Mets attempting to correct problems they had last season

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — The Mets have had more than five months of reflection. Five months of parsing the “why’’ and the “how’’ of last season and what they can do to avoid a similar fate.

For a while there, it seemed like a tall task. How can any team protect against the injuries that wrecked its pitching staff? How do you stop losing from becoming contagious? How can you account for the whims and absurdities of a sport built around whims and absurdities?

“Any time you go through the type of season, and certainly the ending of the season that we went through, it provides a great opportunity for reflection, evaluations, postmortems,” president of baseball operations David Stearns said at the general managers’ meetings in November. “We came out of that with some very distinct and notable lessons and I think we’re going to keep those distinct and notable lessons internal.”

Well, not too internal, it seems.

The Mets are about to enter their final stretch of spring training, and the lessons from last year are evident. You see it in the way this team is built and the way they’re trying to stack the deck to protect against disastrous eventualities — a daily calculation that is laser-focused on August, September and, they hope, beyond.

Here are a few issues they’ve tried to remedy — both as individual players and as a group.

The fatigue factor

David Peterson went from being an All-Star last year to a player who pitched to a 6.34 ERA in the second half, struggled to pitch past the fifth inning and looked downright tired while attempting to carry an injury-ravaged rotation on his back and compiling a career-high 168 2⁄3 innings. The reversal led to some self-reflection and a plan to combat the rigors of the season.

“I wasn’t myself at the end of the year,” Peterson said. “I think it’s a matter of less so [limiting your work] in the game but more so on the side — managing the workload, what you’re doing when you’re throwing bullpens. That was some of the stuff I looked at in particular . . . naturally, when your body is fatigued, you’re going to have some times when you compensate for one thing or another, and it really comes down to going back to routines and putting your body in the right position.”

The sting of injury

The Mets were burned by injuries last year and have three notable insurance policies in place.

1. They’re taking it slow with players with extensive injury histories — Luis Robert Jr., who suffered three hamstring strains last year alone, played in back-to-back Grapefruit League games for the first time Thursday and Friday. Jorge Polanco, who underwent knee surgery in 2024, was eased into action, as was Brett Baty, who tweaked a hamstring before spring training. It took a few days for Francisco Alvarez, who routinely was beaten up last year and ended the year with a broken finger and a torn UCL in a thumb, to get into games behind the plate.

2. They’re continuing to champion positional versatility. When Bo Bichette was introduced at Citi Field in January, Stearns noted that on any given day, they essentially could have four shortstops on their infield. And while Bichette, Marcus Semien and Francisco Lindor are locked in at third, second and short, additional flexibility can only help. Baty alone is a big help. “If Opening Day was today, I’d be comfortable with him playing first, second, third or right,” Stearns said. Mark Vientos also can play either corner infield position.

3. They’re bringing back the long reliever. “After the trade deadline, we had a lot of closers,” Mendoza said, referencing their preponderance of one-inning guys. If they stay healthy, multiple-inning relievers Tobias Myers and Huascar Brazoban should be able to spell the rotation. Add to that: Freddy Peralta is a workhorse and Clay Holmes has the benefit of a full season as a starter behind him.

Sustained swoons

This one is harder to defend against, but the Mets last year were in desperate need of a true stopper. Nolan McLean took on that role, but you can ask only so much of a rookie. Peralta could be a key factor in shouldering the load.

“We acquired a front-line guy, a guy who’s done it before,” Mendoza said. “He was in the Cy Young conversation . . . As soon as we made that move in the offseason, it was pretty obvious that he was going to be pitching at the top of the rotation.”

In addition to that, Peralta already had established himself as the quintessential clubhouse “glue guy’’ — something you certainly need when things are going poorly.

“The benefit of having a guy like that when the team struggles is that he’s going to be the same person,” Lindor said. “You want guys to be the same. You don’t want guys to be good when they’re good and then be bad when they’re bad.”

By Laura Albanese

laura.albanese@newsday.com@AlbaneseLaura

Laura Albanese is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. She's been covering MLB since 2014 after starting at Newsday as an intern seven years earlier.