If you hate the NY Mets offseason, try being a Yankees or Phillies fan

Calling all New York Mets fans unhappy with the way things went this offseason. The Joe Benigno Army, if you know what I’m saying, loves the misery of a 40-year championship drought as much as they hate to admit it. The punch of seeing so many longtime Mets players leave in a single offseason was too much for some to handle. If you don’t like it, try being a New York Yankees or Philadelphia Phillies fan.

Those two ball clubs, coming off of playoff appearances, ended up taking a similar offseason approach. While not done yet, each club is essentially running it back with the exact same roster. What’s the definition of insanity again?

The Mets are going with the devil they don’t know while the Yankees and Phillies are sticking with the Lord of the Flies they do

The only significant player the Yankees brought in from another organization this winter was Ryan Weathers. An unexpected trade with the Miami Marlins cost them four prospects. They receive a young and controllable arm who has battled injuries and struggled to prove himself through multiple attempts. He’s a nice pickup and yet hardly what Yankees fans were hoping for.

Trent Grisham accepting the qualifying offer seemed to set the Yankees back. Their biggest punch all offseason was finally re-signing Cody Bellinger which felt as inevitable as that IRS phone call on April 16. On February 6, they extended Paul Goldschmidt’s tenure for another year with a fresh one-year contract. They’ve re-signed ex-Mets Amed Rosario and Paul Blackburn as well. Overall, it’s hard to get excited about the idea of what they’ve done.

The Phillies have at least taken a chance on Adolis Garcia. They still have Nick Castellanos to dump off. Alec Bohm bitterly sits on the roster knowing the front office preferred to replace him with Bo Bichette. They’re as guilty of running it back as the Yankees. They won the Kyle Schwarber sweepstakes and settled on a three-year reunion with declining catcher J.T. Realmuto.

Philadelphia was able to add Brad Keller to their bullpen after a strong year with the Chicago Cubs. However, their rotation has weakened with Ranger Suarez departing for the Boston Red Sox.

The only thing saving the Yankees and Phillies from feeling too stagnant is how they already added pieces last summer at the trade deadline that’ll be useful in 2026. The Yankees made several of those kinds of moves, Jose Caballero, Ryan McMahon, David Bednar, and Camilo Doval are among the most notable. The Phillies picked up Jhoan Duran last summer to finally give them a shutdown closer.

The Mets clearly had more catching up to do so the number of changes required for them outranked those for the Yankees and Phillies. But the offseason is also the time to take a different route which the Mets have.

Change isn’t always easy. A lack of it is cruel.