After a disastrous 2023 season, there have been a lot of changes for the Mets. They have a new president of baseball operations, a new manager and plenty of new faces on the roster. With 2024 planned on being a sort of bridge year, the offseason moves ended up staying on the modest side, though there were many of them.
Major League Signings
- LHP Sean Manaea: Two years, $28MM (Manaea can opt out after 2024)
- RHP Luis Severino: One year, $13MM plus incentives
- OF Harrison Bader: One year, $10.5MM plus incentives
- RHP Adam Ottavino: One year, $4.5MM
- LHP: Jake Diekman: One year, $4MM (deal includes club/vesting option for 2025)
- RHP: Shintaro Fujinami: One year, $3.35MM plus incentives
- IF Joey Wendle: One year, $2MM plus incentives
- RHP Jorge López: One year, $2MM
- RHP Michael Tonkin: One year, $1MM split deal, $400K in minors
- RHP Austin Adams: One year, $800K split deal, $180K in minors* (later outrighted off 40-man)
2024 spending: $55.65MM
Total spending: $69.15MM
* Adams’ salary courtesy of the Associated Press
Option Decisions
- C Omar Narváez exercised $7MM player option
- Team exercised $6.5MM option on LHP Brooks Raley instead of $1.25MM buyout
- RHP Adam Ottavino declined $6.75MM player option but later was re-signed
Trades and Claims
- Claimed IF Zack Short off waivers from Tigers
- Claimed C/OF Cooper Hummel off waivers from (later traded to Giants)
- Claimed C Tyler Heineman off waivers from Blue Jays (later traded to Red S0x)
- Traded Rule 5 pick RHP Justin Slaten to Red Sox for LHP Ryan Ammons and cash considerations
- Acquired RHP Yohan Ramírez from White Sox for cash considerations
- Acquired RHP Adrian Houser and OF Tyrone Taylor from Brewers for RHP Coleman Crow
- Claimed IF/OF Diego Castillo off waivers from Diamondbacks (later lost on waivers to Yankees)
- Claimed RHP Max Kranick off waivers from Pirates
- Claimed LHP Kolton Ingram off waivers from Angels
Notable Minor League Signings
- Cole Sulser, Kyle Crick, Andre Scrubb, José Iglesias, Taylor Kohlwey, Rylan Bannon, Cam Robinson, Trayce Thompson, Chad Smith, Yacksel Ríos, Danny Young, Austin Allen, Yolmer Sánchez, José Rondón, Ben Gamel, Ji-Man Choi, Luke Voit, Jon Duplantier
Extensions
- None
Notable Losses
- Carlos Carrasco, Elieser Hernández, Tim Locastro, John Curtiss, Denyi Reyes, Penn Murfee (lost on waivers), Daniel Vogelbach (non-tendered), Trevor Gott (non-tendered), Luis Guillorme (non-tendered), Jeff Brigham (non-tendered), Sam Coonrod (non-tendered)
What a difference a year can make. Last winter, the Mets re-signed Brandon Nimmo and Edwin Díaz to huge deals and added Justin Verlander and Kodai Senga to their pitching staff, which had them opening 2023 with World Series aspirations. But a series of injuries saw them fall out of contention quickly, which led to a deadline selloff that sent Verlander, Max Scherzer and others packing.
Scherzer had no-trade protection but said after the deal that he was told by the front office that 2024 was going to be something of a transitional year. With the club looking to do a sort of reboot, he decided to take the opportunity to head elsewhere and was able to win a World Series in Texas.
As the Mets became focused on changes, they started at the top of their baseball operations department. David Stearns was hired to be president of baseball operations, a move that had been anticipated for years. Stearns is a New York native who grew up a Mets fan and he stepped down to a lesser role in his final year with the Brewers. That seemed to pave the way for him to jump to the Mets, which came to fruition in October.
General manager Billy Eppler was initially expected to stay on and work under Stearns but he later stepped down. It was revealed that Eppler was under investigation for misuse of the injured list and he didn’t want to be a distraction as that played out. MLB eventually announced that Eppler will be placed on the ineligible list for the entire 2024 season. The Mets have not replaced him to this point, with Stearns atop the decision-making pyramid and several assistant general managers and others helping him out.
