3 negligent Mets offseason decisions the team is paying for right now

3) The NY Mets neglected to try anything different

What’s this mean? The names and faces may have changed in some areas. The pattern stays the same. The small number of additions the Mets did make this offseason were either returning players like Brandon Nimmo or Edwin Diaz or direct replacements for the free agents they did lose.

There wasn’t much wrong with this. They needed Nimmo. Diaz was a must.

Going from Jacob deGrom to Justin Verlander definitely had some red flags. After deGrom missed half of each of the last two seasons, should the Mets really invest as much money and faith into one ace in the rotation to be the answer? It’s definitely a lot of hindsight now. When the Mets signed Verlander, few were complaining.

It’s not Verlander who is the problem as much as the front office’s negligence in changing the overall formula of the team. Poor postseason starts from Max Scherzer and Chris Bassitt plus a one-hit performance in the latter’s appearance should have had them looking for creative ways to upgrade the offense. It goes even beyond just the DH role. 

It was obvious from the start the Mets didn’t have nearly enough power. Made up of mostly lighter hitters, this is a team that will get on base, get a lot of hits, but also strand a lot of runners in the process. Predicting clutch is impossible. One way to get a little more is to find truer power bats than hoping an older Starling Marte or Mark Canha can replicate their 2022 seasons.

The only serious attempt the Mets made here was to sign Carlos Correa. The third base market wasn’t robust in free agency, but they could have surely made a trade for someone at that position or somewhere else.