Mets face tough questions as rough road trip ends

PITTSBURGH -- There was little to distinguish the Mets’ latest defeat, a 2-1 loss to the Pirates on Sunday, from any of the 34 that preceded it. Once again, the Mets did not hit enough to overcome a brief starting pitching performance, this time from Carlos Carrasco, at PNC Park. It took merely two hours and 16 minutes for New York to lose its eighth game in nine tries.

This has been a distressing stretch for the Mets, who dropped five of six on their road trip and now face upcoming series against the Yankees, Cardinals, Astros and Phillies -- four teams that are plenty talented enough to take advantage of a reeling club.

So can the Mets stop it? Will anything change? The answers to these three questions should provide some insight.

Is the pitching going to be all right?
Carrasco’s issues Sunday were concerning, particularly given his larger body of work over the last calendar year. But Carrasco is far from the Mets’ most significant rotation problem.

Through 17 combined starts, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander have produced a 4.19 ERA -- a mark below expectations for the two highest-salaried players in MLB history. They’re not the only ones. Kodai Senga has shown flashes of brilliance amidst greater inconsistency. Tylor Megill has pitched poorly enough that the Mets are considering shuffling their rotation this week to skip him. David Peterson was knocked out of his most recent Minor League start in the first inning. José Quintana is still weeks away from a return.

Overall, Mets starters own a 4.95 ERA through 66 games, which would be the fourth-highest full-season total in franchise history. They have spent most of the year in the bottom third of the league.

The Mets need that to change with the personnel they have in house. Before his last start, Scherzer appeared to be turning a corner. Verlander, according to manager Buck Showalter, has been obsessive in his quest to find a fix. Should Scherzer and Verlander rediscover their prime form, it would paper over many of the team’s other concerns.

How can the Mets improve this roster?
Although serious Trade Deadline discussions won’t begin for another few weeks, general managers are beginning to touch base with each other to gauge potential matches. The Mets will certainly be active at the Deadline, but it’s not yet clear to what extent. Last July, Billy Eppler was adamant against trading any of the organization’s top prospects, and owner Steve Cohen was on board with that plan. This year, facing longer odds to win a World Series, it would be illogical for the leadership group to change its tune.

But it also seems unlikely the Mets can make a serious run without doing something to fix what ails them. An obvious area of need is the aforementioned rotation, particularly if Eppler can find a reasonable acquisition under team control beyond this season. Relief help is always welcome, and the Mets could still use a big bat to give them some punch from the DH spot. (No. 4 prospect Ronny Mauricio, despite an erroneous report that surfaced Sunday on social media, is not in the team’s short-term plans.)

It’s unlikely the Mets will overhaul each of those areas. But they’ll need to address some of them if they wish to challenge the Braves atop the NL East.

Are any management changes coming?
Earlier this week, Cohen told the New York Post that he aims to take a measured approach with the 2023 Mets, despite their poor start to the season. That means the jobs of Eppler and Showalter are probably safe.

“When things get really bad, I’m not going to blow up,” Cohen told the Post. “I don’t think that’s the proper response. I don’t think it solves anything, other than it gives people a one-day story. But it doesn’t really solve anything … and I think in some ways it can be demotivating.”

Cohen also noted that “there’s plenty of blame to go around from a performance point of view,” which puts the onus on his roughly $375 million roster. Doing his best to ignite that group on Saturday, Showalter held a closed-door meeting before the team won its only game of the series. But the impact wasn’t lasting for a group that continues to search for answers.

“The concern has been there,” shortstop Francisco Lindor said. “It doesn’t start today. It’s been there. … As a team, Buck talked to us. We’ve just got to continue to fight day in and day out, and stop worrying about what’s going to happen.”