A season filled with OMGs and Grimace memes came to an end this weekend when the Dodgers toppled the Mets in a 10-5 win that propelled L.A. to a World Series showdown and left the Mets looking ahead to the 2025 campaign. New York’s roster is teeming with veteran free agents, and president of baseball operations David Stearns and his staff will have their work cut out for them in reshaping the roster this offseason. Several outgoing Mets free agents made clear they’d have interest in returning, including some aging vets who are getting into the latter stages of their career.
Designated hitter J.D. Martinez joked “pickleball” when asked what the future held for him (video link via SNY). The 37-year-old slugger said first and foremost, his future includes heading home to be with his new daughter, who he has barely seen since she was born in September. Beyond the family time, Martinez made clear that he hopes to continue his playing career but only if teams take the initiative. “I’m not going to come back because I’m begging to come back,” said Martinez. “I’m going to come back because it makes sense. At the end of the day, time is the most valuable thing.”
Presumably, that means there’s a price point at which Martinez won’t feel compelled to commit to further time away from his growing young family. But the slugger also recently appeared on the Baseball Isn’t Boring podcast and told host Rob Bradford that frustration over a general lack of interest last offseason led him to ponder retirement.
“I felt like it was just an awkward year,” said Martinez (video link). “Here I am, the team’s breaking in five days, and I don’t even have a team yet. Your brain goes into a weird mode, where you’re like ’Am I playing? Am I not? Am I playing? Am I not? Is this it? Am I retired? … We weren’t asking for anything that, at the time, I feel like other players hadn’t gotten.”
Martinez went on to say that he waited all offseason for offers to materialize and “100%” considered retiring, even telling his best friend: “I think this it. I’m staying home. This is dumb. I’m begging for a job, and I had a .900 OPS last year.”
Heading into the 2024-25 offseason, Martinez won’t be coming off the same type of campaign he enjoyed with the Dodgers in 2023. During his lone year in L.A., he bashed 33 homers and hit .271/.321/.572 in 479 plate appearances. Martinez was still a clearly above-average bat this past season, but a sluggish start after signing late (March 23) and a dismal finish to the season left him with a .235/.320/.406 batting line. That was about eight percent better than average, by measure of wRC+ (108).
An optimist could toss out a slow two weeks to start the season and overlook that finish to see that from mid-May through late August, Martinez hit .251/.336/.459 with 16 homers in 387 plate appearances, but teams won’t be so charitable as to just write those struggles off and focus only on his peak in-season production. Martinez did note that he’s encouraged by his batted-ball metrics even though the ultimate production wasn’t in line with his best work, and to his credit, he maintained excellent marks in terms of exit velocity, barrel rate and hard-hit rate. He also cut back on his career-worst 2023 strikeout rate and improved his walk rate to its highest level since 2019.
Teammate Jose Quintana was more direct and more straightforward in his intentions to return next year. The 35-year-old lefty told reporters (link via ESPN’s Jesse Rogers): “I’m healthy. I feel good. I want to try one more time to win a championship. This was the closest I’ve been in my career. One day I’m going to get the opportunity.”
Quintana, 36 in January, pitched 170 1/3 innings of 3.75 ERA ball for the Mets in 2024 — the second season of a two-year, $26MM free agent deal. His 18.8% strikeout rate and 8.8% walk rate don’t necessarily support that level of success, but Quintana was a reliable source of innings and has a lengthy track record of quality rotation work in the majors. Starting pitching is always in demand, and he has a good chance at commanding another eight-figure salary on a one-year deal — if not potential to find a similar two-year deal to the one he just completed.
Age considerations aren’t as prominent for 32-year-old Sean Manaea, who’s all but a lock to decline a $13.5MM player option in search of a multi-year deal in free agency. Manaea has signed back-to-back “prove it” deals, so to speak, signing consecutive two-year deals with opt-out opportunities. He opted out of his deal with the Giants following the 2023 season, will opt out of his Mets deal next month, and is now finally in position to command the type of lengthier multi-year deal that’s eluded him to this point in free agency. The Mets will very likely make him a qualifying offer, but even with draft compensation attached to his name, Manaea could command a three-year pact this time around.