Change in the dugout was also on the menu, as one of Stearns’ first moves was to fire manager Buck Showalter. The Mets were connected to the high-profile Craig Counsell drama, which made some sense since Counsell was looking to push managerial salaries as high as possible and Mets’ owner Steve Cohen is famously not shy about spending. Counsell and Stearns also worked together with the Brewers for many years, but the Mets ultimately didn’t seem to be interested in that bidding war, with Counsell landing with the Cubs.
Instead, the Mets pivoted to Carlos Mendoza, who has been a coach with the Yankees for the past 18 years. This is his first managerial gig, which is why his earning power is significantly less than that of Counsell. Mendoza will make a total of $4.5MM over three years while Counsell will be making more than that annually, as he got a five-year, $40MM deal from the Cubbies.
With the front office and dugout leaders selected, the attention turned to the roster. Since the Mets have been so aggressive in past winters, they were connected to some big names like Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. That interest didn’t really align with their plan of dialing things back this winter, but there were reasons to think they might make an exception. Ohtani is a unicorn talent and the ability to sign a player like him had never come up before and likely won’t ever happen again. Yamamoto is also incredibly talented and hit the open market at the age of 25, a situation that’s also fairly unprecedented.
The Mets seemed to at least consider these unique situations but ultimately didn’t land either player, with both of them going to the Dodgers. They made a real run at Yamamoto, reportedly offering the same 12 year, $325MM terms which he accepted from Los Angeles. Once they missed on those two, they seemed to have little interest in other top free agents, instead focusing on guys who could be signed to short-term deals.
The rotation was an obvious focus, with Verlander and Scherzer having been dealt last year. Carlos Carrasco also hit free agency, creating another opening and leaving the Mets with just Senga and José Quintana as established starters. One depth option was also subtracted over the winter when David Peterson underwent hip surgery that will keep him out of action until the middle of 2024.
The Mets’ interest extended to pitchers like Erick Fedde, Lucas Giolito, Hyun Jin Ryu and Shota Imanaga, but they ultimately landed deals with a couple of bounceback candidates. Sean Manaea agreed to a two-year deal with an opt-out on the heels of a poor season with the Giants but one in which he finished strong. If he can carry that over with the Mets, it could be a nice buy-low move for them.
Luis Severino was also brought aboard on a one-year deal in somewhat similar circumstances. He was once arguably an ace but has been battling injuries and poor performance over the past five years. If he can get over his health problems, and the rumors he was tipping his pitches last year, he could also be a nice find.
In addition to those two, the club brought aboard Adrian Houser from the Brewers, the former club of Stearns. Those three were planned to be paired with Quintana and Senga but the latter is going to miss the start of the season due to a posterior capsule strain. The club doesn’t seem like it will bring in any further additions, relying on depth arms to get by until Senga returns, perhaps in May. Tylor Megill is probably the favorite to step in, though Joey Lucchesi and José Buttó are also on the 40-man roster.
In the bullpen, the club deployed a similar strategy of spreading money around to various targets. Adam Ottavino was brought back, while the club also gave roster spots to Jake Diekman, Jorge López, Shintaro Fujinami and Michael Tonkin. They briefly gave a spot to Austin Adams, though he was later outrighted, putting him in the position of providing non-roster depth alongside various minor league signees.
A lot of those guys are inconsistent and/or wild, but the club just needs a couple of them to be in good form to be happy with their relief corps. Edwin Díaz will be coming back after missing all of 2023 due to knee surgery and the club has incumbents Brooks Raley and Drew Smith still on hand as well.
On the position player side of things, the club was mostly focused on marginal moves. They have flirted with J.D. Martinez but he’s still a free agent of this writing. Adding Harrison Bader on a one-year deal was the most significant of the moves they did make, as that pushes Brandon Nimmo into a corner and upgrades the defense. Tyrone Taylor, acquired in the same deal as Houser, also bolsters the group in terms of glovework. He should be in a fourth outfielder role behind Nimmo, Bader and Starling Marte.
