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5) Make no major additions, only role-players
What about this…the Mets don’t do anything truly bold at all! Instead of grabbing star players they fill out the roster with more average players. There’s no Kyle Tucker. A trade is made with the Padres but it’s small and only brings one reliever. Tarik Skubal stays in Detroit. First base is a mix of Jorge Polanco and maybe an internal option or a lesser free agent. Paul Goldschmidt anyone?
This would actually be right up Stearns’ alley and match closely to what he did in his first offseason with the Mets. They didn’t make any significant additions. He took chances on players and they were better off for it.
How would fans feel if the Mets have nothing but second and third-tier free agents and trade targets added to the club? The benefit is the farm system stays intact. The Mets have more flexibility at the trade deadline to perhaps do a little more.
We’ve seen the Mets have very “Steve Cohen-led” offseasons and ones far less fascinating like the 2023-2024 winter when Stearns first came on board. Strangely, one of the best was when the Mets weren’t just adding top-tier players. In fact, even if we go back to before Stearns arrived, we can classify the 2021-2022 offseason as something more in the mode of what might end up happening. Starling Marte, Eduardo Escobar, and Mark Canha were good players but not superstars. Only Max Scherzer broke the mold. It led to the Mets winning 101 games. Clever moves like trading for Chris Bassitt and signing Adam Ottavino filled out the roster and paid off in a big way.