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5 offseason changes the Mets need to make if they miss the playoffs again
What can the Mets do differently if they miss the 2024 postseason?
Bruises. Cuts. Blood. Sweat. Tears. Fist pumps. High-fives. Dirt everywhere. It’s all on the table for the final few weeks of the 2024 season for the New York Mets. This team has proven they can battle back from adversity. Written off after their first five games and once again at the end of May, the Mets are in the thick of the playoff race and how they close out August could say a lot about their chances.
What if the Mets miss the playoffs? It’s a scenario fans have been mistreated to far too often. The Mets aren’t regularly invited to the postseason. After last year’s major disappointment, we saw the team make some gigantic changes with the personnel on the field and the folks overlooking everything between the lines.
If the Mets miss the playoffs again in 2024, more changes will need to be made. It can start with these five.
1) The Mets need more definite solutions in the rotation
The Mets assembled their starting rotation only one step more calculated than opening up the phone book to a random page and prank phone calling whoever’s name you landed on. Remember phone books? Are they still in print? What do strong men rip in half these days?
As impressive as several Mets starting pitchers have been lately, lingering doubt about how far they can carry the team remains. The Mets gave Luis Severino and Sean Manaea what essentially equated to short-term deals to prove themselves. Successful for the most part, they were unable to add any true ace to the rotation prior to the year or again at the trade deadline.
In fact, the Mets stayed with the same theme at the trade deadline by adding Paul Blackburn. An acceptable addition, he doesn’t measure up compared to some of the other starters who changed uniforms.
No starting pitcher is a sure thing and yet there are more credentialed options always available in the offseason. Whether via trade or free agency, dedicating your resources to get a more trusted arm will be a must if the Mets miss the postseason this year.
2) The Mets can ignore one-dimensional players on their Opening Day bench
Unbelievably, the Mets opened this season with Zack Short and Joey Wendle on the roster. No wonder they had to climb upward. DJ Stewart was there too, for whatever that’s worth. A completely different player from that pairing who didn’t last all that long, we all wake up in the morning feeling fortunate the Mets lucked into having Jose Iglesias around in the minors.
Short and Wendle were viewed as one-dimensional players who could field and not do much else. Unfortunately, neither was all that great on defense. One-tool players morphed into wasted roster spaces.
Stewart was a whole different kind of one-dimensional. Lightyears more valuable than Daniel Vogelbach if only because he can play both corner outfield positions, his struggles at the plate became too much to bear. How has he only been off the roster for about a month? It seems like ages since he was with the big league club.
Instead of such limited players to round out the bench, look for guys who can do a little more. Tyrone Taylor is a superb example. He can run, field, and hit for some pretty good power although he hasn’t flashed much of that. Our savior Iglesias can field and has a steady track record of hitting for average.
The bench didn’t dig the Mets into any sort of hole. However, the team was far from playoff ready when the season began. A big part of it was their lackluster bench.
3) The Mets need a bullpen that breaks the bank or at least takes fewer fliers
Equally as frustrating early on for the Mets was the bullpen. Well, they did perform well in the first month. Then came May and everyone seemed exhausted. First month hero Reed Garrett reverted back to his old ways. We’ve been trying to figure out who he is ever since.
Garrett was an early pleasant surprise while pitchers like Yohan Ramirez and Michael Tonkin were cheap options who probably never should have shared a roster together. One is fine if that’s what you can get.
The Mets were active in free agency, signing Adam Ottavino, Jake Diekman, and Shintaro Fujinami in a short span. None worked particularly well. Diekman got outpitched by Danny Young who signed a minor league deal. Fujinami couldn’t even make the team and is now lingering in the minors trying to figure things out, off of the 40-man roster, and out of our minds.
In building the bullpen, David Stearns seemed to have a budget and Edwin Diaz ate up a lot of it. He did a fantastic job adjusting on the fly. He can help the team win a few more early games by spending more on those fabled “sure things” we all think are out there in free agency. A willingness to go more than one year on contracts can help here.
4) The Mets need to be more fearless with trading prospects
The biggest Mets trade of the offseason was the one that brought them Adrian Houser and Tyrone Taylor. How did that work out? One worth doing even with the way Houser struggled, the Mets remained hesitant to trade away any big time prospects again at the trade deadline. Bargain additions is all they were willing to agree to.
Building up a better farm system has been a theme for the Mets even before the infamous 2023 trade deadline that was all about going bold there. A lot of those prospects we viewed as future Citi Field stars suddenly look expendable beyond even just trades. Before we know it, guys once written in on future depth charts could get waived or stolen in the Rule 5 Draft.
Having a farm system you’re proud of doesn’t work if the prospects fizzle out or end up blocked by someone else. You gotta know when to hold ‘em, know when to trade ‘em.
Mets fans caught the prospect bug last summer and parting with any of the bigger names became non-negotiable. The 2022 trade deadline is still fresh in our heads as a moment when the team didn’t go all in to win, those who want to pull the trigger on a few more aggressive deals aren’t being foolish. Many of the prospects the Mets have already traded away haven’t turned into much other than hype.
Stay reasonable, but don’t just keep everyone around either. Not every roster solution can be solved in free agency. Sometimes a player just wants to play in a certain city or with a club they grew up rooting for.
5) The Mets need to leave the DH spot open to rotate different players through
J.D. Martinez was a great addition by the Mets in the offseason. Capable of helping to carry the Mets to the postseason, the main negative about him remains the inability to play a position. Having him as the everyday DH takes some options away from Carlos Mendoza. When Martinez is slumping, he’s a net negative because of the zero participation trophies he wins on defense.
At the price Martinez was willing to sign, the Mets had no choice but to bring him in. Next year, unless something similar happens again, they should aim to leave the DH spot open. Instead of one guy, let the position players rotate through.
This can help a guy like Starling Marte stay healthy and effective. Francisco Alvarez could benefit from the occasional start as the DH. Let’s get Francisco Lindor off his feet for a little longer to get him through the long season.
Heaven forbid the Mets ever experience a position player of importance require Tommy John surgery and become unavailable altogether because the club already has a DH-exclusive player on the roster. This isn’t a required change because of who Martinez is. Instead, it’s more about how beneficial it would be to give a different player a half-day each night. The Mets have successfully mixed and matched multiple position players. One more spot to toy with can help out.
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