On the infield, the club had a bit of a question mark at third base, with Brett Baty struggling in 2023. The Mets were connected to guys like Justin Turner and Gio Urshela this winter but seemed content to leave the spot open as a battle between Baty, Mark Vientos and Ronny Mauricio. The latter unfortunately suffered a torn ACL and will miss most or perhaps all of this year, but the Mets didn’t pivot to other free agents. They did add Joey Wendle, who could perhaps step in if neither Baty nor Vientos take hold of the spot, but he’ll ideally be in a utility role.
Perhaps the biggest storyline in their position player group this winter was about what they didn’t do. With the club undergoing this sort of retooling and Pete Alonso set for free agency at the end of 2024, there was plenty of speculation about whether the club would consider either a trade or an extension. Ultimately, neither came together and Alonso will go into 2024 in wait-and-see mode. If the club is in contention, he will likely be a big part of that and would be a lock for a qualifying offer at season’s end. If they slip out of the race again, he could find himself as the top rental player available at the deadline.
That situation is a mirror of the club as a whole right now. Despite the frustrations of 2023, the club comes into 2024 looking like a Wild Card contender. The lineup still features incumbents like Alonso, Nimmo, Jeff McNeil, Francisco Lindor, Marte and Francisco Álvarez. Breakouts from Baty and/or Vientos could be a huge help, as could a healthy Bader. Perhaps DJ Stewart can carry forward his hot streak from the second half of last year. The pitching staff isn’t as exciting as last year when they had two future Hall-of-Famers but it could be decent if a few things break right.
There are many ways the 2024 season could go, from surprising contention to another dismal summer and another deadline selloff. As they see how things go in the coming months, they will be keeping a close eye on a few youngsters. In addition to seeing how the third base competition plays out, they have prospects like Jett Williams, Drew Gilbert, Christian Scott and Luisangel Acuña who will all be in the upper minors and perhaps pushing for big league debuts.
The Mets are, in many ways, in between this and that. Their modest offseason is a result of that uncertainty. They are still way over the competitive balance tax this year thanks to their previous aggression, but they have limited their future commitments. Per RosterResource, this year’s CBT number is $328MM but it will drop all the way to $171MM next year. That doesn’t include raises for arbitration-eligible players, and they should have plenty of holes to fill with all of these one-year deals expiring, but it highlights how different things could be next winter. As the Mets and their fans know, a lot can change in a year.
It’s a C that could easily turn into a B or an A if some of these low risk deals turn out great and they can flip them by the deadline.
If Severino gets back into form, he’s going to be a bargain.
That’s a big “if.”
They signed a bunch of losers. That’s the Mets for you.
Not how grading works.
“Billy, we asked for reasonable and likely predictions; you predicted a meteor in the shape of Jenna whatshername would fly over Kansas. That’s an ‘F’.”
Such a meteor flies over Kansas.
Billy gets a grade change?
Considering you can’t effectively grade something until it’s finished, it actually is how grading works
The Mets should trade for J.D. Davis and put him at 3rd base again.
I like JD, but no. Wilmer I’d welcome back.
That’s going backwards
That’s a big NO. First, Davis isn’t going to contribute much more than Baty and/or Vientos offensively. Stearns needs to see what the young players can do going forward. Davis was roughly league average last year and now 31 and going the other way. Second, his defense isn’t anything to write home about, and he’s really limited to just 3rd or DH. So defensively he’s no better than the kids. Third, with the Mets being at the 110% level of the CBT his $6.9 mil salary turns into almost $14.5 mil. He’s just not worth that kind of money.
They should have gotten team options on some of these players.
Solid 74 win team
They are a bounce back team. Will win 85-90 games. Alvarez has shown signs of making the next step in progressing and is on of the best catchers in baseball. Lindor is top 3 shortstop in baseball. Alonso will have a monster walk year and Marte looks worlds healthier than last year. Their offense will be around rank 5-7 in baseball and pitching will be right around the middle of the league.
85 already feels on the high side for the team considering the NL East is a pretty strong division. Using AAA replacement as a 45 win team, here are the FGDC projections for 2024 at the moment.
Braves = 54.1 WAR (99 wins)
Phillies = 43.5 WAR (89 wins)
Mets = 39.2 WAR (84 wins)
Marlins = 32.8 WAR (78 wins)
Nationals = 21.1 WAR (66 wins)
Perhaps more valuable than the raw projection WAR is their rank in MLB projection. The Mets are the 14th ranked team. It could go up or down, but 90 wins would be a huge coup d’etat for them.
