4 NY Mets contracts that could hold them back from having the best roster possible

Putting together the best roster possible should always be the goal. Unfortunately, certain factors can get in the way of this. Every team, no matter how cold-blooded their President of Baseball Operations can be, always fields the best 26 players possible. Either because of a lack of minor league options, a certain amount of dollars committed to the players, or some strange loyalty, undesirable players tend to linger on the roster. The New York Mets are bound to experience this in 2025.

We already know there are going to be players who begin the year on the Mets roster who won’t last all that long. Smaller pieces, like a bullpen depth addition, isn’t going to preclude the team from cutting anyone. These contacts, however, could meet the criteria where because of certain circumstances we’ll be stuck seeing way too much of them for way too long.

1) Starling Marte

The Mets weren't able to find a trade match for Starling Marte. Did we really think it would be that easy? An expensive declining player void of power and lacking defensive skills has little appeal. The Mets are going to be paying a lot of money directly to him whether he wears their jersey this year or not.

The final year of a four-year deal signed prior to 2022 will pay Marte another $20.75 million. An acceptable player to have on the bench to play against left-handed starters, the problem is you don’t want to devote this much money to someone who doesn’t contribute all that much. He’ll essentially fall into the same role as J.D. Martinez did late last season when DH duties were shared with Jesse Winker.

The Mets aren’t bound to keeping Marte for all of 2025. He’ll be a DFA candidate and more likely so as we get nearer to the end of the season. The best thing we could hope for is that fewer games played and more strategic thinking as to when he actually does hit will only benefit him. He can still steal bases. Last year, slashing .310/.384/.460 against southpaws, showed he can at least have some contribution.

There aren’t any internal candidates at the moment you can justify should be on the roster ahead of him. Drew Gilbert struggled in Triple-A plus with him hitting left-handed it’s not an ideal match. The trouble with having Marte and his loaded contract around this late into the offseason is that the best upgrades the Mets could have made are already with other clubs.