Where the Mets can get an advantage in the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes

The New York Mets have a lot to look forward to heading into the 2024 offseason. A ton of talented and valuable players are on the market but the one that could make the biggest difference for the team is obviously Shohei Ohtani. He is a once in a generation talent that any team would love to have but with the recent news it makes the most sense for the Mets to go out and grab him.

Last week, it was reported that Ohtani is open to the possibility of a short-term deal. This should be music to Steve Cohen's ears as we have seen him do it with both Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander in the past.

Ohtani would resolve a lot of unanswered questions for the Mets and give them the big power bat that they have needed for a while now. The team is full of a lot of table setters but not a lot of guys that can provide them with good run support.

He would fit perfectly as the DH and slide right into the lineup. This is especially after the Mets announced that they have officially non-tendered players on the roster like Daniel Vogelbach and Luis Guillorme.

Discussing the DH role

This position for the Mets has been undefined and extremely unproductive. Just last year, the Mets went into the season not exactly knowing who to appoint as the for sure DH. Eppler essentially just wanted to wing it and randomly pick a new DH whenever he felt like it.

According to Sports Illustrated Eppler spoke to the press ahead of the 2023 year stating, "There is several different ways that we can utilize the DH spot on any given night".

In mentioning these details, the Mets should learn from the many mistakes Eppler made and start considering the fact that this role impacts the team tremendously. They had four players that could have been the DH for them last season and not one of them even touched 50 RBI. The Mets could have gone out and signed J.D. Martinez for $10 million. His productivity between 33 home runs, 103 RBI, and 117 hits was better than all four candidates the Mets had for the job in 2023.

My point is that Mets fans are tired of settling for mediocrity when comes to the DH position. We should be able to sign a talent like Ohtani to change the reoccurring issue that we seem to have quite frequently.

What would Ohtani's contract look like?

Ohtani could really benefit from signing a short-term deal with the Mets because he is betting on himself. He is coming off a UCL tear that is going to prevent him from pitching in the 2024 season.

Some MLB teams may be hesitant to offer him that giant $500 million dollar contract because they do not know exactly what version of Ohtani they are going to get. Regardless, the 2-time MVP deserves to get paid.

This could be where a two to three-year deal could be more appealing to Ohtani. He would be getting the high AAV with a potential opt-out after the second or third year of the deal.

The Mets would be willing to go that extra mile to help him out if it meant that they could closer to the ultimate goal which would be to win a World Series title. Of course, more pieces need to be added to the puzzle but Ohtani would certainly be a good start.

Mets fans know that Steve Cohen has the money and the assets to make this dream happen. Why not go out and put the money to good use?