That sounds about right
Did homie say 85 wins is unrealistic than cough up projections at 84 wins
So give me a comp of 84 wins to argue against 85? Five wins one way or the other in baseball is a matter of a ball dropping here or there.
I think he was just providing a website’s projections based on projected WAR. I think that’s still nonsense though, Vegas has the line at 81.5.
@bIrdmansns – No, “homie did not”
I said 85 seems a little on the high side given the strength of the NL East. It’ll be a stronger division than average so 84 wins as a function of projected WAR.
FGDC projected WAR doesn’t consider the strength of your expected opponents. If the Mets played in the AL Central, it’d be reasonable to project the 85-90 wins.
If the Mets played in the AL East, maybe 75-80 wins.
Except the nl east is better then then the Al east.
Let’s put that to the test in projections.
1. Braves
2. Yankees
3. Blue Jays
4. Phillies
5. Rays
6. Orioles
7. Mets
8. Red Sox
9. Marlins
10. Nationals
AL East Median = 42.2 WAR, average = 42.6 WAR, 4 playoff teams projected.
NL East Median = 39.4 WAR, average = 38.2 WAR, 2 playoff teams projected
That’s where the teams are projected to rank against each other. Sorry, AL East is projected to be way tougher NL East.
Yankees are not even close to being number 2. Dont make me laugh. Yankees are right around were the Mets are.
@Mets6986?? – The data you retrieved from your backside does not agree with Fangraphs’ WAR projections it seems.
The same fangraphs that had the Yankees winning by 10 last year and they lost by 20 games and doing the same this year. Yes they can wipe my backside.
85-90? Delusional homerism.
@Sid Bream Speed Demon As a long time Mets fan this team is lucky to have 74 to 78 wins; agreed Sid
Or are you being a delusional in how bad they are?
I think you are being a little optimistic. The betting line is 81.5 wins. That’s realistic. Maybe a couple more if everything falls their way.
A couple more is 85. Thanks for being optimistic with me.
I’m looking at 74 wins
Mets have no DH LF or 3b 70 wins and that is because the pitching stinks
Nimmo’s in LF. Baty or Vientos could break out. But whatever you say.
Baty cant hit – is so so on defense – Vientos is an even worse fielder and hasnt shown much so far so he will DH – yikes – and with Nimmo in LF CF has now became the hole – SP is a mess and the pen is even worse – and after Pete and many others are traded before the deadline this team could lose maybe even 95-98 games
It was certainly quantity over quality for this rebuilding or retooling season…. In that vein they did pretty well to restock for the season. But overall, a grade: C.
Did Ottavino’s agent cost him $2.25MM?
About $4MM of the $6.75MM player option was deferred money so Ottavino would have only been paid about $2.75MM during the season; the remainder would be paid as some point in the future. The new contract he agreed to has no deferred money.
It’s about the same in terms of present value.
Not a Mets fan, but I really like what they’ve done this off season. I think the more cautious and measured approach will serve them well. I was pretty bummed when they signed Manaea as I was hoping my Buccos would get him. Good luck, Mets!
Good luck to the Buccos, too Treehouse!
Good luck with Jorge Lopez lol. Dude was beyond horrible for us last year. Ridiculous what we gave up for him….
@LambchoP As a longtime Mets fan I agree with you and thanks for the background history. The Mets are going to have to cut some pretty good arms and I don’t understand why they consider Lopez a lock??
Just don’t get it and thanks again dude!
Initially, almost everyone thought the Twins made a great trade for acquiring Jorge Lopez. Twins gave up Yennier Cano, Cade Povich (Orioles #10), Juan Nunez (Orioles #27) and Juan Nunez for Jorge Lopez.
This is a perfect example of why grading trades right afterwards is foolish.
Yeah Yennier Cano turning into an all-star reliever and Jorge Lopez turning back into a pumpkin really changed the perception of that trade.
It could swing back 180 degrees this season. Relievers are often volatile from season to season.
He’s also been going through some awful awful personal stuff.
Idk how that might have affected him.
Mets are a dumpster fire and we have another owner who lies to us – we would have been better off with J-Lo and A-Rod
Better off with J.Lo and A.Roid? LOL, good one!
