The Mets had a good run in 2024 but came up just short of the final goal, getting eliminated by the Dodgers in the NLCS a few days ago. President of baseball operations David Stearns met with members of the media today to discuss the season that was and the offseason ahead, with SNYtv relaying the entire half-hour press conference on X.
Stearns discussed a number of topics but a major theme was the club’s high number of departing free agents. Each of Pete Alonso, Jose Quintana, Luis Severino, Harrison Bader, J.D. Martinez, Jesse Winker are Jose Iglesias headed to the open market, along with a number of relievers. Sean Manaea is also going to be added to that list eventually, once he officially declines his $13.5MM player option.
That leaves a lot of holes on the roster but also means a lot of money is coming off the books. The Mets also ate money in facilitating trades in previous years, sending out players like Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander and James McCann. Those contracts are also expiring now, freeing up even more cash. RosterResource projects the Mets for about $161MM for next year’s roster, well below this year’s $336MM. A few non-tenders and Manaea opting out will widen that gap even farther.
“We’ve got financial flexibility,” Stearns said when asked about that subject. “It means that pretty much the entirety of the player universe is potentially accessible to us. That’s an enormous opportunity. I envision us taking advantage of that opportunity and being aggressive in certain spaces.”
Since Steve Cohen has purchased the club, the Mets have been one of the top clubs in terms of spending, often at the very top of payroll lists. Stearns was only hired a year ago and an unknown factor in the Mets’ future is how he will operate with that spending capacity, after spending most of his career with a lower-spending club in Milwaukee.
His first offseason running the Mets saw the club spread the money around to various players but without any long-term commitments. He signed nine players to one-year deals with Manaea the only player to get even a second season, and even that came with an opt-out after one year. That offseason came after a disappointing 2023 campaign that turned the Mets into sellers, which included the aforementioned Scherzer and Verlander deals, but still with lots of money tied up. What remains to be seen is if Stearns will now act differently on the heels of a more successful season and with much more powder dry.
“We also have to recognize,” Stearns continued, “that we want to set up our organizational pattern so that we can invest in free agency, invest where we think we need to to complement the club on an annual basis. So, you’re right. We have a lot of money coming off the books. I would expect us to spend some of that, a good portion of that, to complement our team, to improve our team heading into next year. We’re also not going to do anything that hamstrings us in future years and prevents us from continually adding, supplementing to our core.”
Those comments could be interpreted in many ways. Even the highest payroll clubs want to spend their money as wisely as possible, which is naturally part of what he’s referencing here. While that could perhaps be a suggestion that the club will have some restraint with their new spending capacity, he also wouldn’t be doing himself any favors by coming out and baldly declaring that he was planning on spending his winter throwing money out the back of a train. Simply for leverage in contract talks, it makes sense for him to play his cards close to the vest when discussing plans like this.
Time will tell whether this offseason will see the Mets signing a bunch of superstars or making more measured additions, but Stearns didn’t shy away from the rotation question. As mentioned, the club is set to lose a bunch of players, including three starting pitchers in Manaea, Severino and Quintana. Each of those guys topped 170 innings in 2024, so the combined subtraction of that trio will be significant. Christian Scott also underwent UCL surgery in September and will likely miss all of 2025.
Next year’s rotation currently projects to include Kodai Senga, David Peterson and Tylor Megill. Senga missed most of 2024 due to various injuries while Peterson and Megill are a tier below fully established starters, as the Mets have moved each to the minors or the bullpen on occasion. Stearns was asked about Peterson, Megill and José Buttó but wouldn’t commit on whether any of those guys would be more likely to be in the rotation or bullpen in 2025. The club can retain Paul Blackburn via arbitration but he has battled multiple injuries in his career and recently underwent a spinal procedure that’s going to take months to recover from, which could lead to a non-tender.
“We faced a similar task last offseason. We’re going to have to replace innings,” Stearns said when asked about the rotation. “Certainly, part of that could potentially be from some of those guys returning or we may look elsewhere. But we’re going to have to add starting pitching. We’re going to have to add multiple starters. We understand that. We went into last offseason with the same need and I think we’ll be able to do it.”
Last winter, the rotation was without Verlander and Scherzer after those trades while Carlos Carrasco had also become a free agent. As mentioned, Stearns gave a one-year deal to Severino while Manaea got two years with an opt-out, and the club also acquired Adrian Houser from Milwaukee.
The Severino and Manaea deals both worked out well, which is why Manaea is now slated to opt-out and is also likely to receive a qualifying offer. Severino could get one as well but is perhaps more of a borderline case, as explored by MLBTR’s Anthony Franco yesterday.
The Mets could look to bring those guys back, as Stearns said, but the market will have other options. Corbin Burnes, Blake Snell, Max Fried and Jack Flaherty will be the top free agents this winter and could command nine-figure deals. Stearns never spent on pitching in that way with the Brewers but was also working with far less spending capacity. He continued to invest somewhat modestly last winter but perhaps could pivot now that the Mets are in a different position than they were a year ago.
If he and the Mets prefer to stick to a lower level of free agency, Manaea, Severino and Quintana will be there alongside guys like Yusei Kikuchi, Michael Wacha, Nick Pivetta, Nathan Eovaldi and others. Despite all the available payroll space, Stearns said he still planned to explore the trade market, which would be another path to upgrading the rotation. Garrett Crochet, Sonny Gray, Zack Littell and just some of the names that could speculatively available in that space.
Along somewhat similar lines, there is the Pete Alonso question. Stearns never spent big money on first basemen during his time in Milwaukee, with the three-year, $15MM deal for Eric Thames being his largest investment in that position. Alonso will certainly command more than that and reportedly already turned down an extension offer of $158MM from the Mets in June of 2023, before Stearns was hired.
