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Offseason In Review: New York Mets

By | at March 9, 2026 8:42pm CDT

The Mets responded to a disappointing 2025 season by undergoing a major roster overhaul for 2026, all while sticking to the front office’s preference of avoiding long-term commitments.

Major League Signings

2026 spending (not including Melendez): $86.75MM
Total spending (not including Melendez): $240.75MM

Trades and Claims

Option Decisions

Notable Minor League Signings

Extensions

  • None

Notable Losses

The 2025 season was a huge disappointment for the Mets. They had just gone to the NLCS the year before. They added Juan Soto in the offseason. They had every expectation of being one of the best teams in the league and got out to a good start. On June 12th, they had a 5.5 game lead over the Phillies in the National League East. It was all downhill from there. They scuffled through the end of the season, going 21-32 in August and September. They finished 83-79, the same record as the Reds. Cincinnati got the final N.L. Wild Card spot via tiebreaker.

In the clubhouse after the final game of the regular season, just minutes after being eliminated, first baseman Pete Alonso told members of the press he would be opting out of his contract. He had almost departed the prior offseason, only returning after lingering unsigned into February. Edwin Díaz would undoubtedly be opting out as well. A few days after Alonso’s forthright comments, it was reported that the Mets were planning a big shakeup of the coaching staff. Rumors of clubhouse discord would eventually seep out.

It seemed like big changes were possible as the club looked to get in position for a better campaign in 2026. It didn’t take long for the dominoes to fall. There were early offseason trade rumors surrounding longtime Mets like Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil. It wasn’t immediately clear how to take those rumors, especially since Nimmo had been with the club since 2011 and had a full no-trade clause on his deal.

Just three weeks into the offseason, Nimmo was traded to the Rangers for Marcus Semien in a rare one-for-one swap of veterans on big contracts. Nimmo would later say he approved the trade essentially because it seemed like the Rangers wanted him more than the Mets did.

For the Mets, the trade checked a few boxes. On the financial side of things, they actually took on more money in the short term. Nimmo is making $20.25MM in each season of the rest of his deal, Semien $26MM for the next two years and then $20MM in the final season. But Nimmo’s deal still has five years left on it, compared to Semien’s three.

Under president of baseball operations David Stearns, the Mets have shown a preference for higher average annual values on shorter deals. Apart from the Soto pact, which was a special case due to his youth, Stearns hasn’t signed anyone to a deal longer than three years since taking over as the club’s front office leader. That preference was clearly at play in the 2025-26 offseason, with the Nimmo/Semien swap fitting the pattern.

It also shored up the club’s defense, something that was a stated goal. Nimmo was once a center fielder but had largely been in left field in 2024 and 2025, reducing some of his value. Semien, despite being his mid-30s, continues to be a reliably above average second baseman in terms of his defense.

More changes came the following month. On December 1st, it was reported that the Mets would be signing reliever Devin Williams to a three-year, $51MM deal. Many felt that was a lot of money for a guy who’d just posted a 4.79 earned run average, but it’s actually somewhat of a buy-low situation.

Williams was one of the most dominant relievers in baseball prior to his 2025 season in the Bronx. He went into that campaign with a career ERA of 1.83. The ERA spike with the Yanks seemed fluky since his stuff appeared to be the same and he still racked up strikeouts and ground balls. His 55.2% strand rate on the year was bizarrely low, more than 20 percentage points below the rest of his career. ERA estimators like his 2.68 FIP and 2.67 SIERA thought he was pretty close to his previous self. Stearns, who was familiar with Williams from their time together in Milwaukee, is betting that 2025 was indeed a fluke.

That didn’t necessarily close the door on a Díaz reunion. The Mets have almost no real budgetary limitations and certainly had room in the bullpen for two elite relievers. However, it was reported on December 9th that Díaz would be signing with the Dodgers.

That seemed to be a bit of an unusual situation. The three-year, $69MM sticker price was a bit below expectations. The Mets had offered him $66MM over three years, which was arguably a better offer because it reportedly had less deferred money compared to the Dodger deal. Some reports said the Mets were willing to go higher but were a bit caught off-guard when he quickly accepted the offer from Los Angeles. Later reports also said Atlanta put a five-year offer out to Díaz. The dollar value of that offer was not revealed but perhaps Díaz just wanted to join the World Series champs and jumped at the chance.

