NY Mets predictions: 5 observations about what we think will happen

At the start of the month, 6 members of the Rising Apple team put together our 2025-2026 New York Mets offseason predictions. We were asked to predict landing spots for free agents, who’d sign in Queens, and come up with a few trade scenarios.

Some of us went out on a limb with our predictions. A few themes were more common. These are the five things I took away from this experiment most:

1) The Mets are definitely trading for a starting pitcher

All six predicted the Mets will trade for a starting pitcher. Freddy Peralta was the most common choice with Tarik Skubal and Sandy Alcantara also having their names added in. Thus far under David Stearns, the only starting pitcher he has traded for is Paul Blackburn which came mid-year. He’ll need to change this to make this prediction come true.

2) The Mets won’t trade from their current starting rotation

No one predicted the Mets will trade from their starting pitching staff, at least not anyone projected to be on the starting rotation. Brandon Sproat and Jonah Tong were included in one deal. The veterans are staying put and with good reason. The Mets have shown a love of starting pitching depth. What’s more, the same questions we have about their starters will show up in other cities. The Mets might be wiser to try to fix Kodai Senga at his price than dump him for a minimal cost in a trade. None of us predicted the Mets trade a starter possibly out of a cluelessness as to who it would actually be.

3) Edwin Diaz is definitely coming back

All 6 of us see Edwin Diaz coming back to the Mets. Why? The qualifying offer is going to do damage to his market and eliminate at least one big spender (if not more). How many teams are willing to spend that much on a single relief pitcher? The Los Angeles Dodgers have greater needs and as loaded as it would make them to three-peat, they just won it all in a season where Tanner Scott pitched terribly and didn’t even join them in the World Series. Let’s hope Diaz is bitter about the Dodgers DFA’ing his brother.

4) Michael King is really popular

One of the more popular free agent choices was Michael King. A familiar name to Mets fans from his time with the New York Yankees, he’s also viewed as a guy who’d need fewer years and less money. Something in the 3-4 years and not much more than $20-25 million seems to be what everyone is predicting. The trouble here is other teams will see this as tempting, too.

5) Versatility is a trait many of us want in a free agent position player

5 of the 6 predictions included the Mets signing a player who could conceivably play two positions. Kazumo Okamoto and Cody Bellinger were the pairing with the former being a corner infielder and latter giving the Mets options in center field and first base. The triangular positions where they can upgrade (first base, third base, center field) are aided by adding both of those players. Only one prediction had the Mets signing the pair with Pete Alonso heading out the door to make more room.