Mets Monday Morning GM: 3 lessons the team can learn from last offseason’s misfires

2) The Mets should go with younger and optional players from the start

Stearns was active at building the team’s bullpen, but he could have easily abstained from a couple of the offseason moves. Michael Tonkin was signed on the cheap. Yohan Ramirez was a player for cash addition. They went bargain hunting for bullpen arms over the winter. Jorge Lopez was good until he chucked his glove into the stands. Many of the others brought in stunk or ran out of gas quickly.

An early issue the Mets ran into was a lack of optional relievers. Holdovers from last year were locked onto the major league roster. Drew Smith, Sean Reid-Foley, etc. could only be removed if they were hurt. And hurt they were.

The Mets didn’t seem to have much of a strategy with building the bullpen other than waiting for the price to fall in the latter stages of the winter. Adam Ottavino, Jake Diekman, and Shintaro Fujinami all signed around the same time. Bad, worse, and atrocious are ways to describe them.

They showed little faith in their younger and optional arms. Jose Butto grew into becoming their best reliever this year. Dedniel Nunez appeared from a smoke cloud to do the same thing. Let’s even give credit to Reed Garrett for tossing 57.1 innings for the Mets, more than any other reliever.

Stearns missed a lot when it came to building the relief corps for the 2024 Mets. Only Ottavino and Edwin Diaz survived the season from Opening Day. Some automatic flexibility already built in for 2025 thanks to pitchers like Nunez who still have options, leaving room for younger arms to thrive can save them the hassle of watching a veteran journeyman blow too many early games.