Cohen has been telling us lies like the Wilpons did – look at next yrs FA class – there isnt the players to make the Mets a playoff team team but it wont matter when the Mets have a losing yr and Diaz will be the first player traded this off season as Mets will move to full rebuild
Cohen’s strategy of throwing money away did not work out so well. We will have to wait at least another year for a competitive team. This roster should at least be better than last.
The first 2 FA NYM wanted to sign in their 1st offseason are below
There were good ideas and they needed them badly, experience and talent with many good years left.
Realmuto and Springer. Initially Realmuto was asking for like 200M over X years. (which was very optimistic). I think the GM at that time was trying not to set up a precedent (to other FAs) by overpaying. They needed a C badly and quickly signed McCann who was coming off a career year. They should have negotiated better with Realmuto. What is worse he signed with PHI a division rival. He has been worth his contract.
Losing Realmuto was discouraging and then they made a 2nd mistake when it came down to them and TOR for Springer. They wouldn’t come up to 150M for a player that was a key cog in HOU, relatively young and got a ring. I don’t believe the length of the contract (5 years) was the main problem – the total $ was.
George grew up in CT and it was believed he had sincere interest in signing with NYM.
Bad judgement and bad negotiating skills made these 2 mistakes a MAJOR missed opportunity in a very competive division. Both of these players are difference makers and should have been a priority.
@YaGottaBelieveAgain FAR, FAR worse than these was the trade for and extension for Lindor.
Yes, yes, he’s been fine for the Mets, but the point is that they were well upholstered to bet on their talent at SS in a year before they’d have enormous holes to fill all over the roster.
Andres Giminez was a top prospect on all accounts, and he panned out. He’s been worth 93% of Lindor’s WAR 2021-2023 despite not playing a full season in 2021, in a total of 80 games fewer making him significantly more valuable per inning on the field, and doing that for about 3% of Lindor’s salary.
Cohen’s silly ‘splash’ is what you get when your rich owner can’t hire a good GM and decides to play one himself.
Imagine freeing up $30m a year to begin to build a prime age rotation during the 2020-21 offseason, in order not to have to lunge after ancient stars, one year moves (Bassitt), and betting on old players like Carrasco in 2023 when he’d had one year of more than 80 innings w/ an ERA under 5.25 since 2019)
Considering the dead weight they lost, the additions are pretty intriguing.
The starting pitching depth is not great but not abysmal either. They”ll be in the mix but 2024 will only be a stepping stone for a great future. The star prospects with next year’s payroll flexibility should make every Met fan happy.
Shoo, Steve. “Star prospects”? You mean like Acuna, dropping off nearly every top 100 list?
The Mets don’t have even one 55 FV prospect in the minors (Baty was their last one), let alone one of the 60 FVs who hit the ground running.
Depends on the publication.
BA has them with seven at 55: williams, clifford, scott, houck, yovanny rodriguez, mclean and Jeremy rodriguez
MLB with four: williams, gilbert, acuna, clifford
Verlander and Scherzer are also starting the year on their teams’ IL. Imagine the grade if the Mets had hung onto them?
I’m hovering around a C. Not a lot of sexy moves, but solid ones.
This year, like last, will come down to which McNeil shows up and whether Marte can stay healthy the entire year.
Agree, and Alvarez… if he progresses the way some think he will, he can be a middle of the order bat.
He’s on his way to being a plus defender too.
That was such a pleasant surprise after hearing mixed reviews in minors
As a long time, Mets fan, I love how this organization has got a lot of Mets fans onboard and quoting this transition year crap when they refuted and denied Scherzer claims to that exact point.
This team has suffered from bad GM’s as long as I can remember; let’s see how Stearns does but the Saux jumped on a grenade for the Mets with Giolitto, so I was not impressed already. I still don’t understand even with all the money issues why they can’t sign someone to a multiyear deal and defer some of that over the next 2 years when a lot of salary comes off the books?
This team will not win more than 78 games and probably. 75.
I would be happier if they would do as I said above but I am just a longtime fan and thanks for the ear and MLBTR
I still don’t understand even with all the money issues why they can’t sign someone to a multiyear deal and defer some of that over the next 2 years when a lot of salary comes off the books?
