While most pundits spent the offseason being impressed by the flashy moves the Mets were making (Max Scherzer! Chris Bassitt! Starling Marte!), they overlooked one important detail: Most of these guys are old.
Now, early-to-mid-thirties isn’t really old in the grand scheme of life on the planet, but as far as a baseball team is concerned, that generally puts the players on the back nine of their careers. For example, everyone who thought that Jacob deGrom was going to easily bounce back from last year’s injury struggles forgot that he is 34, and a 34-year-old body doesn’t always bounce back the way it did ten years prior.