a number of embarrassing moments, which included giving up a Little League home run to George Springer on Monday.
“The Mets lack personality, they lack identity, they lack leadership. The Mets must find their identity,” Martinez said on TNT on Tuesday. “It gets me mad, because when I was there from 05 to 08…our team was recognized by probably unity, and that’s what made us be successful. We did not achieve our goal, which was to win the World Series, but we were pretty good.
“We were giving the Philadelphia Phillies and the Atlanta Braves a lot to think about every time we took the mound, whether we were hurt — a little bit hurt — or a little banged up, but we were all together, and we played together.”
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Martinez’s tenure with the Mets produced just one playoff appearance, which was the team’s run to the NLCS in 2006.
The Mets famously lost to the Cardinals in seven games in the NLCS and fell out of the playoff race on the final day in each of the next two seasons after squandering division leads.
“We were going at it in the best way possible,” Martinez continued. “You don’t see that with the Mets. It’s like everybody’s playing their own game on their own. They need to be together in order for them to be successful. Everybody can achieve a little bit, anybody can give a little bit of something positive for the next guy coming up.”
The baseball great did add that the Mets have the talent that should make them a competitive team, but again pointed to the need for accountability.
“They need to find their own identity, and they need to be accountable and responsible for the money they’re being paid,” he added.