=========================
That’s not how deferrals work. A contract worth $75M/3 will cost you $25M/year no matter when you pay the cash.
@JoeBrady Thanks then do what the Dodgers did but on a smaller scale? Add more years and money
Secondly Bader; huge overpay; that 10 million could have been used towards a multiyear deal..
70 mil in FA spending is considered “modest spending”. Wow. Maybe qualify that by adding “for big market teams”. AND the amazing part to this of course is that its added to a payroll already well over the cap. Jealous in Baltimore!
considering the “small market” royals spent over 100M in FA spending modest seems about right for under 70M
That’s a one off by the Royals … and what they are doing resembles part of a 5 yr cycle of competitiveness plan that small market team employ to compete with the big boys. Not a year in, year out on going spend fest that the large market teams can afford to do.
how about the padres who seem to hand out 100+ million contracts every season with this being the one off for quite sometime. unless you consider them big market team or how about the twins the last few years.
You mean the Padres team that tried to take out an additional $100 million in line of credit to cover payroll, but MLB headquarters stepped in and said “no”. That Padres team?
To me , a classic example of a small market team trying to “run with the big dogs”. It doesn’t work.
So was Sevarino at 13 mil – guy hasnt pitched nyrs – no one wanted him but Stearns our GM thought this was a good deal – strange how this GM was the guy no one wanted himlast season as a GM
It’s not particularly modest when 90-plus percent of it will be paid out during the coming year.
There is no excuse to not signing someone to a 3 yr 75 mil contract – if you can get the FA to agree to 10 mil / 25 mil / 35 mil deal is the only sticking problem I see – plus we have no idea if the payroll will be 177 mil next off season – Pete will be gone – I believe Diaz will be traded plus others …
In case you dont have time for a long article: mets suck, they’re cursed, didnt sign anyone of note, got a bunch of useless vets, didnt trade alonso for prospects, mauricio out for season, senga career probly over, hired a garbage nobody inexperienced manager, still paying bonilla another decade, historic bloated payroll & will lose 90 games again. Theres your review for this sad pathetic team
You left out another owner telling us lies – I see it the same way you do – when Pete and Diaz are traded this yr I think the Mets will lose their fanbase – it will be many yrs before they recover – I very sad
97 losses on the season. You’ve heard it from me first. My cubs? I’ll say about 95 wins.
The toilet is jealous.
I’m with treehouse. I’m not a Mets fan either but think they’ve done a resourceful job of roster building this year. I’m betting they will surprise many. Possible playoff team if things go right
Playoffs is an insane take. Their rotation was bad before Senga got hurt. Their lineup has too many question marks. Come on.
Are you serious? Most of the league are playoff contenders. We get it. You hate the Mets.
The Mets signed players who have something to prove to short term deals for a reason. I don’t really know what the “question marks” in the lineup are. If you’re talking about 3B, and DH, that’ll work itself out early. With the way MLB is putting together the schedule, how tough the division is matters much less than it used to. the Mets have a shot at the playoffs. Not a real good one, but better than a punchers chance. It’s too easy to get into the playoffs anymore.
you might want to look at the roster again – this is a bad team –
Aaaand…the Dumpster Fire in Flushing continues!
The Mets whole season is based about what ifs and maybes. Hoping that inured players return to form; that rookies like Baty suddenly figure it out; that defensive first players like Bader hit enough to justify playing time; journeyman players like Stewart figure it out.
I think the big issue is the Mets didn’t sign any veteran leaders. So just like last years June when a couple tough luck late inning losses killed the Mets as they could right the ship I think that will most likely happen again
isnt majority of the teams based on whatifs and maybes and wills. Lets use the Braves as an example since they just did their outlook..
Maybe Acuna doesnt maintain the high level he had last season especially after getting hurt during spring training, Maybe the rest of the lineup slips if Acuna slips and is not the leadoff hitter. Whatif Sale doesnt stay healthy the whole season or lacks his ability through an injury. Whatif Lopez doesnt adjust to being starter. Maybe Kalenic is more 2022 Kalenic instead of first couple months 2023 Kalenic. Maybe age finally catches up with Morton. Etc etc.
