1 big free agent the Mets should sign in each of the following 3 offseasons

Sure, the 2022 season has barely even started and the Mets are playing well. But that doesn’t mean we can’t look toward the future.

This roster could look very different next season. It might even look very different by the time September rolls around. But for now, it’s time to focus on one big-name free agent the Mets should shoot for each of the next three offseasons. Oh, and it excludes players who the Mets need to re-sign, though they will be mentioned.

Joe Musgrove would be a great addition to the Mets rotation in 2023.

The 2023 offseason is a massive one for the Mets. Edwin Diaz, Brandon Nimmo and Chris Bassitt will be free agents, Jacob deGrom has already said he plans to opt-out and it wouldn’t be surprising to see Taijuan Walker opt-out as well.

Obviously, the Mets need to do everything they can to keep deGrom. He’s the best pitcher in baseball. He wants to be here. And they obviously have the money. He’ll be back. With how he’s pitching right now, Diaz should also be a no-brainer. Elite closers are extremely valuable and hard to come by, and that’s what Diaz is — elite. Yes, he technically has three blown saves, but if you watch the games you know he’s really had only one bad outing. At this point, he’s proven he’s overcome the struggles he had in 2019, knock on wood.

Nimmo is an interesting case because he’s bordering on elite when he plays, but he also has had legitimate injury concerns throughout his entire career. In seven seasons, he’s played more than 100 games just once. That’s bad. A long-term deal for him will likely be impacted by how Nimmo’s health holds up in 2021, but there’s a good benchmark already out there. Something in the area of Byron Buxton’s 7-year, $100 million extension is probably fair. Buxton is the better player, but he has also had even more injury issues than Nimmo throughout his career. 

Bassitt is another interesting case, and he’s the first one whose future with the team right now is really a toss-up. We’re not going to really be able to gauge it until much later in the season, but if he finishes the way he’s started, I’m sure the Mets will want to bring him back as well.

That leaves Walker as the player who is most likely not to be back next season. He’d only be opting out of one year and $6 million and will likely be able to make more than that on the open market, both in and years and AAV. If he does go that route, the Mets should target Musgrove as his replacement. 

For now, let’s operate as if the Mets retained deGrom and Bassitt but lost Walker. Keeping those two is far from a guarantee, but this article is about what the Mets should do — and that includes extending deGrom and Bassitt.

That would leave them with a very good five-man rotation of deGrom, Max Scherzer, Bassitt, Carlos Carrasco and Tylor Megill. That’s excellent, but they also will be 35, 38, 34, 36 and 27 years old respectively. Three of them are also currently hurt, including the now-26-year-old Megill who is out with an arm injury. You need more than five major-league caliber starters to be a good team.

If the Mets add Musgrove and everyone is healthy then that’s great, just use a six-man rotation. But odds are that isn’t going to be the case. Adding an arm like Musgrove would make it so that the Mets have five quality starters even if one is hurt — with David Peterson still waiting in the wings.

Musgrove will only be 30 years old next season, which is relatively young when compared to most options on the free-agent market. He was always a solid starter, but really elevated his game over the past two seasons. He put up a 3.18 ERA in 181.1 innings in 2021 and a stellar 1.90 ERA through his first eight starts of 2022.

He’s a borderline ace, and adding him to the Mets rotation would give them the unquestioned best staff in the league. It won’t be cheap, with Scherzer already making a historic amount and whatever the new contracts look like for deGrom and Bassitt, but it will be worth it — and Steve Cohen can afford it.

In 2025, the Mets should give Juan Soto a blank check and not think twice about it.

Soto is incredible. There’s no other way to put it. He’s just simply the best hitter in baseball, without a doubt. He’s also just 23 years old. When he hits the free-agent market in 2025, it will be for his age-26 season. 

It’s rare in baseball that a player hits the free-agent market that young, much less someone of his caliber. He will be the most coveted free agent in baseball history, and that’s how it should be. No one in baseball right now has his combination of bat-to-ball skills, power and plate discipline.

The Mets should do everything possible to sign him, whatever the cost.

Admittedly, it will be a massive offseason for the team. It’s the Pete Alonso free-agent class as well, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see him extended before he gets a chance to test the market. 

Jeff McNeil is also a free agent, and he’s a bit more difficult than Alonso to project. He’s been extremely valuable to the team in 2022, and has been exceptional throughout his Mets career aside from 2021. But he will also be entering his age-33 season, while Alonso will be entering his age-30 season. McNeil will be one of the older players to hit the free-agent market for the first time, so it will be interesting to see what the team does.

Scherzer would also be a free agent if he doesn’t opt out the year prior, as will Dominic Smith and J.D. Davis — though the latter two are far from guarantees to even make it through their current contracts.

So yes, Soto isn’t the best positional need. He wouldn’t fill a potential hole vacated by McNeil, and would create a bit of a logjam in the outfield with Nimmo, Marte and Winker, but that’s just how good Soto is. The logjam would only be for one year, as Marte’s contract is up after 2025, and Winker probably wouldn’t be signed to a crazy long deal in the first place. 

Then, the Mets could easily fill the infield hole by just re-signing McNeil. Sure, he won’t be young, but he’ll be about the same age as Canha and Eduardo Escobar who the Mets signed this offseason. A shorter two-to-four-year deal for McNeil wouldn’t be a bad idea.

The Mets could also opt for someone like Tim Anderson or Willy Adames to fill the hole, who will both be slightly younger. Or, of course, there’s always the minor league route. The Mets don’t have a ton of highly-touted infield depth in the minors outside of Ronny Mauricio, and he’s a shortstop who would have to learn to play second base. 

That said, McNeil wasn’t even someone who made the top-30 prospect list the year before his debut, so you never know who can emerge to be an impact major leaguer. By the time 2025 comes around, the second base vacancy could have filled itself.

That brings us back to Soto. Nothing should stop the Mets, especially not positional fit, from bringing him on board.

Soto is arguably the best player in baseball. The Mets have the richest owner in baseball. Soto should be a Met, simple as that.