​The Mets’ poor first half continued right into the All-Star break. They had a bad time north of the border, dropping two out of three to the Blue Jays before losing the first two games in Atlanta as well. They then rebounded a bit, scratching out a split with the Braves and beating the Royals—one of the only teams with a worse record than the Mets—two out of three before falling on their faces over the weekend and getting swept by the Red Sox. The Mets have been bad in the first half in just about every facet of the game. Though heavily weighted by their early struggles, the Mets are 26th out of 30 teams in team wRC+ in the first half despite having one of the five best hitters on the league in their lineup most nights. Though the Mets’ pair of rookie outfielders have met or exceeded expectations, nearly everyone else on the position player side has fallen short due to underperformance, injury, or both.PlayerLast weekThis weekFrancisco Alvarez, CBrett Baty, UTILCarson Benge, OFBo Bichette, 3BA.J. Ewing, OFFrancisco Lindor, SSRonny Mauricio, INFJorge Polanco, DHZack Short, INF—Juan Soto, OFTyrone Taylor, OF—Luis Torrens, CMark Vientos, 1B/3BEric Wagaman, 1B/DHJared Young, 1B/DHThe biggest development on the position player side in the couple of weeks before the break is the long-awaited return of Jorge Polanco from the injured list. Polanco has been exclusively DHing and not playing the field in order to keep his Achilles bursitis at bay. Unfortunately, after a promising start, Polanco has sputtered to a 29 wRC+ in his first 18 appearances. He had just three hits and one extra base hit. He walked once, drove in a run, and scored a run. When Polanco was activated, Ronny Mauricio was sent down to Triple-A. Prior to being sent down, Mauricio had one hit and a run scored in eight plate appearances.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAs one player returned from the injured list, another hit the injured list. After a dismal first half, things got even worse for Mark Vientos when he was hit on the hand with a Michael Wacha pitch, resulting in a fracture that will sideline him for quite a bit. This has resulted in a lot more playing time for Jared Young and Eric Wagaman. Young has been fine playing the lion’s share at first base, putting up a 103 wRC+ in 41 plate appearances. Of his eleven hits, three of them were doubles. He scored two runs, walked once, and drove in four runs. Wagaman has not fared as well, but as the righty in this pseudo platoon, he is not getting as many at-bats. He has just one hit and two walks in his last ten plate appearances. Zack Short took Mark Vientos’ spot on the roster and is providing defensive flexibility, but has gone hitless in his first seven plate appearances with a walk and two strikeouts.As has been the case for the majority of the first half of the season, the Mets’ trio of outfielders have been their most consistently productive hitters. Elected to his first All-Star Game as a Met, Juan Soto p