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Mets history rewritten: 3 moves a Wilpon-led regime would have made this offseason
It's safe to say 99.9% of New York Mets fans are extremely thankful to have Steve Cohen as the owner of their team. Since taking over, Cohen has completely changed everything we knew about the franchise for the better. The Mets are coming off of a 101-win season and arguably improved despite having more free agents than I can remember.
We can only wonder how the last couple of years would have gone if the Wilpons were still in charge. What would happen if they somehow took over again? What moves would they have made this offseason instead?
We know Justin Verlander wouldn't be a Met. Jacob deGrom wouldn't be one either. How different would this roster look? Let's look at three moves the Wilpons would've had GM Sandy Van Minaya make if they took ownership of the franchise over from Steve Cohen.
1) Former MVP Cody Bellinger replaces Brandon Nimmo as the Mets center fielder
Steve Cohen did what he absolutely had to do by giving the financial leeway to Billy Eppler in order for Brandon Nimmo to be back in Queens on a long-term deal. There was no other realistic solution available for center field, and I'm so happy to see Nimmo back.
In this scenario, the Wilpons are in charge and do not overpay to bring their guy back. Nimmo walks in free agency, and the Mets are stuck bargain-hunting. Cody Bellinger was the second-best center fielder available on the market, and Sandy Van Minaya found his new center fielder for the 2023 season.
Bellinger of course won an MVP award in 2019 and won the Rookie of the Year award two seasons prior. He was on the trajectory of being one of the best players in the game. Following the MVP award, he hasn't been close to the same player.
Bellinger has slashed .203/.272/.376 averaging 14 home runs and 45 RBI over the last three seasons. This caused the Dodgers to non-tender him.
The Mets swoop in after Nimmo walks to sign Bellinger and bank on him reverting back to his MVP form. He likely hits in the middle of the Opening Day lineup.
2) The Mets sign one of the best closers of all-time to replace Edwin Diaz
Edwin Diaz received a five-year $102 million dollar deal to remain a Met following his historic 2022 campaign. Diaz will be the Mets closer for years to come and I could not be more excited about that. $20 million dollars annually for a reliever is definitely an overpay, but Diaz deserves every penny as he's the best in the game at what he does.
The Wilpons running things would most definitely not go to that number for a closer. They would however find a cheaper alternative for Diaz in the form of Craig Kimbrel.
Kimbrel was at one point the best closer in the game. He's one of the best and most dominant closers we've ever seen. At 34 years of age, Kimbrel is not what he once was. He was traded from the White Sox to the Dodgers to be their closer and he did not last the entire year in that role.
Kimbrel wasn't too bad, posting a 3.75 ERA and a 3.23 FIP as a Dodger in 63 appearances while recording 22 saves but he was just not good enough to be a closer on a team trying to compete.
Kimbrel signed a one-year $10 million dollar deal to go to the Phillies this offseason. What his role will be in Philadelphia remains to be seen but his role in this alternate universe after the Wilpons give Sandy Van Minaya the green light to sign him, would be to serve as the closer.
3) Instead of eating money in the James McCann trade, the Mets ship out a top prospect to offload the contract.
The Mets had to find a way to trade James McCann heading into this offseason. His bat was simply non-existent in his time as a Met and with Omar Narvaez coming into the fold and Francisco Alvarez on the cusp of being ready, McCann had no role.
The Steve Cohen-led Mets ate most of the McCann contract and dealt him to Baltimore in a trade that landed the Mets a player to be named later which turned out to be Luis De La Cruz. Whether De La Cruz turns into anything remains to be seen, but the Mets trading McCann and getting a player back is obviously much better than not.
We all know the Wilpons would have no interest in eating that McCann money. In order to offload it, the Mets would have to give up a high-end prospect. No, it wouldn't be Francisco Alvarez or Brett Baty, but it'd be a player that fans would not want to see go.
We've seen the Wilpon-owned Mets do this before, as when they acquired Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz from the Mariners, they made Seattle eat some of the Cano money while also taking on players on bad contracts like Jay Bruce and Anthony Swarzak. The Mets gave up top prospect Jarred Kelenic along with some other young pieces like Justin Dunn and Gerson Bautista. The price would not have been that high had the Mets not forced Seattle to take on so much money.
The Mets are fortunate to now have an owner willing to eat money on a bad contract so he doesn't ruin the farm system to offload it.
Next. Should Francisco Alvarez be on the Mets Opening Day roster?. dark