The left-hander pitched a career-high 181 2/3 innings, plus another 19 in the postseason. His regular season ended with a 3.47 ERA, 24.9% strikeout rate and 8.5% walk rate. He was hit hard in his final start — the one that ended the Mets’ season — but held opponents to five runs in 17 innings across his first three postseason starts (2.65 ERA).
Time will tell whether Manaea is back in New York, but the southpaw emphasized how much he loved his time with the organization and called the 2024 campaign the best season of his career (link via Christina De Nicola of MLB.com). “I love my time here,” said Manaea. “I love New York. I love the organization. I love all the people here. Definitely give it a couple of days, let the body rest and then we’ll go from there.”
In addition to the trio of Martinez, Manaea and Quintana, the Mets will also see Pete Alonso, Luis Severino, Harrison Bader, Brooks Raley, Adam Ottavino, Jesse Winker, Jose Iglesias, Drew Smith and Ryne Stanek all become free agents after the World Series.
It wasn’t that teams weren’t interested JD. It’s that your agent thought you were worth more than you actually were. How the heck he’s so ignorant to not acknowledge that I don’t know.
I guess it won’t be an OMG / Grimace world series this year.
Martinez was so late on every pitch this season even when he was hitting it was mostly ground balls through the right side. Hard to find a single ball JD pulled for a hit. Bat is extremely slow now and rally showed up late in the season. Good guy but all things come to an end
He’s never been a pull hitter he has always waited on pitches and hit them the other way. It’s possible age is catching up with his approach but he’s never been a pull hitter.
According to the spray charts on baseballsavant, he’s been pretty good at hitting the ball to all fields, but most seasons he does hit a little more to left field. Some years, like this one, he spreads them out more evenly, but there is no year, including this one, where he hit more notably to right.
Get him on the greenies and he’ll start swinging a lot quicker! JK
Doubt he can hit a pickleball w paddle way he swung a bat last couple months
Being an older player (and as the saying goes Father time will not be Defeated) his late signing and not having a full spring training JDM probably limited his overall results for 2024. What helps of course is how well he takes care of his body the whole year including the offseason, how dedicated he is etc. (Olympic athlete like discipline VS a conditioning program that is something less etc.)
A very good body may not be enough to be MLB ready in terms of how competitive the game is. So many starting pitchers throwing 95+ and a parade of bullpen reinforcements.
As one NYM fan I congratulate Mr. Martinez on a Very good career and thank him for his on field and off field leadership contributions.
JDM is probably at least borderline HOF player and in my book that says a lot. IF he decides to retire Good for him and his family. The game has allowed him to earn lifetime income, plus a pension. May they all experience many happy days together. Godspeed
Here’s some guesses/hopes:
JD, Ottavino – gone
Quintana – try to bring back on a one year deal at a similar AAV
Manaea – QO, offer a competitive 3 year deal, see what happens
Sevy – more difficult decision, I say they offer something like 2/$30 million, which he probably declines. He was more up and down than Manaea, I would be reluctant to offer more
Winker – bring him back. Not sure what a deal would look like but Winker at DH with Vientos DH-ing against lefties would be a nice move
Bader – probably gone. Great defense but couldn’t hit (.513 OPS in the second half). Offer a fair one year deal, let him walk if he wants more
Raley, Smith – both will barely pitch in 2025
Stanek – bring him back at a reasonable price
Pete – QO. I could see them offering a multi year deal. But if any team offers Pete a better deal, they won’t match and he’ll be gone. Not the worst thing in the world as they have Vientos (who could move to 1B in order to try to play Acuña, Mauricio, or Baty more)
Igelsias – would love to see him back. Wouldn’t mind if he didn’t because of all of their young infielders needing playing time, though
I don’t think there’s much of a chance bringing Winker back. They have too many young players that need a roster spot next year and still have McNeil. Mauricio, Acuna and Baty at a minimum. Never mind Drew Gilbert getting a shot in spring.
