The biggest offseason challenges for the Mets this winter
Money can’t buy everything. If it could, Steve Cohen would have already bought the New York Mets a couple of World Series championships. Instead, he’s opening up his wallet for things one can actually purchase like free agents or Taylor Swift tickets for $80,000.
The Mets have the backing of the richest owner in the sport. It doesn’t mean they will never experience their share of challenges.
This winter, the Mets are facing quite a few of them. Can they get over each of these hurdles toward building a better team?
1) NY Mets challenge: Building a bullpen from scratch
Edwin Diaz is back. Drew Smith is also under contract. As for the rest of them, it’s a battle royale.
The Mets didn’t even start off with Diaz under contract either. They were able to extend him before he officially became a free agent. It was the smartest of moves to make. It has given fans some sense of ease.
There’s still a lot more work to be done. The Mets have been adding lesser players to the 40-man roster in hopes of one or two maybe working out. The rest will be for depth. No team can ever get through a season without having to summon up a couple of Triple-A arms.
The act of building a bullpen even with pieces in place is never easy. Relievers are hard to assess and impossible to predict. Among all of the challenges, this is one that they might accidentally do perfectly. It’s always possible they make all of the right moves and it ends up being a disaster.
2) NY Mets challenge: Building a better rotation than last year
The Mets could have re-signed Jacob deGrom, Chris Bassitt, and Taijuan Walker and set themselves up with an awesome rotation. They would've rejoined the team along with Max Scherzer and Carlos Carrasco. The band completely sticking together and putting out some more great music for another year made sense. deGrom, as we already know, is bound for the Texas Rangers.
This is no longer an option. Based on the rumors and rumblings, it was never all that likely. It’s rare for a team in this age to stick with the same rotation from year-to-year, especially when it didn’t win them anything the season prior.
It seems Walker is the most likely to depart for another team next. In which case, the Mets can find a suitable replacement.
Here’s the challenge: choosing the right replacement for deGrom and possibly Walker while making the best offer possible to the starting pitchers you do want. And even when the offer is the best one out there, what can you offer to ensure the player puts pen to paper?
The Mets will have a steady rotation for next season. There’s little doubt about it. Will it be better? That’s where we need to question things. Scherzer will be another year older as will the less productive returning Carrasco. It will be a huge challenge to build the bullpen and rotation simultaneously and for us to think the team made every improvement possible.
Is this a challenge Billy Eppler will get a gold medal for or settle for a less desirable shade?
3) NY Mets challenge: Improving the starting lineup with many returning players
Pitching additions are the focus for the Mets. They can conceivably field a team for next season with what they have in-house with one exception: they need a starting position player somewhere.
Jeff McNeil’s flexibility has some fans already wondering if the team can move him to a corner outfield spot and then shift Starling Marte to center field. The plan, if Brandon Nimmo leaves, is for the team to go all in by signing Trea Turner. The Mets might be a better team for it.
If it’s not Turner, the Mets should, at the very least, seek a corner outfielder. And what about a platoon partner for Daniel Vogelbach? His place on the roster is curious because of his limited defensive abilities. Do we really begin the season with him in a platoon yet again? It was an absolute failure in 2022 even with Vogelbach performing pretty well.
The Mets won’t sign Aaron Judge and Trea Turner just doesn’t seem too realistic when he has so many other suitors out there. Free agency, or maybe even a trade, can offer the team with some more realistic options.
For the most part, we should see a very similar Mets starting lineup next season. Whomever they do add needs to be the right man for the job.