Are the New York Mets showing enough urgency during their skid?

A weekend series against the Pirates that saw the Mets get outscored 30-4 over the course of three games should set off alarm bells for a wake-up call. While manager Carlos Mendoza and the players have said all the right things about needing to execute better and play to a higher standard, the organization's actions have not offered the same sense of urgency that the fanbase is feeling.

Injuries have taken a toll on the Mets' pitching staff, sidelining three starting pitchers (Senga, Tylor Megill, and Griffin Canning), leading to less-qualified replacements offering no length to protect a tired bullpen. David Stearns has been making roster transactions almost daily to provide fresh arms to the unit, but the moves themselves feel like small potatoes as the team tries to bide time for injured players to return.

Despite losing three starters and seeing a fourth (Sean Manaea) have a slight setback in his rehab, the Mets have not considered giving either of their top pitching prospects (Brandon Sproat and Nolan McLean) a shot at the big league rotation. The team has also shown no urgency to get Manaea, Jesse Winker, or Brooks Raley off the injured list, with Mendoza recently implying the latter two may not be back until after the All-Star Break.

The Mets' strong start has given them plenty of cushion to absorb a tough stretch like this, but it seems like the overall mentality has been to simply tread water until the injured players start returning. While no one is suggesting that injured players should return before they are deemed ready, the Mets' actions feel more deliberate as a sign that simply getting to the playoffs intact is good enough at this point.

There are still two weeks left in the first half, and three of the series the Mets will play (Milwaukee and the Yankees at home this week and at Kansas City next week) are against good teams. Simply running everyone out there and hoping for the best isn't an ideal strategy, but it seems like this is what the Mets are planning to do since most of the trade activity in the league will come just prior to the deadline.

Stearns is undoubtedly hoping to see the likes of Winker, Manaea, Senga, and Raley return before assessing what moves he needs to make to improve the roster at the deadline. There is still a lot of baseball left to play before then, however, and the Mets are in danger of making their postseason chances more of a coin flip in the highly competitive National League if they don't show a bit more urgency to improve their situation now and snap out of the rut they've been in since mid-June.