Mets: A trio of bold predictions for Steve Cohen’s first offseason

1) The Mets make Trevor Bauer the highest-paid pitcher In baseball

It is no secret around baseball that impending free-agent starting pitcher Trevor Bauer will be the most coveted arm on the market this winter. When it comes down to it I believe the Mets will make Bauer an offer he can’t refuse and make him the highest-paid pitcher in the game with the average annual value he will receive. The 29-year old Bauer has sent a wide variety of mixed messages via Twitter and individual interviews of how he will conduct his free agency courting from being only open to one-year deals to wanting to sign with a club that will let him pitch every fourth day.

In the long run money talks and the Mets have plenty of it to go around this offseason. The Mets have potentially three holes in the rotation that need to be filled before the start of the season, and it’s not a secret that incoming Mets president Sandy Alderson loved building his Mets ballclubs around dominant starting pitching which makes this a natural fit.

I do believe that the front office will view Bauer as a better fit in terms of money and for the current needs of the ballclub than impending free-agent catcher J.T. Realmuto. I strongly envision a scenario where the organization will take a longer glance at other options at catcher, and use the big money this offseason to fortify the rotation behind ace Jacob deGrom, which is what cost the Mets a shot at the playoffs this season.

Jacob deGrom will carry a $36 million salary number next season which is also tied with Bauer’s arch-rival Gerrit Cole, as the two highest-paid pitchers in baseball. Bauer will certainly want to eclipse that number coming off a Cy Young caliber season. I forecast the Mets opening up the checkbook and offering Bauer a two-year deal worth $40 million per season with a third-year player option to solidify the Mets rotation with the best one-two punch in the game.

Plus is there anybody else in baseball better than Bauer to handle the New York media?

2) The Mets Trade for Cleveland Indians Shortstop Francisco Lindor

The Cleveland Indians are going to face enormous pressure this offseason to figure out a way to unload Francisco Lindor for something of value before he walks at the end of the 2021 season. With each passing day that no deal is made, the gravity of the situation will increase. Luckily for the Mets, there is no better potential marriage in baseball this offseason than Lindor opening the new Steve Cohen era in Flushing as the new cornerstone of the Mets middle infield for the next decade.

The 26-year old shortstop is going to want to cash in at the end of next season as the highest-paid shortstop in the game, and rightfully so. The Mets will be one of the few teams in the league currently that can afford to pay Lindor his value. Putting this move in perspective, not only does the switch-hitting Lindor improve the Mets already deep lineup, but his Gold Glove defense and his infectious leadership is something that will be a welcome addition to the clubhouse.

It’s not going to be cheap to acquire Lindor, but the Mets will be investing in a player who has his best baseball still ahead of him and is the best at his position. The Mets haven’t added a player of Lindor’s caliber to the organization since acquiring Yoenis Cespedes back in 2015, and we all saw how that trade regenerated the entire organization as well as the fanbase and led to a World Series birth.

I predict Steve Cohen is going to greenlight a couple of big splashes this offseason with Francisco Lindor being one of his big prizes this offseason as we usher in a new era at 41 Seaver Way.

3) The Mets retain current Manager Luis Rojas

Before Steve Cohen announced that Sandy Alderson would be returning to a role in the Mets front office, I fully believed that current Manager Luis Rojas would be dismissed with current General Manager Brodie Van Wagenen. Now I still believe that Van Wagenen is going to be fired, however with Alderson now returning to the organization I believe Rojas’s job may be safer than it was previously.

There is a sense of familiarity with Rojas and Alderson, as Rojas has been a coach in some capacity with the Mets since 2007, and he was previously seen as a riser in the organization prior to landing the managerial position after the Carlos Beltran debacle. Rojas also has managed many of the Mets current homegrown players through the Minor League ranks and I believe there is a sense of familiarity as well as comfort that I don’t think the organization would want to disrupt especially with may expected sweeping changes ahead.

I honestly believe Rojas didn’t get a fair shake at the job considering he managed a 60-game abbreviated season in his first rodeo as a Major League Baseball manager. Nonetheless, it also seemed as the season went on that his overall performance and comfort level as manager improved.

Rojas also brings a robust background in baseball analytics after being the first-ever Quality Control Coach in Mets history back in 2019. With Steve Cohen already planning on beefing up the Mets baseball analytics department this offseason it would make little sense to rid themselves of a brilliant analytical mind that they already possess in the dugout.

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Amidst Steve Cohen bringing back an old friend in Sandy Alderson as well as making a sizeable investment in the Mets analytics department, I believe Luis Rojas may be given another opportunity with a full 162-game season to help turn the Mets losing ways around in 2021.