Something missing from this year’s NY Mets roster they had too much of in 2025

Think about the 2025 New York Mets. Go back to the beginning. As they began to play spring training games, how did you feel about the individual players? You probably weren’t so happy with every move they made, were you?

The 2025-26 Mets offseason was divisive, but can you really hate on the moves they made? Letting beloved players go was the bigger controversy than who they added.

Say what you will about Marcus Semien, Jorge Polanco, and Luis Robert Jr. They don’t have quite the same ill-feeling some of last year’s Mets, before they even played a game, gave us.

This year’s Mets team doesn’t have too many “what’s he doing here?” players

It’s okay to question moves, but even last year, enough people could understand the plan with Clay Holmes. They bought into re-signing Ryne Stanek and Jesse Winker. None of this year’s Mets offseason moves comes close to how we all felt when they signed Franke Montas.

Still maybe the most puzzling move David Stearns has made, giving him a $17 million player option on top of the same salary in 2025 after several seasons of not being all that great, this was one of those practically universally panned free agent signings. Montas was not welcomed by fans. There wasn’t the same kind of upside for a turnaround you can claim with other Mets players.

Montas wasn’t alone here. The Mets decided to tender a contract to Paul Blackburn. We already saw what he could do in limited action in 2024. There was never a justifiable reason to keep him around.

The pair combined to start 11 games and made another 5 relief appearances in 2025. Their presence was nauseating from the start. It wasn’t anything personal. Each felt like an inferior choice when you had an offseason to go after better targets.

Players will naturally outwear their welcome. Jose Siri was a guy from last year’s team many were excited to see. He flamed out quickly, got hurt, and came back to do very little again. If Vidal Brujan makes the team, he's understandably a guy on the bubble who has as much of a change lasting through the year in the majors as you or me.

This year’s Mets roster has guys who’ll fit the Siri mold, but none who reasonably match how we looked at Montas and Blackburn. You can’t be so sick of Kodai Senga you’d willingly part with him over nothing. Have you forgotten 2023? You can feel like Devin Williams is going to remind us quickly how much we miss Edwin Diaz. At least there is some recent history of him being awesome.

Several leftovers weren't exactly fan-favorites heading into 2025. Jeff McNeil was already playing his way out of favor with fans and the front office. It's easy to forget how badly many wanted to see Starling Marte traded. Neither are present with the team going with the freshness of guys like Semien and Polanco.

Several Mets players will quickly outspend their welcome. Others will divide fans with metrics just telling us they’re running into bad luck. At least to start the year, everyone seems to be in that boat of reaching an incredibly high ceiling. Montas and Blackburn were cut from a different cloth.