1 move the NY Mets could easily make if they didn’t have Frankie Montas on the books

Giving Frankie Montas a player option for 2026 never felt right. Something about a mediocre pitcher having all of the control in year two of his deal looked wrong. Player options, in general, don’t favor the ball club. The New York Mets gave one to Sean Manaea when he signed prior to 2024 and because he was so good for them, he had a way out of it to later secure a three-year guarantee for even more cash.

Montas will make $17 million this coming year from the Mets despite no longer being with the team. Tommy John surgery late in the year eliminated him from any chance of coming back. The money may tighten how the Mets behave with other moves. Naturally, we’d have to expect Steve Cohen to draw some sort of a limit when it comes to paying 110% over the highest luxury tax threshold.

If only that deal was for just one year and Montas wasn’t collecting a paycheck to sit out and rehab…in this fantasy world, the Mets can easily afford to overpay Pete Fairbanks to become their newest setup man.

There are a lot of ways to spend $17 million and convincing Pete Fairbanks to sign with the Mets is one of them

There isn’t a starting pitcher available out there worthy of $17 million per year who’d make sense. Everyone is either getting more or less. The ones getting less would be repeating some of the same faults that came with the initial Montas signing. The Mets need to get better, not shuffle to the side.

Fairbanks isn’t projected to get nearly $17 million and paying him that kind of salary would be foolish when the bigger goal is to convince Edwin Diaz to come back. Spotrac has him earning a three-year contract worth just under $14 million per year. Tack on a little more and Fairbanks may not hold out for an opportunity to close somewhere if the Mets are willing to pay his mortgage.

The thought of a super bullpen for the Mets is intriguing and would require the club to have both a top closer (like Diaz) as well as one of the other upper echelon relievers out there. Rumors of them wanting a reunion with their star closer and pairing him up with Devin Williams seem a bit outrageous. If Williams is as popular on the free agent market as it seems, the better choice for him is to become a closer, rebuild his reputation, and cash in next offseason with something longer.

Fairbanks isn’t quite the same. Only three seasons of being a regular closer and not a particularly dominant one at the same level Diaz and Williams have been at times, it’s reasonable for him to follow the money rather than sign with a team like the Miami Marlins who’ll make some noise but have no real shot at a championship.

If there’s a place the Mets could allocate any extra funds, it would have to be in the bullpen. Yes, they need to improve their starting pitching, but that seems more complicated than spending money.

Toss $15 million at Fairbanks for a year and use the extra $2 million toward your Diaz fund or take a chance on a lower level guy you can toss to the side. It’s moot, though. There is a bag full of 1.7 billion pennies headed Montas’ way; the only way to properly pay him.