1 clear NY Mets roster upgrade, 1 likely downgrade, 1 strong push from last year

The New York Mets roster is incomplete and yet it’s nearly down. Satisfied or not, the team has taken its primary shape.

Every team’s goal in the offseason should be to get better. Alas, this isn’t always the case. Some players will be better than the ones they’re replacing. Others will be worse. Then there are the more lateral movements where the replacement is merely offering the club exactly what they lost.

A clear upgrade, a likely downgrade, and one push who looks like he’ll be nothing more than a replica on the roster.

Upgrade: Juan Soto from J.D. Martinez

Juan Soto isn’t directly replacing J.D. Martinez. He’s a right fielder but with Starling Marte still around and the two playing a completely different style, we can’t really call him a replacement for him. However you want to quantify the presence of Soto, the Mets got eons better the moment he came to Queens.

Perhaps most important of all, Soto should be able to make his teammates better, too. Hitting in front of or behind Soto should help out hitters like Francisco Lindor, Mark Vientos, and a certain free agent first baseman if he does indeed come back.

A dynamic player who walked more than he struck out last year, he's an automatic for a .400 OBP. Qualified Mets players have only achieved this 13 times in the franchise’s history. Only once has someone walked over 100 times in a season. He’s going to be all over the single-season record book early.

Signing the best available free agent is the easy upgrade to declare. What about the downgrade? Where have the Mets gotten worse?