Brodie Van Wagenen’s Mets take doesn’t match what we’re seeing

The team tells you.

Not Brodie Van Wagenen preening that the Mets are the club to beat in the NL East. Not Mickey Callaway with his near-daily invocation that the Mets are on the brink of taking off. They are paid spokesmen for the organization. Their jobs, particularly Callaway’s in the short run, rest on the Mets playing well or, failing that, getting enough folks to buy that they soon will.

But a 162-game schedule is revelatory. A ball can bounce a few times in the NFL and turn 7-9 into 9-7. But 71-91 is not becoming 91-71 in the majors with a few quirky results. Excellence is measured day to day, month to month, relentlessly. And 43 percent into this Mets season, has anyone sensed excellence beyond the hyperbole in their spokespersons’ mouths?

Van Wagenen said Saturday that, “Coming into the games on Thursday and Friday, we were right where we wanted to be.” Really? They were 33-34 and a third-place team. Is that where they wanted to be? Is that the stuff of the team to beat?

Watch the club. That will reveal what you need to know. And what is being revealed is the Mets can bob and weave with .500, but not push beyond it. They went under on May 4 and have yet to do better than break even since. They began Saturday 33-36 with an atrocious defense and bullpen, a league-average offense and a rotation that has been good, but not as elite as hoped when brilliance is the best method to overcome the defense and pen, particularly.

Van Wagenen continued to stress his “mission statement,” which is “to win as many games as possible” in 2019. Time remained to rally. Before 1986, the trade deadline was June 15, which in 2019 was Saturday. The most traumatic moment in franchise history occurred June 15, 1977 — when Tom Seaver was traded to the Reds at the deadline.

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This year’s Mets have six-plus weeks until the July 31 deadline to determine if they are going to trade more big starters, such as Zack Wheeler and maybe Noah Syndergaard. For now, Van Wagenen remains in upgrade mode. He completed a minor trade with Cleveland for Brooks Pounders, who was pitching well at Triple-A, and promoted Chris Flexen, believing the righty’s stuff will play up as a reliever. These Saturday transactions fall into the “try something” category when a bullpen is as bad as that of the Mets, who have an MLB-high 16 blown saves plus the NL’s third-worst ERA at 5.31.

“My hope is and my belief is that we can be in contention over the next several weeks and we can continue to push that gas pedal down,” Van Wagenen said.

But can these Mets really speed out of their current condition?

One bromide the Mets offered in the worst of times over the first two months was a version of, “Yeah, we are not performing well, but neither is anyone in the division.” But the Braves have surged, and the Mets began Saturday as many games back of Atlanta in the loss column (seven) as they were ahead of last-place Miami. The Nationals were playing considerably better and were a game behind the third-place Mets. The Phillies were wobbling, but still 4 ¹/₂ games ahead of the Mets and poised to be more active in the trade market.

Van Wagenen noted the home-and-home series approaching with the Braves and Phillies, interspersed with four games at Wrigley Field and two home games against the Yankees. That takes the Mets to the All-Star break.

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And what can we expect of the second-half Mets? The Athletics were 34-35 through June 14 last year, then went an MLB-best 63-30 to earn a wild card. But Oakland in this century has regularly surged — the A’s have six of the 65 best second-half records since 2001. The Mets have none of those.

Will this be the year they author one? Well, do you think that is more likely than one of their starters breaking down? And if one of the starters breaks down, who exactly is going into the rotation to help a second-half surge?

“I don’t think we are looking at anything as a lost season,” Van Wagenen said. “We have talent, we have heart and we have a group of people who believe in each other and will pick each other up.”

Those are optimistic words — or spin. Watch the Mets. Do those words line up with what you are seeing? The team always tells you what you need to know.