@ metsin4 Agree that I don’t see where Winker fits with this team moving forward. That said, the young players have nothing to do with this. All of Mauricio, Baty, or Acuna have options remaining, and none has proven that he is ready to stick on the major league roster. Even if any of them makes the team out of ST, there’s still a significant chance that he would struggle and need to be sent back down at some point. They’re all talented, but their readiness, and how they fit with this team next year is still an open question.
Absolutely no reason to write Drew Gilbert in yet. He still hasn’t made his mark in AAA. a three-week HR spurt isn’t enough. He’s got some work to do.
@geofft: “Agree that I don’t see where Winker fits with this team moving forward.”
He fits in at DH. He has a career 118 OPS+. Expecting Mauricio, Baty, or Acuña to put up that kind of production is playing a risky game. If you can get Winker on a one year deal (which I think is very possible), you do it. He had back trouble this year but still put up good numbers and was great in the postseason.
Disagree completely. Acunas glove value alone makes him valuable. What’s the point in developing young players if you don’t give them a shot. Baty is in a make it or being released year. Leaving him in the minors and you just have to release him at the end of the year. Mauricio more than showed he’s MLB ready before injury. The clock is ticking on all of them and the Mets would be saying their minors system is worthless if they don’t give them their shots. Cost the Mets a lot by having that attitude with Vientos. Could have won the division if he was their all year.
@ metsin4 I’m not saying they don’t have value or won’t be good major leaguers some day – maybe even next year. but they’re also not proven commodities. I’m just saying that none of them is proven to be ready to stick at this point. The cold hard reality is that most prospects, even good ones, [need to] go up and down a few times before securing a major league spot for good. Mauricio was here for all of 29 games over less than five weeks. Five weeks is not to prove anything, even if he did hit well for those five weeks. BUT… he didn’t even do that much. He was great for a few weeks, then dropped off badly. Go back and look at his record. After all the hype and excitement of his first two weeks, he ended up with a .643 OPS and a 30% strikeout rate. Just 2 HRs and 4 doubles in that full month of play. Sorry, that doesn’t scream major-league ready. AND he just spent a full year on the shelf with an injury. No telling where he is in his progress or how long it takes him to get up to game speed. What Mauricio demonstrated – but did not prove – is that he has great talent. He has not shown that said talent is ready for a steady major league roster spot. Yes, you give talented young players a shot. But you don’t build your plans around them when you’re trying to contend. So, so many youngsters come up and do well for a few weeks then go in the tank for a month or two before going down to work things out and coming back. Thats how baseball really works, even if most fans don’t see it.
@ rct Maybe, but only if you can get him on a short-term, reasonable contract. But Winker is in his first run through free agency. He has an obligation to himself to get himself the biggest and longest deal he can. I don’t think that works for the Mets. I’m not suggesting that they rely on the kids to DH. They can supplement the kids with a veteran bat.
But this team really needs a center fielder. Once they add that, how much room is there for another OF?
Winker takes great ABs.
This team needs a LH DH/PH in the worst way. Expect Pederson or Winker on the Mets in 2025. Expect Jeff to be dealt for whatever Stearns deems to be a good return. Just get Jeff off the payroll please.
Winker and Vientos platooning at DH? That’s really awful. Vientos will be a starter unless he regresses. The only real question is if it’s going to be at 3rd or 1st.
He committed 5 errors at 3b. He improved dramatically and will probably keep improving. Not sure why anyone would talk DH at this point. I would put him up with any 3b in the game with his bat.
@metsin4: “Not sure why anyone would talk DH at this point. I would put him up with any 3b in the game with his bat.”
I guess I wasn’t clear here since I need to explain this to two people. Vientos is the third baseman. When a lefty is starting, you can move him to DH so that Winker doesn’t have to hit lefties. I thought this was self-explanatory but I guess not.
