What was supposed to be a transitional year for the Mets turned into a Cinderella campaign. They got stronger as the season went along and snuck into the playoffs, eventually reaching the NLCS. Now, they are set to lose a huge batch of players to free agency. That gives them plenty of holes to fill but a massive amount of spending capacity, meaning just about anything is possible this winter.
Guaranteed Contracts
- Francisco Lindor, SS: $224MM through 2031 ($5MM deferred annually)
- Brandon Nimmo, OF: $121.5MM through 2030
- Edwin Díaz, RHP: $55.5MM through 2027 (includes buy-out on '28 club option; Diaz can opt-out after '25; some money deferred)
- Kodai Senga, RHP: $42MM through 2027 (deal includes conditional opt-out after '25 and conditional club option for '28)
- Jeff McNeil, IF/OF: $33.5MM through 2026 (includes buyout on '27 club option)
- Starling Marte, OF: $19.5MM through 2025
Option Decisions
- Sean Manaea, LHP: $13.5MM player option
- Phil Maton, RHP $7.75MM club option with $250K buyout
Total 2025 commitments (assuming Manaea opts out and Maton is bought out): $119.25MM
Total future commitments (assuming Manaea opts out and Maton is bought out): $496.25MM
Arbitration-Eligible Players (projections via Matt Swartz)
- Paul Blackburn (5.018): $4.4MM
- Luis Torrens (4.105): $1.1MM
- Tyrone Taylor (4.093): $2.9MM
- David Peterson (4.089): $4.4MM
- Alex Young (4.085): $1.4MM
- DJ Stewart (3.144): $1.7MM
- Sean Reid-Foley (3.133): $900K
- Tylor Megill (3.031): $2.1MM
Non-tender candidates: Blackburn, Torrens, Young, Stewart, Reid-Foley
Free Agents
- Pete Alonso, Jose Quintana, Luis Severino, Harrison Bader, J.D. Martinez, Brooks Raley, Adam Ottavino, Ryne Stanek, Drew Smith, Jesse Winker, Jose Iglesias
David Stearns was hired to be the president of baseball operations just as the 2023 season was winding down. That was a disappointing year for the Mets, as they had raised hopes with a strong 2022 season and then spent big in the offseason. But things fell apart and they ended up selling at the 2023 deadline, including sending out future Hall of Famers Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander.
Scherzer indicated to reporters that he agreed to be traded to the Rangers because he was told that 2024 would be "a kind of transitory year" for the Mets. The first offseason under Stearns seemed to reflect that, as the Mets backed away from the massive spending sprees that characterized previous winters. They did sign ten free agents, but nine of them were one-year deals and the only exception was the two-year deal for Sean Manaea, which came with an opt-out after year one.
The Mets got out to a rough start in 2024, losing their first five games. They had a record of 24-33 at the end of May. But everything turned around from there, as they went 65-40 in the final four months of the season, nabbing a Wild Card spot and going on a nice postseason run. Now the questions are about what's next.
Since the club gave so many short-term deals recently, a huge chunk of their roster is now heading to free agency. There's also some dead money coming off the books. The Scherzer and Verlander pacts are now done, as is their four-year James McCann deal. (He played the final two seasons of that pact in Baltimore, with the Mets covering most of the salary.) Stearns will have plenty of work to do in the next few months, but he should have a massive amount of spending capacity available to him.
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mlb fan
It’s interesting to note that both the Mets and Padres spent BIG on free agents in ’23, but didn’t get any real results until they chopped off some big salaries and more evenly spread out their payroll for 2024.
Troy Percival's iPad
The back half of even a 4 year deal with Alonso will be ugly. I don’t think the Mets bring him back
mlb fan
Pete’s clearly a useful player, but his $200M asking price is ridiculous considering he’s probably the Met’s 3rd or 4th best player. Lumbering sluggers just don’t carry the value they once did.
SonnySteele
That should be on Alonso’s baseball card: Lumbering slugger
RunDMC
Agreed, but how replacing his production with all that cash?
mlb fan
The Mets could consider moving Vientos to 1b or could look into the market of Christian Walker, who’d cost less than Alonso, but is a better all around player. Personally, I’d target Walker and leave Vientos at 3b.
