Mets: 1 biggest disappointment of spring training so far

The New York Mets might have been the biggest winners of the MLB offseason, but one player has struggled on the mound this spring.

The New York Mets are coming off a pretty great offseason. With new owner Steven Cohen and team president Sandy Alderson, the Mets acquired relief pitcher Trevor May, catcher James McCann and stud shortstop Francisco Lindor. As a result of these additions, the Mets are considered the favorites to win the NL East title in 2021.

So far this spring, many of the big-name players on the Mets have lived up to their end of the bargain. But there is one player who is underperforming this preseason, and it’s reliever Dellin Betances.

Mets: Dellin Betances’ struggles carry into spring training

Last offseason, the Mets wanted to bolster their bullpen alongside closer Edwin Diaz. So, they looked to the Bronx and decided to sign Betances away from the New York Yankees on a one-year deal with an option for the 2021 season. The first season of Betances in Queens did not go as expected.

Through 15 appearances in 2020, he accumulated a bloated 7.71 ERA and a 2.057 WHIP. Additionally, Betances walked 12 batters and struck out 11 through 11.2 innings of work. Granted, he was coming back from partially torn left Achilles tendon. Maybe he could rebound in spring!

Yeah, about that.

Betances made his debut on March 4 against the Washington Nationals, and it was a hellish inning for the veteran reliever. He surrendered four earned runs on two hits (one home run), walked two batters and tallied zero strikeouts. Betances’ next two appearances were much better compared to the previous debacle. In his fourth and most recent showing, against the Houston Astros on March 16, he allowed two earned runs on two hits while striking out one batter.

In all, Betances has a 13.50 ERA and 2.00 WHIP through four total innings of work. The stats are not good and to make matters much worse, his average four-seam fastball velocity dropped to 90.6-mph against the Astros, per MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo.

If these struggles from Betances carry over into the regular season, you can expect the Mets to cut ties with him altogether. This team has lofty goals for the 2021 campaign, and it can’t afford to keep Betances if he continues heading down this concerning path.