@sviscusi: You are misunderstanding my point about the DH platoon. Vientos is the starting 3B. Obviously. But on days when a lefty is starting, you move Winker to the bench and Vientos to DH. I didn’t think I needed to explain that Vientos would be the every day 3B, but here we are.
Pete leaving will be the worst thing if you have any hope of seeing this team win a WS in the next 3-4 years, he is the real heart and soul of the team and he can’t be allowed to leave
The leadership on this team allowed them to perform the way they did and allow the young players to come into their own.
Rough math, we have $70 million to spend this offseason and remain under the CBT. That is still a near term goal of this FO. Need to get under for one year to reset.
Right now our rotation is Senga, Peterson, Megill, Blackburn & Butto. Sproat may be a candidate come June. I prefer to buy bats long term than arms so back to the buy low bargain bin for Stearns with hope some of the other AAA arms can make the jump. Would be nice to have a true #2 like Manea or Severino but doubt they are coming back.
IMO, if we don’t get Soto, Pete is back ala Nimmo. I think the contract year weighed on him leading to a down year for Pete’s standards. The haters will spew their vitriol but he’s a proven NY player and a fan favorite. Might be cheaper as a result.
Maybe Acuna could play CF, he has limited experience there but could be an option by end of ST.
I’m not ready to write off any of the kids because we have a long history of rushing/anointing prospects who are not ready. This FO has more foresight and allowed Vientos to get at bats and reps to sure up his holes. Hopefully a couple can pan out or be traded away for a controllable arm before their value is completely diminished. They are doing a better job of moving them around the field once in the upper levels.
Only people that I would expect back will be Manaea (pending years and overall cost), Raley (pending health), Stanek (pending cost), and Winker.
Not interested in a Sevy, Quintana reunion. Both are professionals and provided Mets great value. That value will be diminished by the next contract amount.
JD and Ottavino are just no. No, no, no.
Bader was a sure thing to be resigned until his second half. Bader will return unless Mets decide to experiment with Acuna in cf. Think I heard Acuna has some time there during broadcast of some games when he came up to the majors.
Currently the Mets have too much holes (rotation, bullpen, 1st or 3rd, cf, and other moves to make), prospects needing playing time, and other reasons lead to what many think. Pete willl not be resigned.
Iglesias might have played himself into a nice little payday. Not extreme as his profile limits the amount as alluded to by a MLBTRADERUMOR writer. Think during the chat it was stated that it was not hard to evaluate his value and think it was only 4-5 million. Should the Mets deem resetting the luxury tax or limiting the amount exceeded, Mets could forgo Iglesias’ services.
Depending on the level of expenditure expected (reset luxury tax or not), the Mets moves could vary a lot.
For example, the Mets could sign both Burnes and Soto. With what I expect them to sign (65.5 mil a season combined), that would leave little room (approximately 10 mil) to do additional significant moves after declining Maton’s option.. Trade Marte with 9.5 million for bullpen or prospect. That will allow the Mets to resign Manaea. Any additional moves will require spending over the luxury tax threshold.
Burnes
Senga
Manaea
Peterson
Blackburn/Megill
Blackburn/Megill
Garrett
Brazobán
Buttó
Diaz
c Alvarez
1st Vientos
2nd McNeil
ss Lindor
3rd Baty/Mauricio
lf Nimmo
cf Acuna
rf Soto
Torrens
Taylor
I think you’re $10m light on Burnes and Soto. With the Yankees bidding on both, the Dodgers on at least Burnes and the Red Sox and Os also making offers, Burnes os getting 30m+.
JD is crying a river about no offers last off-season but MLBTR reported the SF Giants had interest and made an offer.
As I remember, he rejected the offer and countered for $16M. Then he said he didn’t want to play there (ballpark, geography?).
So this narrative of not having interest is misleading. If he’s smart he should drop Boras as an agent. Boras is great for younger stars but he’s not going to convince teams JD found the fountain of youth and will hit .300 again as evidenced by the late signing earlier this season. Heck, JD could probably negotiate his own contract and do better.
