Mets takeaways from acting GM Zack Scott, including what's been ailing the offense

In the midst of the Mets' coldest streak of the year which made them fall out of the division lead, acting GM Zack Scott met with the media on Tuesday to discuss the team's recent slide.

Here are some takeaways from Scott's media availability...

On the team's overall play this season, and their sense of urgency

“Obviously there’s plenty of games left and we have a chance to still compete and win this division. It’s baseball, and being in the game for a long time as you guys know, there’s always a chance. You can’t get too down or too high when things are going well. That said, we’ve played very mediocre baseball for most of the year. This recent stretch has been much worse than mediocre. We would've taken mediocre at this point. For this stretch it's been unacceptably bad and we need to be better. But we’re not going to panic, because you can’t do that in this game.

“Baseball is a tricky sport in that it’s a precision sport. In football you can get angry and go hit people harder, you can probably do that in some other full-contact sports. You start squeezing the bat too hard or the ball too tightly, then you’re probably not going to perform very well. You’ve got to find that middle ground between a sense of urgency, because we only have 50-something games left so you’ve got to have a sense of urgency, but you can’t be so tight that you can’t perform up to your ability. That would be another problem if that were to happen. That’s the tough thing of trying to remain calm, stay within what you can do, not try to do too much, because then things can snowball and get even worse when you’re struggling to score runs especially.”

On why the offense is struggling in the first place

“That’s the tricky thing, right, is figuring out why. Most of our hitters are underperforming their career norms. Part of it, a little part of it, is that offense is down across the league, but that’s not explaining our situation. With some guys as we go through the season, we look at different things with each individual, an individualized approach. So there’s never one simple reason. Sometimes it’s a guy’s mechanics, getting them on track. Sometimes it’s their approach at the plate, what their plan is when they go to the plate, so it can be a lot of different things. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly why, but it’s usually pretty complex.”

On if the offense is pressing at this point

“I don’t have a sense of whether that’s the case. It’s hard to know. You talk to players - they’re big leaguers. They’re good at what they do. … A lot of these guys have been playing in a tough market like New York where there’s a lot of eyes on you and a lot of pressure. You never get that sense that they’re pressing, but I think it’s a normal human thing to do. And I think at times there’s been definitely some incidents when you kind of break it down that someone was coming a littler bit out of who they are and trying to do too much, which to me, is almost the definition of pressing. I definitely think that happens. And that’s the key thing, is to try to nip that in the butt so you don’t have this snowball affect."

On if he's comfortable with Luis Rojas leading the team

"One of his biggest strengths, I think comes in handy where you’re having tough stretches, which is to stay pretty consistent, pretty even-keeled, positive, and supportive within the clubhouse walls. So that’s not the problem. It’s just the performance on the field. Caring’s not the problem - everyone cares. People were banging their heads against the wall losing sleep trying to figure out how they can help other people. … What I can do or what my department can do to help the team at this point is more limited… post trade deadline. But our job is not just about acquiring players, but it’s about setting them up for success. We’re not gonna stop exploring ways to improve how we’re supporting them, because we need to play better than this."

On Noah Syndergaard potentially moving to the bullpen upon returning

“He’s someone that obviously has a lot of talent, has the potential to impact the game, and at this point of the year, we just mentioned sense of urgency, coming in and contributing in a shorter relief outing, whether that’s a two or three inning outing or whatever it may be, I think getting him to help the big league club is the priority when you get down to these last couple months of the season. So if we can get him to come back in a relief role faster than you could - which is typically the case, typically you want to stretch a guy out to be a starter, it’s gonna take longer rehab - so I think, we’re looking at September. Getting him back in September in a role where he can help the club in relief would be a good thing for us to do.”