2 bold Mets strategies that'll work out well in 2024, 1 that'll be a failure

Using what he did with the Milwaukee Brewers, New York Mets fans have tried all offseason to predict what David Stearns values most. The situation is much different than it was in Milwaukee. In fact, one could argue the Mets are in a spot very few teams ever get to. They have so much dead money on the books and yet they aren’t completely punting on the season. There’s a little bit of purgatory they’re stuck in; hopefully not for too long.

The look and feel of this team is different with some notably bold strategic thinking along the way. Which of those choices will work out for the best and which turns into a failure?

The Mets only signing short term pitchers will work out for the best even if they aren't

The Mets didn’t limit themselves to only offering short deals. The Yoshinobu Yamamoto pursuit would’ve changed the narrative of this team if they were successful. By choosing the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Mets were left to stick with the shorter term options available.

Frankly, unless the team wanted to overpay Blake Snell or Jordan Montgomery, there really weren’t all that many great options in free agency. They’ve hesitated to trade away prospects and they probably wouldn’t have had the minor league pitching to acquire any noteworthy arms anyway.

There should be lingering doubts about exactly how good the starting staff can be despite some impressive performances this spring. The absence of Kodai Senga doesn’t help matters, but armed to the tooth with a variety of options, this is a ball club that can survive injuries.

The Mets have allowed themselves as much flexibility as possible in this regard. Something as extreme as DFA’ing a player like Luis Severino if things don’t work out is possible because of the limited financial cost. Available escape pods with all of these pitcher additions will work out whether the Mets are good or not.