This is the most accurate of all the Boras criticism on this site. What Boras can do for younger stars is create a bidding war and market that most agents can’t seem to get to, whether that be because of good marketing or savvy strategies, I’m not sure. But when those stars get older, he gets too cocky in assuming their value will hold and not seeing trends in teams not necessarily colluding but collectively tightening their purse strings based on all the same data.
Has any impending free agent ever said “I hated my time here and want to sign somewhere else”?
Directly after finishing a season with them, nobody comes to mind. Though I believe the year he was traded, Tommy Pham was almost immediately critical of the Mets team he was just in. Although, I’m sure the feeling of not wanting to reunite was probably mutual. Considering how many teams Pham has played for so far.
Marcus Stroman comes to mind, bad mouths every team that let’s him walk.
Every team that doesn’t want him back is a “racist” in his eyes.
Does he do it at the beginning of free agency or after signing with a new team though? Most of all I ever heard about his time with the cubs, he was always saying he’d love to come back while he was a free agent.
@brewings
He usually does it after the team moves on, he even bad mouthed his current team when they voiced what they felt about trading for him in 2019 as an ace. He is a victim of himself, could be so much more. Good pitcher, not so good of person.
Even one supporting linked example regarding “every team” would be helpful.
Conforto? Reyes?
Strawberry
JD having a child at 37 means he’ll be 74 when she’s his age and when she turns 63, he will be 100.
That’s the math
And he will be 137 when she turns 100.
Good point.
He’s rich. In about 30 years the rich will be able to live effectively forever what with cell regeneration, ever-improving transplant tech (for the rich), what with the richest people on the planet doing intensive, desperate research on how to live forever, the kind of tech that inevitably trickles down to the merely very wealthy..
When he’s 74 he’ll probably be 25, if you take my meaning.
I am going to miss Grimace and the Mets
Was rooting for them…they had a nice run… their marked Improvement was impressive from June on to the end of the season and post season
Despite his struggles in August/September, JD was a key factor in June/July season turnaround. For that NYM fans should remember his time in Queens fondly
@ 10centBeerNight Agree with that wholeheartedly. Despite that, however, it doesn’t mean they should bring him back.
No way. He cost the Mets a month and a half of Vientos. He was a bad decision to bring in. Vientos was always the better option.
Idealistic fanspeak. You have no way of knowing that Vientos would have done what he did without that minor league assignmen and whatever he learned from it. Vientos even spoke glowingly about how JDM counseled and mentored him when they were both in Syracuse.
What else was he supposed to say? It’s not fanspeak. It’s reality. The Mets were horrible before him and had the best record in baseball with him. He posted consistently dominant numbers at triple A in the years previous to this one. He wasn’t giving an opportunity because of the Mets and their fan base always wanting to go with aging veterans instead of their young talented players. No reason to bring in a 37 year old DH when they had proven minor league talent.
“He wasn’t giving an opportunity because” in his 81 games in 2022 and 2023 his OPS was .610, his OPS+ 68, his bWAR a negative 1.3. He was one of the worst players in the majors and it wasn’t because he was unlucky—it was because he was genuinely horrible and completely overmatched in every aspect of the game.
As for Syracuse, it was his FOURTH go-round. Who cares that your ‘proven’ minor leaguer was hitting well, again, in AAA if when he got the majors he was one of the worst hitters in the game, even counting backup catchers.
It’s for good reason he was behind Baty in the pecking order at 3B, given Baty was slightly less awful and hit LH’ed.
No reason to hand Vientos the DH slot in March when 1) he doesn’t look remotely ready, and 2) you’re trying to win enough to at least look respectable.
Obviously you were and are wrong. I think his results speak for themselves. The Mets were a horrendous team without him and one of the best teams in baseball with him. Taking a limited sample size while playing every few days is not the way to project a young player.
