Mets power rankings: 5 most important free agent fits

The New York Mets have been one of the most active teams in Major League Baseball this winter in terms of signing high-level talent and making a statement to the rest of the league of their intentions to compete for a World Series next season. From the signing of Justin Verlander to Kodai Senga to the re-signing of Brandon Nimmo, General Manager Billy Eppler has shown he is open for business in building a contender.

Whether or not the Mets make the Earth-shaking moves that they made over the last week or so remains to be seen, but there are still some areas for the Mets to upgrade on the current roster, as a few holes remain unresolved. Owner Steve Cohen has made it abundantly clear that he is going to blow through the MLB-imposed "Cohen Tax Threshold" this winter which allows the Mets to not so much focus on cost but on fit for their ballclub going into 2023.

As a disclaimer, I, like many Mets fans, am strongly clamoring for the Mets front office to sign Carlos Correa for a wide variety of reasons that I won't go into detail on in this article. But outside of the obvious with Correa, I wanted to take a look at five other players who would make sense for the Mets in order of importance starting at number one, who currently are on the free agent market.

1) NY Mets Power Ranking: Free agent relief pitcher Adam Ottavino

Prior to the Mets signing reliever David Robertson, one of their publicly known free agent targets was re-signing free agent reliever Adam Ottavino. The 37-year-old Ottavino was one of the key members of the Mets bullpen last season and would make a solid addition as a bridge to Closer Edwin Diaz along with Robertson.

Last season Ottavino had posted a solid 2.06 ERA and 0.975 WHIP in 66 appearances out of the Mets bullpen. Outside of the Mets, there hasn't been much public interest in Ottavino as of yet from other ballclubs, but that can certainly change at the drop of a dime as there has been a significant run on pitching over the last 10 days on the free agent market.

With Seth Lugo not expected to be back next season, as many organizations are valuing him as a starting pitcher, it's crucial for the Mets to get another dependable late-inning option. It appears that Ottavino is looking for a multi-year deal and hopefully General Manager Billy Eppler will be able to lock him up with a two-year deal. We all have seen how important a bullpen can be in the postseason, and it would be a crucial blow for the Mets to lose both Ottavino and Lugo this offseason.