Jeff Wilpon hears the fans, decrying his team and his ownership, louder with each loss. He sympathizes.
“Yeah, it’s been incredibly difficult [for me to watch the team], as it has been for most Mets fans,” Wilpon said. “For those around the team, who work here, and I’m really disappointed with where we are and disappointed to have left Mets fans, basically, in this situation.
“You have a range of emotions, just like our fans. That includes being incredibly frustrated, disappointed, angry about our season, this point, certainly, you know, we’re in a results business. And at this point, we’re well below our expectations.”
The Mets will tell you just that, after an 11-1 start, they expected more than a 31-45 record as they headed into Tuesday’s game with the Pirates. They didn’t expect to be fielding questions about losing streaks. They wanted to be contending.
But the players are holding out hope, waiting for breaks despite knowing the clock is ticking.
Just minutes earlier, before the announcement that Sandy Alderson will step aside as general manager due to health concerns, Anthony Swarzak, who has pitched just 11 ²/₃ innings this season and holds a 7.48 ERA, was asked about all that losing, how it has affected the clubhouse, whether there’s a feeling trades might be coming if things don’t turn around.
“Baseball is a funny game, you know, it’s a long season, and there’s the saying that there’s always tomorrow in baseball, but there’s not,” Swarzak told The Post. “And right now, this is a do-or-die kind of time, and we gotta start figuring out as a team how to get it done during the game.
“The only people that care about trades and all that stuff is the media. That’s it. That’s the only people that care about that stuff. Players don’t care about that stuff, that side of the game, because if you aren’t focusing on the task at hand — which is the game that night or that day — then that game is gonna pass you by. And that’s not what we need here, that’s not what’s going to happen, that’s not what’s been happening. We’re all focused on the moment and trying to win a baseball game that day.”
The owner took some of the blame.
“This is, again, a results business and we’re well below our expectations, from ownership on down,” Wilpon said. “I think, you know, talk to the baseball department, talk to the scouting department, talk to the development department, the coaches, the players. Nobody expected to be in this position.”