A .900 ops last year and a .700 ops this year
Maybe those reservations to signing you were valid
@BravesFan2024 Yes. He did hit in very good luck in 2023, with a very fortunate % of fly balls going over the wall. Teams normalize that now, added in that he’s exclusively a 36 yo DH, that he’s much worse against RHP, figured on getting something out of the DH slot anyway, and know that using it to rotate and rest your lineup has definite value,
Seems like he thought it was still 2021 and he was still 33.
Now that they made the unexpected run to gm 6 of the NLCS this year, I think there’s zero chance they try to reset the tax next year, so they’ll likely spend what they need to in order to win. I’m sure they’ll go top dollar for Soto like a few teams will.
I could easily see a 3 year $60-65M offer to Manaea. But I actually think they’ll be active on the trade market, with more willingness to part with a couple of prospects. I could see them going for Crochet, or plan B for Sonny Gray or Luis Castillo. We’ll see
I do think Alonso will be gone though.
Crochet for 2 seasons. Prospect capital is not going to be spent on him. Gray has 2/$65 remaining and s bad NYY experience. Seems unlikely at best. Luis Castillo is now a league average pitcher. No way.
They would only trade for crochet w the intent to extend him. Gray or castillo wouldn’t require top prospects if the team takes on their whole contracts. One year of close to league average isn’t enough to say thats what Castillo is for good now. Hes had down years before, and his 2022-23 levels were well above average. I could see someone taking a chance on him.
I think the odds are Alonso departs, but I’m trying to imagine where he’ll most likely land. HOU has a need, but that will depend on whether they can retain Bregman and/or Tucker. Yankees a possibility if they don’t pick up Rizzo’s option and whether they’ll prioritize Bregman over Alonso. Giants also a possibility if they want an upgrade over LaMonte Wade.
It would be insane to part with Alonso, he is the heart and soul of this team, guarantee they won’t make it back to where they did for a while if they let him go
Alonso, the ‘heart and soul’? Dugout rail humping, teammate humping, LFGM screaming dufus who pouts through an entire inning when he drops a foul popup?
He’s not even the best 1Bman on the team. If he blocks Vientos’ move to 1B that blocks BB and RM’s trials at 3B, their likeliest routes to the majors. Keeping LaBonzo is a negative move. Adding another $25m AAV to their $100m 30+ year old nucleus also in steep decline is exactly what reasonably smart teams do not do.
Petey is a 2-3 bWAR RHH 1Bman turning 30, already in significant decline. The chances of him being worth the 6/150m the Rockies will offer is around 1%. The chance he won’t start in 2027 except for his salary is over 50%.
The Mets became a reasonably smart team when Stearns signed on. Reasonably smart teams don’t buy into expensive, declining markets because of a few lucky postseason PA.
Sorry, kid. Pete’s gone.
@ JackStrawb
From My Cousin Vinny : “That is a lucid, intelligent, well-thought-out …: Jack
But based on Cohen’s irrationality Polar Beer will be back.
I think Pete should go and we shouldn’t be chasing Soto and back heavily into the luxury tax again. 170 million is coming off the books so let’s just sign some pitching and some reasonable 25-30 HR guys.
@Ma4170 Finishing in the NLCS definitely makes it very hard for Cohen to reset the tax.
I think he will, though, given he’s not an idiot and he’s not going to run $400m-450m payrolls including penalties into infinity—he and Stearns just won’t talk about it much, only talk about the lack of prospects stepping forward in 2024, all the holes on the roster, and promising only to build a ‘competitive’ team (hate that mealymouthed weasel word).
Payroll for CBT purposes will be $166m, leaving $74m for new acquisitions. What’s the alternative, really?
Figuring on Senga and Peterson to fill one rotation slot of about 200 innings is reasonable. Then… what? No one in the minors is ready to go. For anyone even close to ready they don’t even have a minor league position player who doesn’t have serious questions / issues going in to 2025, never mind a half dozen prospects who might seriously contribute. Given that, why would you go to the $350m necessary to building a solid contender? $70m AAV on the rotation, $30m on the bullpen, $60m on two starting OFers, a DH, and a bench. You’re already up to $326m. More like $351m if you add Soto, and you won’t reset the tax for 10 years.
