If The Mets Want To Turn This Nightmare Season Around, Francisco Lindor MUST Buy Jeff McNeil The Car He Promised Him After McNeil Won The Batting Title Last Season

David Seelig. Shutterstock Images.

The 2023 Mets have no shortage of scapegoats of why a team went from 101 wins last year to being 6 games under .500 at the All-Star break the very next season despite having a good chunk of the same team as last year. The starting pitching led by two disappointing aging future Hall of Famers has been bad-to-abysmal, the bullpen has been taxed because starters flat out refuse to go 5 innings let alone 6 on many nights, and the offense has been inconsistent as they try to dig out of a 5-0 hole by the 2nd inning.

Jeff McNeil has become the poster boy of how everything went from all good to all shit in one season flat.

Now there are a million reasons why a player can struggle that can be explained by statistics, even though going from batting champion to below average hitter AFTER the shift got banned makes no fucking sense to me. However contrary to all the fancy advance numbers that baseball nerds jerk off to, there is a much bigger part of baseball that decides wins and losses in this stupid game. I'm talking about juju. Mojo. Whatever you want to call the stuff that gets you through a 162 game marathon every season.

The 2022 Mets had positive vibes in spades. The 2023 Mets have the vibes of Barstool HQ after Portnoy rips the entire office. There's a million reasons why that's the case. But I have to think part of it is due to this bet not being paid up 9 months later.

Look, I love Francisco Lindor and think he has gotten a lot of unwarranted shit for his time with the Mets due to the size of his contract. But there is absolutely no excuse to not honor that bet. I don't care if these two still don't like each other due to that ratcoon nonsense or what. Not honoring a bet for a batting title is essentially sticking your thumb right in the eyes of the Baseball Gods since you know those old ass gods love nothing more than batting average.

Not only that, but Lindor went on Mookie Betts' podcast over the weekend and addressed #CarGate.

God dammit Francisco! I know your nickname is Mr. Smile and I have no problem with you having fun with a friend on a podcast. But not paying a bet and joking about it is a tough thing for a man of honor like myself to see. You gotta do the right thing and buy your teammate an actual car he earned for being the best hitter in baseball last season. Not a Hot Wheels. Not an old beater that was traded in to 1-877-Kars-4-Kids (K-A-R-S, Kars 4 Kids! Now it's in your head because of Francisco Lindor). Not one of these Cozy Coupes even though they fucking ruled when you were young.

I am talking about a legit automobile for Jeff McNeil's growing young family with decent gas mileage and safety ratings so good that it would make J.D. Power & Associates rock hard. I know that's a little more than what Francisco has in mind, but I'm pretty sure he can afford it based on the money Uncle Stevie pays him for one (1) at bat.

Based on Lindor’s average plate appearances of 701.5, from his contract’s yearly average, Lindor would be receiving $47,084.82 per plate appearance. (via Rising Apple)

I understand that this season is probably already cooked. But at this point, we need to do whatever is necessary to try to turn everything around to appease the Baseball Gods, no matter how much joy they get in fucking us over. I did my part. KFC did his part. Meek Phill did his part. And Frank The Tank did his part.

Now it's up to Francisco Lindor to reach into his giant wallet and pay for a car that won't even be a blip on his accountant's radar during tax season next year. Maybe upgrade that car to at least the medium trim and throw in a custom license plate for taking your sweet ass time that may have helped cause the baseball hell we've lived through in the first half of the season.

We talked more about Lindor and this god forsaken team on today's We Gotta Believe.