Yes, that's a provocative statement. But consider this -- when compared to other NL teams, the Mets are the least efficient in turning offensive baserunners (as measured by hits (H), walks (BB) and batters hit-by-pitches (HBP)) into runs.
While the Mets have scored 55 runs -- more than 7 other NL teams, they are third in H + BB + HBP. Using a method of measuring efficiency called Data Envelopment Analysis and Excel's Solver function, we can score each team on the efficiency by which they turn inputs (H + BB + HBP) into outputs (runs). And the Mets are dead last in this efficiency score -- behind even the Nationals.
The chart below plots H + BB + HBP along the X-axis and runs along the Y-axis. If you were to drop a string down from the top of the graph, and imagine that each point is a peg, the pegs along which that string would lie when pulled taught are the most efficient teams. I've color-coded the points by efficiency, to make it a bit easier to see. Running your mouse over the graph reveals that the teams along the efficient frontier are the Phillies, the Marlins, the Dodgers, the Rockies, and the Diamondbacks. These teams have an efficiency score of 1. The Mets are furthest below the frontier, and have the lowest efficiency score -- 0.77. The next lowest are the Nats with a score of 0.80.
Obviously, it's not all about runs. And it's not all about efficiency -- if the Mets were collecting 50 hits a game to score 10 runs, nobody would be complaining, even though they'd be horribly inefficient. But what's so worrisome about the Mets is that it's not like people aren't hitting -- the team's not slumping, in the usual sense, and yet they still can't generate enough runs to win consistently. This crude measure of efficiency reveals exactly what Met-fans have been griping about -- the Mets are leaving a lot of runners on base. I didn't realize just how bad it was.
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