Since they’re not close, why would they hand out big money and waste the first two years of any multiyear deal, all in order to take one more shot at the third wildcard?
It’s good to admit when you got lucky. It’s important, otherwise you start making huge mistakes.
Stearns probably deserves a top exec award, if they had one, but he also caught lightning, unlikely to be repeated with an over 30 nucleus likely to decline further, and no prospects who are remotely MLB ready (Acuna’s splendid first 20 PA don’t make him so). .
Agree on Alonso, though. They already have a player on the roster making $800k who’s a better player and no worse a fielder, and moving Vientos to 1B opens up 3B for Baty and Mauricio. If it doesn’t work during another building year, Clifford’s success at 20 (!) in AA and ability to play 1B with more athleticism than MV gives them a backup plan for 2026 if V can’t really handle 1B. He should, but he needed 8 years of reps just to __sometimes__ not bounce up and down while the pitcher was extending towards home plate.
They really need to reset it, but I wonder if Cohen can resist it considering how close they came this year. Even with Stearns’ likely more logical input.
As far as the payroll for next year, Spotrac has them just under $150M with pre-arb projections. That includes Manaea’s $13.5M option (which won’t happen obviously). Then there are expected arb raises which likely offset the Manaea money if he doesn’t re-sign. So I was assuming based on that, they would have more like $85-90M. Again, likely not signing Soto if they want to stay under.
The bigger question is do they break the bank anyway for Soto considering they likely get 6-7 more prime years if healthy from a top 5 MLB bat? I know the Yankees will, maybe the Giants, Dodgers… but will the Mets? They were willing to do it for Yamamoto.
Unfortunately JD’s inability to play in the field will greatly limit his offers. I agree that the Mets already have existing options to DH (Mauricio, Baty, Marte, Nimmo, McNeil, Gilbert, Clifford, etc. if all are healthy) so they probably won’t need JD’s services next year. Winker is replaceable but could be retained at the right price on a short term deal. I would make a strong effort to re-sign the 3 starters – Manaea, Severino & Quintana if you can get the first two on three year deals or less, and Q on a 1 year deal. Pete is the big question mark here. I think that you have to make him a competitive offer, just don’t break the bank for him. At the same time it would be a bad look if he wound up in pinstripes in the Bronx. The rest – Iglesias, Bader, and the relievers are spare parts who can probably be replaced with younger, less expensive options. And I would not open up the vault for Soto and/or Burnes, and quite honestly, I don’t think that either would come to the Mets unless you were offering them stupid money, which you don’t need to do to win as the Mets proved this year.
Thank you 2024 Mets for some of the most exciting baseball anyone has ever seen. I look forward to seeing what Mr. Stearns has in store. I love the culture that has been created here. It’ll be interesting to see how that plays out in who is back, and who leaves. I’m wondering if JD would take an instructors role with a team at this point. I would love to have Iglesias back, but I think his role is going to be as a backup, like it was before McNeil got hurt. As for the pitching, I want Stanek back. But the starters are going to depend on how they view Brandon Sproat, and who else is on the market.
@Jdt8312 I’d love to see Iglesias back, but the chances are pretty good that he’s offered at least 2/16m somewhere else after a 3.1 bWAR season full of positive vibes, and the Mets need a backup, not a starter, plus they don’t want to block one or more of Mauricio, Baty, and Acuna, .
It’s going to be another down year, no more likely to be successful than the 2024 Mets were thought to be on March 31. They caught lighting, which is great, and it was the residue of sharp design, but it still took a great deal of luck.
Btw if Iglesias comes back and he and McNeil hit the first weeks like they did in 2024, Iggy will start in the IF, with McNeil getting reps in the OF primarily as the 3rd-4th OFer, depending.
One of the biggest reasons why I think Iglesias will be back is 1: Team interest. He was a big part of the culture in this clubhouse. They will pay him, and he will be a backup, like he was this year, before McNeil went on the IL.
