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Mets are done signing players this offseason

By JT. Teran

NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 21: Mets General Manager Sandy Alderson attends batting practice prior to a game between the New York Mets and the Atlanta Braves at Citi Field on April 21, 2015 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Alex Trautwig/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 21: Mets General Manager Sandy Alderson attends batting practice prior to a game between the New York Mets and the Atlanta Braves at Citi Field on April 21, 2015 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Alex Trautwig/Getty Images) /
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With the Jason Vargas signing, the Mets are set for the season, according to their general manager.

The Mets have taken advantage of a slow market to fill some much needed holes on their roster. While they haven’t signed the best names available, the organization did do more than I expected them to to make this team competitive.

Barring any crazy injuries or unforeseen circumstances, the Mets roster is set and ready for 2018, says Sandy Alderson.

They started out addressing arguably their biggest weakness – the bullpen – by signing Anthony Swarzak early on. The 32-year-old will be joining AJ Ramos, Jeurys Familia, and Jerry Blevins in the pen this season, and rounds out an area that should be a strength for the Mets.

To add some more offense and power to this lineup, Alderson and co. then went out and got Jay Bruce on a three-year deal. Bruce has played solidly these last two seasons, so for an AAV of $13 million, it seemed like a steal to get him to come back to Queens.

The Mets also took some flyers on a couple of infield veterans, one – Jose Reyes – who should only serve as a backup, and another – Adrian Gonzalez – who is slated to be the starter at first base if Dominic Smith continues to struggle with the bat.

The team still had one more big hole in the lineup and in the infield, however. We weren’t sure if they’d sign a guy like Eduardo Nunez or try to trade for Josh Harrison to firm up their roster. Instead, they opted for New Yorker Todd Frazier who they also got at a pretty good discount.

Seeing as how they were able to save in certain areas, the Mets actually had some cash to spend on their biggest need: starting pitching. The Vargas signing isn’t considered a fantastic one by any metric, but it does give additional depth to their oft-injured rotation.

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Again, the Mets could and should have signed better players to fill these needs. They could have easily made this team a World Series contender with a bigger willingness to spend for better names, but with the stingy Wilpons at the helm, this is the best we were going to get.

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