2 reasons the Mets will be a competitive team in 2024, 2 reasons they won’t

The word “competitive” can mean a lot of things to a lot of different people. To Max Scherzer, it essentially means winning 81 games. For Steve Cohen, it means less expensive but relevant. Being competitive seems to be the goal of the New York Mets in 2024 but with a much different approach. 

Cohen hasn’t hidden from the leaked private conversation with Scherzer or denied what the ex-Mets starting pitcher claimed is the future outline of the franchise. He gave what has become a clearer interpretation with a more positive outlook of the future. Mets fans have bought in. Cohen has bought a lot of things in his life. Trust with the fans is one of those purchases.

Not everyone has fully bought into the notion of the Mets being competitive next year. We all believed they were going to go far in 2023 only to come up well short of those expectations. They more than pulled the plug on the plan. They tripped over it and knocked out the IV fluid, too. Fortunately, the bag hasn’t fully leaked. There is reason to both believe the team will be competitive next year with some doubts even if you see the world through orange and blue-colored glasses.

The NY Mets will be competitive in 2024 because they’ll spread the spending

Could the Mets actually be a better team with a smaller payroll? Darn right they could be. In fact, we should expect it if only because the 2023 version wasn’t all that good.

Spreading out the wealth has its obvious benefits. In its simplest format, we can ask if we’d rather have one Justin Verlander on the roster or players like Chris Bassitt and Taijuan Walker. The quality might not be as guaranteed to swap one future Hall of Famer for two very good starting pitchers. However, when it comes to building a roster, sometimes you have to swap the ability of one player for what a pair can offer you.

One or even two pitchers can’t win a team a championship. That only works in the NBA where a single entity can control the entire game. Baseball teams need to be the most well-rounded of the major sports. A pitcher can’t even hit a home run to rescue his team any longer.

We all expect the Mets payroll to drop significantly between now and next season. It’s a realistic expectation if Shohei Ohtani isn’t signed by the ball club. There aren’t any other $300+ million players for the Mets to sign. Instead, prepare for smaller yet quality deals to set them up for more success in 2025 or even 2026.

The NY Mets will be competitive in 2024 because they aren’t building from scratch

How does a potential starting rotation beginning with Kodai Senga, Jose Quintana, and one other relevant arm sound? Take any tier one or tier two starting pitcher from free agency or the trade market and plug him onto this roster. The Mets are already in better shape than most ball clubs.

The Mets aren’t starting from scratch. Next season won’t be coming off of a long hiatus from competing. They aren’t building off of an empty plot of land. The structure is there. We just need some remodeling.

Many of the holes the team will need to fill this offseason are standard. They’ll need starting pitching. Some more starting pitching. Some relievers. And again, some starting pitching. A bat would be nice, however, if the endgame is to win in 2025 or 2026, the Mets can remain competitive with the offense they already have with a rental or two sprinkled in.

The positional needs on offense to fill could include left field, DH, and filling up the bench. Left field has several possible solutions already in-house with a positional change as one of the better options. The Mets can upgrade the DH spot by signing a guy capable of playing left field to take on the bulk of those starts and also fill in as a defensive player on a regular basis.

The NY Mets won’t be competitive in 2024 because while not starting from scratch they do need some major changes

The Mets can get lucky and grow a few relievers, sign a guy off the scrap heap who becomes awesome, and find themselves with one of the better bullpens in baseball. Equally, they can crash and burn once again because of their lack of quality bullpen arms. Everything in between is always a possibility, too.

Too many changes for the roster need to happen before the start of the 2024 season. The team simply doesn’t have enough warm bodies to fill out the 26-man roster who look big league-ready.

We can cite this as one of the reasons as to why the 2023 Mets struggled so much. Three starting pitchers hit free agency. Even more relievers hit the open market. It doesn’t matter how much money is thrown at free agents. You’re going to miss on a couple no matter how pricy they are or how much scouting is done. Unforeseen circumstances always tend to pop up.

An entire change to the roster isn’t needed, but the starting rotation needs some major additions and perhaps a little bit of luck. The offense has some holes in it, too. The team has to account for the possibility of more season-long slumps. The Mets just don’t have enough firepower in their starting nine right now or ready for next season to scare too many teams.

Next year’s Mets will be short of perfection either due to missing parts on the roster or an abundance of guys playing below expectations. The front office seems fully aware that they are incapable of accomplishing the goal of turning the current club into a no-doubt contender for next season. The under-promising and over-delivering approach could be what we get from them. The apparent self-awareness, while it won’t lead to contending, will at least signal promising days thereafter.