Regardless of the reasons, the Mets were down another longtime franchise staple. He would not be the last. The very next day, on December 10th, it was reported that Alonso would be joining the Orioles on a five-year, $155MM deal. The Mets never seemed to interested in making a long-term investment in their franchise home run leader. It appeared they didn’t want to sign him to anything longer than three years, so he moved on.

Part of the reason the Mets seemed fine with letting Alonso walk is that, as mentioned, improving their defense was a priority this winter. Alonso has never received especially strong grades for his first base defense. Now that he’s 31 years old, he’s more likely to get worse over time than to suddenly improve.

That’s a sensible enough logic in a vacuum, but things got a little strange a few days later when the Mets pivoted to Jorge Polanco on a two-year, $40MM deal. The plan seems to be for Polanco to play a decent amount of first base, though he could also serve as the designated hitter and occasionally play second or third.

Polanco technically has experience playing first base in the big leagues but in the most limited way possible. On April 6th of 2025, Mariners right fielder Víctor Robles injured himself on a catch, recording the second out in the bottom of the ninth inning of a 4-4 game against the Giants. The Mariners removed Robles and shuffled their defenders around, putting Polanco at first. The Giants walked it off on the next pitch with a single to the outfield. That’s the extent of Polanco’s big league experience as a first baseman: one pitch, without having to make a play.

Polanco is coming off a great season at the plate, having hit 26 home runs with a .265/.326/.495 batting line, but there’s some risk. Recurring knee problems have been an issue for him in recent years. He played fewer than 120 games in each season from 2022 to 2024. His offense was below par in the final of those three, which allowed the Mariners to re-sign him for just one guaranteed year and $7.75MM. While he bounced back at the plate, he was almost exclusively a designated hitter in the first half. He gradually played more second base as the season went along but still served as the DH quite a bit.

Though Alonso’s defense was never ideal, his availability was incredible. He never started fewer than 133 games at first in any full season with the Mets. Suddenly pivoting to a guy with almost no experience at the position and notable injury concerns is a curious choice. Polanco can probably handle it, but it speaks to the club’s commitment to their desire for avoiding long-term contractual pitfalls.

Adding Polanco also pushed McNeil further out the door. He had already been in trade rumors, and the Semien acquisition blocked him from the position at which he has spent the most time. He was flipped to the Athletics just before the holidays in what was essentially a salary dump deal. Even though the Mets ate some money in the swap, the A’s took on $10MM of what McNeil is owed this year. Considering the Mets pay a 110% tax rate, that saved them more than $20MM.

Around the same time, they also made another bullpen addition, getting Luke Weaver for $22MM over two years. Weaver’s 2025 didn’t end in strong fashion, but he’s nonetheless coming off a strong two-year run with the Yankees. Over 2024 and 2025, he posted a 3.21 ERA over 148 2/3 innings, striking out 29.5% of opponents and walking just 7.8%. He’s not a replacement for Díaz, but he can pair with Williams for a strong one-two punch at the back of the bullpen.

Going into the holidays, the Mets had been busy but were also left in a weird spot, having seemingly made more subtractions than additions. At second base, they had effectively swapped in Semien for McNeil, with Polanco replacing Alonso at first. But trading Nimmo left a hole in the outfield which had not been filled.

In early January, there were still options. The top two free agent outfielders, Kyle Tucker and Cody Bellinger, remained unsigned. The Mets were connected to both. They made a strong run at Tucker, once again in alignment with the preference for staying short term. They reportedly offered him a huge $220MM deal over four years, with a couple of opt-outs. The massive $55MM average annual value would have led to a tax bill of over $60.5MM for the Mets, meaning they were willing to shell out almost $120MM annually to get Tucker aboard.

Unfortunately, the Dodgers had similar thinking and went to $240MM over four, so he slipped through the Mets’ fingers. The Mets could have then pivoted to Bellinger but went in a different direction. They found another player willing to opt for a short-term deal with a juiced AAV, giving Bo Bichette a three-year deal worth $126MM, or $42MM per year. Factoring in the tax bill, that’s almost $90MM annually the Mets are sending out. There are opt-outs after each season, so perhaps Bichette will only be around for one year, but it’s a big commitment.

Bichette has been a shortstop for the majority of his career but seems unlikely to spend much more time there going forward. His defensive grades have never been terribly strong. Late in 2025, a knee injury put him on the shelf for the end of the season and the beginning of the playoffs. He was back with the Blue Jays for the World Series but clearly not still 100% healthy. He spent some time as the DH and also limped out to second base a few times.