Its very hard for someone from the outside to come in and be that veteran leader when you have established high profile players like a Lindor or Alonso. I do commend Lindor as it appears he is trying to be that leader this offseason and more involved with the whole team especially with the youngsters coming up.
But the Braves GM who is one of the best will fill those holes
That didn’t sound right, dude.
The Mets plan isn’t about this season. When you have prospects who are close, and you’re trying to get back below the “Cohen Tax”, you don’t sign long term deals with big free agents. The Mets will be competitive this season. The Mets will add if they are playing well at the deadline. But it will be a measured response with the near future in mind. Despite what NY sports talk radio hosts keep talking about, they probably aren’t going to pursue Soto in the off season. If they do, it will be to drive up the price for someone else. I think part of the Mets plan is to make both the owners, and MLBPA rue the day they put this tax structure in place. The Dodgers seem to be helping with that.
I think their only FA they’ll spend big on offseason would be a top of rotation sp like burnes, fried, or buehler (if all make it to FA) and maybe re-signing alonso. Like you said they need to get under the tax threshold. Its hurting them too much in draft.
Not just in the draft. Being taxed at 110% of everything over the threshold will eat up resources very quickly. It’s going to be interesting to see how the players deal with this in the next CBA once it starts putting a choke hold on their salaries, like it’s starting to do now. Average MLB players aren’t getting money, only the stars.
I’m 95% sure they’ll sign Alonso. They would love for Fried to make it to free agency, and, at the very least, drive his price through the roof for the Braves. It’s to their advantage to put a choke on the Braves budget where they can.
Mets arent signing Pete
You tell me where our next first baseman is coming from. Alonso is going to be the best option on every front. We don’t have a first baseman close in the minors. So where is our next first baseman coming from, and who is he?
“Competitive” is a meaningless word in this context.
I’m excited for this team. Low expectations but some exciting players and interesting prospect to keep an eye on. If we stink – we trade off the rentals to stock the farm. If we’re any good, we bolster at the deadline. Either way 2025 will be very different story.
It’s going to be a long year.
3B – Last year, the Mets got -2.6 WAR out of 6 guys who played 3B and the majority of games were played by Brett Baty. Based on Fangraph’s projections, it looks like they’re relying on Baty to be the 3B and put up 1.6, so technically, it could be considered an upgrade but until that actually happens, it doesn’t look like they actually addressed this problem.
Rating: 0/4
LF: Out of the 5 LFers they trotted out there, the Mets got 2.7 WAR combined. They have moved Brandon Nimmo to LF, which could be considered a solid replacement, given FG’s projection of 2.2 WAR from just Nimmo. Overall, LF is pretty weak in MLB, so I’ll give the Mets the benefit of the doubt here.
Rating: 4/4
CF: Removing Nimmo from CF means there is a void that is being filled by Harrison Bader. For defensive purposes, he’s fine but if he’s going to be in the lineup every day, that doesn’t improve the situation. Last year, Nimmo put up 4.3 WAR in CF and currently, Bader is only expected to put up 2.1, so that’s a downgrade.
Rating: 2/4
RF: Not sure what to expect from Starling Marte. Given the contract, there isn’t much they can do at this point. So far, he has not looked good in Spring Training but we’ll see what happens. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume a bounce back year.
Rating: 2/4
SP: Compared to last year’s pitching staff WAR of 10.1, 2024’s staff is only expected to put up 10.7 WAR, so not much of a change, but put into context that they aren’t truly planning to be competitive, they did a decent job of revamping their SP with a few acquisitions that may or may not pan out. Unfortunately, they lost Senga, who could have provided that stability at the top.
Rating: 2/4
RP: Getting Diaz back will definitely help but beyond him, their pen isn’t expected to provide much in terms of WAR. Last year, the pen’s WAR was 0.4. This year, outside of Diaz, it’s expected to provide 0.9 WAR. They didn’t really improve upon it. I’ll give them a 1 out of 4 for getting Diaz back.
Rating: 1/4
Total: 11/24 = F
What an excellent look at the team !!! Thank you for the info – great post !!!!
This is such a glib reductionist view of things.
Was Darragh being generous in declaring the Mets a potential playoff team? My goodness, I just don’t see it.
B. Rolling a lot of dice in a retool year.