When the original wins awards, is a hit at the box office, and earns rave reviews from critics, a sequel tends to happen as long as enough characters survived the film. The New York Mets are going about this offseason with a similar script as last year in some regards. They’ve brought in a big star for the film, Juan Soto. But the supporting cast feels very much the same.
Thoughts on what the Mets did last year with the pitching staff weren’t selling tickets. Of course, it worked out for the better. Sean Manaea was superb. Luis Severino was about as good as we could’ve asked him to be. David Peterson finally arrived.
The Mets are essentially repeating the same process all over again with Frankie Montas and Clay Holmes entering the picture. A lack of significant hints of them targeting top flight starters either in free agency or trades might have a few fans raising a red flag that as they go about completing their rotation for the 2025 season, the plan might be to continue to add mid-level or worse arms at a bargain price.
The Mets are either waiting for prices to come down or they’re not very interested in buying the best at all
Corbin Burnes dreams aren’t coming true. It never seemed too plausible outside of a knee-jerk reaction to losing Juan Soto to another team. Even then, Burnes is a different type of pitcher than the other ones the Mets have added and employed last season. Depth is what David Stearns values. Upside versus the cost is what he seeks out.
Adding Montas and Holmes as quickly as he did indicates this is still the preferred approach. This doesn’t completely eliminate the possibility of signing one of the remaining bigger arms or pulling off a trade for someone of significance. He saw two lightning deals for products he thought could cure the absence of starting pitching in the rotation. With the assumption of a six-man rotation headed their way, not everyone for next year’s rotation was going to be coming off his best season.
Our impatience as fans has raised a red flag on the repeated offseason approach from Stearns that seems to involve nothing but projects. Rumors of interest in Nick Pivetta (not a project but also not an ace), Mike Soroka, and Griffin Canning direct us to others who could be perceived as free agent bargains. They could wait out the market further.
Last offseason, much-discussed free agent target for the Mets Lucas Giolito signed in early January. Brandon Woodruff didn’t agree to his year of rehab with an option until February. Marcus Stroman, Martin Perez, and Michael Lorenzen all signed after the New Year as well as many others. Quite notably, Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery failed to get deals until March.
Stearns showed he can be patient with players. Spring training already started when J.D. Martinez signed. It was in February when they added Adam Ottavino, Jake Diekman, and Shintaro Fujinami. Playing the waiting game added players to the roster we were satisfied if not happy to see. How many missed opportunities were there along the way?
Blueprints for building the 2024 Mets were much different than what we hoped the instruction manual had in place for 2025. So far, other than Soto, the strategy hasn’t changed. If there’s a red flag hanging above your fandom, it’s justified.