Three Mets offseason predictions for the month of January

Mets don’t unload a bad contract

What the Mets won’t do also counts as a prediction, right? Well, I don’t see them unloading one of the bad contracts just yet. Maybe in February teams may be a little more desperate to add some finishing touches.

January doesn’t strike me as a month when teams take risks. It’s a month when they may finally agree to terms with a big-name free agent or strike a deal they’ve been delaying until after the holidays. A bad contract dump feels more like a February move. Perhaps we’ll see the Mets panic and accept a lesser return for one of the several men they’ve been hoping to move this offseason.

Jeurys Familia and Jed Lowrie are the two guys the Mets would probably most like to move. Familia has two more years of control left and is a possible rebound candidate. Lowrie, on the other hand, is a little more unknown. In only a small number of plate appearances last year, he did absolutely nothing.

Familia may be easier to move if the Mets are willing to eat some of the contract. I can’t see how anyone accepts him as is. The benefit of Lowrie is he’s a free agent again after 2020. I’m not sure anyone other than the Oakland Athletics would have much faith in him putting together a productive year. He always seems to end up there so unless the two teams can work something out, I think Lowrie is still with the Mets through the end of January.

There is one other guy we could see the Mets possibly shop: Yoenis Cespedes. He’s not the greatest fit for the club with the emergence of J.D. Davis last season. However, the thought of what a motivated Cespedes can give the club in 2020 may be more than enough to keep him around.

After all, he’s only making a fraction of what he was supposed to.

It won’t matter in January. The Mets will not find a taker for any of these men until at least Groundhog’s Day Eve.