RunDMC
If money isn’t an option, why wouldn’t you consider Bregman, upgrading defensively at 3B, pushing Vientos to 1B — suppressing his def, where he’s below average already at 3B? Think about how much a left-side IF of Bregman/Lindor would help pitchers, where they have a lot of work to do in the rotation.
I get Bregman is tied to a previous scandal, but winning heals all wounds.
metsin4
Because the Mets have 4 quality young 3b. No chance of signing a 3b.
ohyeadam
Santander and Teo Hernandez combined might cost similar to Alonso alone in total dollars
BigV
Offer him 2 yrs with a team option for a 3rd year. If he balks let him walk
LordD99
I can see a four-year deal working out fine. It’s anything beyond that which can be a problem.
metsin4
His extra base hits per year is probably the most consistent in baseball. It’s 65-70 a year. This talk of dramatic drop offs is just hot air especially in 2 seasons.
TerryTurnbuckle
Don’t know how anyone could look at the Mets current roster, their ability to spend, and the direction Stearns is pushing them and not think pending dynasty. Pennants and rings coming to Flushing in the very near future.
LordD99
Depends on what you mean by dynasty. It’s become a bit of a watered-down term. The last dynasty in baseball was the ’96-‘2003 Yankees with six pennants and four world championships.
I guess you can have divisional dynasties, although I don’t recognize them. The current Dodgers fit that description. The Braves fit that when they won 14 consecutive division titles. . The current Astros fit that. A dynasty needs to be recognized up front, meaning they’re the team to beat every year. They then go out and back it up and win multiple championships. It’s a very small list.
mlb fan
“Pennants and rings”…I usually root against both NY teams, but I do hope you’re right. Baseball is better(and healthier)when both NY teams are relevant and winning.
ChuckyNJ
The last subway World Series was in 2000 and the national TV ratings went through the floor.
Also, the Yankees have never had “world championships” anywhere other than Murica, F@&k Yeah!
LordD99
A subway series would be bad for ratings. It’s one city. A big city with lots of fans, but it would turn the rest of the country off. A Dodgers-Mets NLCS and a Yankees-Dodgers World Series is what the TV networks wanted, and this year they got it.
Blue Baron
ChuckyNJ: What a colossally dumb post.
Why not just make baseball political?
LordD99
If it was NY and LA in the World Series every year it would be a problem, but this hasn’t happened in 43 years. Last year we had Rangers-D’backs. It’s good to have the big teams in the final show, as long as it’s not always. The current structure of the baseball playoffs pretty much guarantees no team will dominate. There’s good in that, and there’s bad in that. But it’s not going away.
Acoss1331
Just because they can spend a ton of money, that doesn’t mean that the Mets will do so. I imagine Stearns is far too smart to blow his load on everything available on the market. He’s done way more with less with the Brewers, he’ll probably stop Cohen from being impulsive.
metsin4
Well he did say he was going to probably spend most of the money coming off the books yesterday. He isn’t going to make dumb moves but he sure isn’t going to not make moves to save an owner money that doesn’t want to save it. I’m not sure why fans want Cohen to stop spending money so bad.
rct
This right here. There are certain things that Stearns will spend on (they made a huge offer to Yamamoto and will surely make one to Soto). But he’s not going to be a drunken sailor like the prior regime. I would expect several mid-size move before anything major.
metsin4
The last regime wasn’t drunken sailors either. They signed a few high dollar contracts that were only a couple years long. It was meant as a stop gap until they could improve their farm system. They won 101 games in the first season and the second season didn’t work out on the field but allowed them to dramatically improve their farm system. The spending did what it was intended to do until they got into a situation they are in now. A good farm system with lots of money to spend.
Ma4170
Agree… Soto is exactly the kind of player they will go overboard for. 26 YO and a top 5 MLB bat – they’ll make a huge offer. This will likely mean no staying below the tax threshold, but how many times does a Soto quality player come along at that age? Once every 5-10 years?
Blackpink in the area
Bring back Alonso and Quintana. Pick up an outfielder. Go get Burnes.
ChrisLex
Alonso is not leaving. The Met’s are owned by a Met’s fan who understands how the fan base is. There’s basically no chance he plays for another team, at least right now.