And 2: It’ll be much easier for him to manage his music career from either NY, or California. The guys we have coming up, besides Acuna, aren’t here yet. Mauricio will need reps before he makes the team. And Baty may not have a spot if Pete resigns with us.
The only way Baty makes the team is if Vientos moves to 1st in Pete’s absence. And another brick in the wall is if they go after Soto. I’m not as sure as everyone else that they are going to, but it’s still a possibility.
I think the money they will spend will be primarily on pitching. It’s not a great market, so they will have to spend on pitching to get the best of what’s out there. I don’t really think that Soto is a David Stearns kinda player. He’s not good defensively. If he signed as a DH, go get him. But I think we’d be better spending money on pitching, and see how Drew Gilbert pans out in the spring.
Tigers need to bring back JD
Obviously, never worked as a Fedex driver or has forgotten what it’s like……
I don’t want JDM back, I get the feeling he doesn’t really care at this point, Manaea,Quintana,Alonso,Smith,Stanek and maybe Winker and Iglesias should all be brought back if you are looking to try and win a WS in the next couple of years
Alonso is either a cub or Yankee next year.
That would mean Soto is elsewhere.
@Citizen1 Alonso with the Astros makes sense. Their 1B situation is awful and their FO has gotten nothing but dumber over the past year. I can see it.
Heading into his age 38 season and coming off of his worst offensive season since 2013 says not too many teams are likely to “take the initiative”. Huge part of the 2018 Sox championship team so if this is it congrats to him.
Quintana saying this is the “closest” he has gotten to a championship apparently has forgotten he pitched in the NLCS with the Cubs back in ’17
Probably wanted to forget that 5.50 postseason ERA.
The Mets need to decide on roles for Marte and Nimmo. If Nimmo is totally done in CF, then they need something more than Drew Gilbert/Tyrone Taylor platooning. But maybe a Winker/Nimmo/Marte OF is enough – if they keep Alonso (and don’t get Soto, obviously).
I can’t see Soto moving fast, but maybe a “take it or leave it” $500mm (present value) 10 year deal – payable $10mm/year for 10 yrs, and then Bonilla style from age 40-60 – would work?
For pitching, they need another top of the rotation arm, plus Manaea and (ideally) Sevy back. Then Senga and Peterson as the hoped for rotation – plus a depth starter. Megill and Butto should be stretched in ST, but may end up in the pen. Sprout may be ready mid year, Tidwell probably not.
As always, the pen needs work…
I think they see nimmo as strictly a LF at this point.
$500MM/10 years present-day value wouldn’t even get a team a seat at the table.
My prediction is 12/564
“maybe a Winker/Nimmo/Marte OF is enough”
—Not for a contender. Winker’s been worth 1.0 WAR over the last 3 seasons, total. Marte at 35 was one of the worst defensive OFers in the league. Nimmo doesn’t seem to be able to play CF at this point, though the Mets have Taylor and they’re going to keep him.
Marte in 2025 will be about as valuable as JD Stewart’s replacement level career. Marte’s been replacement level across 2023 and 2024 and he’s turning 36. They’ll pencil him in as the 5th OFer, but it won’t be pretty even so,.
Marte’s defense was so bad this past year, it was actually hard to watch at times. He can still hit LHP, but not many will be lining up for a 36YO weak side platoon player at $19M.
Manea or Wacha – who gets the better contract?
Both probably looking at 3 year deals.
Wacha a year older but 3 solid years of track record.
Manaea LH and a good year / not as good track record but 1 year younger.
Wacha,. probably His 128 ERA+ from 2022 through 2024, well, you do that long enough they put you in the HOF (I’m NOT saying that’s where he’s headed) whereas Manaea’s last three years had an ERA+ of 93.
You do that long enough and… nobody cares except you and your wife. Wacha might get 2 years and a vest, while Manaea gets 3 guaranteed, but Wacha will get the higher AAV. He’s just a much better pitcher.
Quintana could have been close to a Championship in 2022 if Marmol hadn’t pulled him from his start against the Phillies early.