Why the Mets are actually having a smart and productive offseason

While the fanbase currently has mixed feelings, I believe the New York Mets have been playing this offseason very well.

Let’s wind the clocks back to around this time, one year ago. The New York Mets brought in a new General Manager in Brodie Van Wagenen, who promised to make a lot of big splashed right off the bat.

We had the most active offseason of any year in recent memory, making a big trade for Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz from Seattle, signing Wilson Ramos, Jeurys Familia, Justin Wilson, and Jed Lowrie each to multi-year deals, and also picked up JD Davis from the Astros.

One year removed from all of those acquisitions, it appears that only about half of them worked out in the Mets’ favor, and the other half many fans which the team could take back.

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The Ramos, Davis and Wilson acquisitions all worked out pretty well for the team, with each of them playing a big role in our late-season run last year, but the others had a different story.

Cano struggled at the plate and also missed significant time with injuries, Familia and Diaz both struggled with giving up home runs, and Lowrie had a grand total of seven at-bats with New York in 2019.

While it’s possible that these players rebound for the Mets in 2020, its safe to say that the team may have some buyers remorse and is a bit more reserved to give out big contracts this offseason.

While many fans are upset at seeing rival teams sign big-name free agents, such as the Yankees bringing in Gerrit Cole or Philly poaching Zack Wheeler from us, I believe that this is the right strategy for the Mets to take in the long run.

WHY? HERE’S WHY!

We came into this offseason needing a starting pitcher, one or two relief pitchers, a natural center fielder and back up catcher.

So far, we have gone the “affordability route” without acquisitions, trading for Jake Marisnick from the Astros to serve as a fourth outfielder, signing relief pitcher Brad Brach to a one-year $850K deal, and then Michael Wacha and Rick Porcello each on one-year, highly incentivized contracts to compete for the job as fifth starter in the rotation.

None of these are flashy moves, but they are all low risk and potentially high reward, particularly with Wacha and Porcello.

Both pitchers struggled in 2019, but have each been consistent throughout the majority of their careers, and the fact that each of them are on a one year deal with incentivized salary and are being brought in to compete with each other hopefully means that one of them, if not both may regain some semblance of their old form in order to have a spot on the team in 2020.

If not and they both flounder, they won’t be costing the team very much if they decide to part ways after spring training or later on in the season.

Beyond that, while there are arguably better pitchers still on the market, I’d rather the Mets go this route than overpay for a player, especially after seeing the contract the Phillies gave Wheeler. While I was a fan of his, I didn’t think he was worth $118 million over 5 years, and I’d rather the Mets let him walk then sign him to that.

Additionally, going the cheap route on starting pitching means that the Mets still have additional salary room to sign one of the big-name relievers still on the market, such as Dellin Betances or Will Harris, or gives them flexibility to sign one of their soon to be free agents to an extension, as Marcus Stroman will be a free agent after the 2020 season, and Noah Syndergaard after 2021.

All things considered, the Mets came into this offseason with a pretty complete team. We have a lot of good young players and depth at most positions and solid four starting pitchers in the rotation. Bringing in a few veterans on short and cheap contracts was a smart move and gives the team financial flexibility in the future.

We can still add players later on in the off-season or even trade for them later on in the season without going over budget, and should still have the flexibility to extend players on expiring deals if we want to retain them.

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To quote Brad Pitt from Moneyball “If we try to play like the Yankees in here, we will lose to the Yankees out there.” It may not be the flashiest of strategies, but being smart with our money, for now, is the Mets’ best move for the future.