The Mets had already committed themselves to a middle infield of Francisco Lindor at short and Semien at second. The plan is to move Bichette to third, a position where he has no experience and will have to learn it on the fly. That’s a gamble the Mets are willing to take in order to get Bichette’s bat into the lineup.

That will seemingly push Brett Baty into a super utility role where he bounces around the infield and maybe the outfield corners as well. Mark Vientos is in a somewhat similar spot but his 2025 struggles should put him a bit lower on the depth chart. He’ll be trying to hit his way back into the mix, though he has a narrower path since he’s only really capable of playing the infield corners. The Mets don’t really have a strict DH, so it’s possible for Baty or Vientos to earn more at-bats, perhaps with Polanco moving more towards a full-time DH role.

The Bichette addition still left them with their outfield unaddressed but they quickly checked that box. Just a few days later, they pulled the trigger on a trade for Luis Robert Jr.. To get him to Queens, they took on the entirety of his $20MM salary and will have to pay taxes on that as well. They also parted with some talent, sending utility player Luisangel Acuña and prospect Truman Pauley to the White Sox. Acuña has shown the potential to be a solid bench piece, but the additions of Semien, Polanco and Bichette to the infield made him less necessary. He’s also out of options and surely wouldn’t have gotten through waivers unclaimed.

Robert has the potential to be an excellent upgrade to the Mets outfield but is nowhere near a guarantee. He showed a huge ceiling in 2023, hitting 38 home runs and stealing 20 bases while providing strong center field defense. But in 2024 and 2025, he was on and off the injured list, being capped at 100 games in the former and 110 in the latter. His offense was subpar in both campaigns. The speed and defense give him a nice floor, in a sense, but he has to be on the field to provide that floor.

With Nimmo gone, Soto will be moving from right field to left field. Robert will take over in center. In right field, the Mets wanted to leave a path open for prospect Carson Benge but brought in some contingency plans. They already had Tyrone Taylor on the roster. Late in the winter, they added MJ Melendez on a split deal and Mike Tauchman on a minor league pact. If Benge doesn’t look ready by the end of spring, they have some ways to pivot.

Amid all of this shuffling on the position player side and in the bullpen, the rotation had largely been ignored for most of the winter. The Mets went into the offseason with a starting group consisting of Nolan McLean, Sean Manaea, Clay Holmes, Kodai Senga and David Peterson. Just behind that group were optionable minor leaguers like Brandon Sproat, Jonah Tong and Christian Scott.

It was a good group but one perhaps lacking an ace-like arm at the front. McLean showed the potential for that late in 2025 but he was only able to make eight starts before the winter arrived. The Mets were reportedly looking for an upgrade but (stop me if you’ve heard this one before) wanted to avoid long-term free agent deals.

They were connected to some of those free agents, like Framber Valdez and Ranger Suárez, but always seemed more likely to make a big splash on the trade market. Rumors linked them to Joe Ryan, Nick Pivetta, and Edward Cabrera but they were able to land Freddy Peralta from the Brewers. They sent Sproat and prospect Jett Williams to Milwaukee to get Peralta and Tobias Myers.

Peralta is a very sensible fit for the Mets. Stearns is plenty familiar with him; he already acquired Peralta and extended him when he was running the Brewers. Peralta’s one year of club control and $8MM salary are appealing for any club, but they fit well for the Mets and their tax situation.

What remains to be seen is if Stearns can sign Peralta to another extension. He has access to bigger payrolls with the Mets than he did with the Brewers but has really tried to limit the length of deals. Peralta is well positioned to cash in as a free agent next winter and is seemingly angling for the kind of long-term deal the Mets don’t like.

It was a busy offseason for the Mets. They overhauled the roster, bringing in a lot of new faces while letting some of the familiar ones go. The lineup and rotation look really strong. But by sticking to his preferences in terms of contract length, Stearns has been forced to make some compromises. The Mets wanted to improve the defense but are going into the season projecting to have third and first base manned by guys with effectively no experience there. They’ve added an injury-prone center fielder and a 35-year-old second baseman. They made some bullpen additions but may not have really improved it since they lost one of the best closers in the league.

Does it all add up to a better team or have they mostly just shuffled the deck? Give your ranking of the offseason in the poll below.

How would you grade the Mets' offseason?

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Photo courtesy of Jim Rassol, Imagn Images

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