Mets Monday Morning GM: Zero misses for the free agents that left

The New York Mets managed to bring back Edwin Diaz, Brandon Nimmo, and Adam Ottavino this offseason. Meanwhile, they’ve lost some big names along the way, too.

The more I think about it, the more I see why they walked.

Trevor May, for instance, received a $7 million deal from the Oakland Athletics. Money might not be an issue for Steve Cohen, however, that’s the kind of deal to stay away from. Other dearly departed free agents from Flushing also seemed to take in more than what we guessed they’d make. Is there anybody out there the Mets should have paid?

The Mets are spending wisely, not freely and have been right to pass on many of their free agents

We need to eliminate two free agents immediately. Seth Lugo and Trevor Williams would have been great fits to return. However, each wanted a chance to start games. Neither is getting paid an outrageous amount. Lugo’s deal is for two years and $15 million with Williams having a contract of just as long at $13 million.

It would have been worth it to keep both at this price. The idea of starting games, rather than working in relief for Lugo and being a swingman in Williams’ case, led them to seek out other destinations.

The rest of the Mets free agent class seemed to get paid a little more than Steve Cohen and Billy Eppler might have wanted. The length of Jacob deGrom’s contract was probably more of an issue than the AAV. Chris Bassitt and Taijuan Walker might have been a mix of salary and years. The Mets managed to replace them with Jose Quintana and Kodai Senga on arguably better deals.

Those were the main guys we did want back in the picture. Trade additions from last year like Joely Rodriguez, Tyler Naquin, and Mychal Givens were not good matches to return. It doesn’t matter what the price on them was. They were meant to leave the Queens.

Every offseason includes its share of hits and misses. When it comes to the pending free agents the Mets had, it’s looking like they were wise to pass on the ones they did. I give them credit for finding replacements on more team-friendly contracts.