The merits of spending that kind of money on a first baseman whose contributions are mostly in the power department can be debated, but Alonso is also a franchise icon at this point, thanks to his homegrown status as well as his crowd-pleasing performances in home run derbies and playoff games. Stearns said the club would love to have the Polar Bear back but that Alonso deserves to explore the free agent market.
“All of that is important,” Stearns said, when asked about weighing Alonso as a player but also as a staple of the franchise. “Who Pete is as a person is important. What he means to this franchise is important. Who he is as a player is also important and what he contributes on the field. There’s no magic formula to this. There’s no equation that spits out what all of that is for us. And so, there’s judgment involved. There’s evaluating the market involved. And we’ll see how this process goes throughout the offseason.”
Stearns was also asked about hiring a general manager, which he didn’t seem in a rush to do. Billy Eppler was going to work in that role under Stearns until he stepped down a year ago after it was revealed he was under investigation for the club misusing the injured list. Stearns said he is happy with the current front office makeup and doesn’t plan to do any kind of GM search, though he would consider making a hire if someone intriguing became available.
There’s still plenty to be determined in exactly how the Mets will operate this winter, but given the number of openings on the roster and the club’s spending capacity, it doesn’t seem like anything is off the table at this point.
As the article suggests I expect the Mets to have an extremely active offseason, more so than any other team.
They also need to be more active than most considering all they need. A lot of big parts of the run are FA and now a projected rotation of Senga, Peterson, Megill? Can’t rely on Christian Scott, top prospect.
Butto is a starting pitcher. He was only put in the bullpen because it was horrendous at the time.
I would pencil in Buttó. But how far into the year can we expect him to pitch effectively?
Senga goes every six days. Peterson is a good number 4 or 5. Seems like he turned a corner with the pitching lab.
Megill is more like a number 7 on the depth chart or a long man in the bullpen. He had some moments, but I don’t trust him in the starting 5 or 6. Maybe Stearns thinks otherwise.
We need solid TOR and a number 3 and 4.
You must not have been watching closely if you think Peterson is only a 4 or 5 starter
Ok he’s a number 3. What do you want me to say?
He’s been inconsistent forever. Sometimes the same with Megill. We think they’ve changed at times and then they go back to their old ways.
I hope he really has turned the corner, but let’s see what he does in 2025.
I should hope not, with him not returning until 2026 and all…
Can’t rely on Scott bc he is out for the year.
It’s going to be fun watching the Mets & the spending this offseason… you have a gentleman in David Sterns who has always seemed to make the best lower budget moves & an owner who isn’t afraid to spend…
I find Cohen quite comical on so many levels.. He advocates oh so hard for signing expensive and often over priced FA, then not so subtly complains to everyone about every failure.. A real standup guy, who himself pushed for some of the worst FA signs and this isn’t a knock on the NYM fan base, but Cohen himself.
let me point some here to another owner from the past who took the route of buying expensive FA’s, many flopped *but* he made himself GM also in 1 Brad Corbett, who owned the Rangers maybe half dozen + years during the 70’s. he made sure he was the *1* to blame if anything went wrong (and did so), despite TX not once able to dethrone KC in the old AL West.
Cohen should look up owners who had principal and guts, not ones who have loads of money, big mouths who do nothing but back bite and whine in the background.
He took a huge gamble on Verlander and Scherzer, and those deals didn’t work out at all. But, to Cohen’s credit, he recognized those failures and pivoted immediately to try and remedy them. He could have easily tried to double down with those two at the front of this year’s rotation, which would have been a disaster. Instead he ate a ton of money to move both guys for prospects, and they patched together a team that made the NLCS.
I wouldn’t say the deals did not work out. The Plan A did not work out. However Plan B seemed to work out quite well. Yes they were big gambles at their ages, However both had high ceilings that could be had on short term deals.
With Plan A not working, they ate the $ and aquied young talent. Most important though those contracts come off the big just as quite a few others are. They now can duck under luxury tax threshold if they so choose. Or maybe push it a bit longer, but have a ton of freed up $ and bolstered farm system.
Mr. Cohen calmed down this year with David Stearns to talk to.
A year ago Cohen would have panicked. Stearns kept making little moves during the season at the edges that slowly had the team playing better and better.
Clearly the money is there for Mr. Stearns. I agree with metsin4 (below). Mr. Cohen will be open to going over the luxury tax if necessary. Like the Dodgers investors, he’s in it to buy a championship…preferably multiple ones. The fines and penalties are nothing more than a small speed bump to them. Probably put the Yankees in there as well – Hal cries that they really don’t have that much money, but he spends and spends and spends.
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Fact is this – MLB is returning to the Yankees – Red Sox years starting in the late 70’s where they were spending on every top FA and taking on stars in salary dump trades. In this case it’ll be Dodgers-Yankees-Mets as the Red Sox owner has dropped out.
In a few years MLB owners will figure out some other “penalties”. But beating the regulators is the part of the
game that the big money people love to play.
They won 101 games the first year with Scherzer. Let’s not get too carried away with it not working out
He’s a filthy rich, insider-trading, financial pirate. An actual malignancy. So, naturally when the Mets do anything right at all, he’ll be lauded as some sort if savant, deservedly or otherwise.
False
Cohen is a fan – probably the biggest fan of a team than any other owner. He’s also smart. The Verlander/Scherzer contracts were stop-gaps because the farm system wasn’t going to be able to push any decent arms to the MLB roster.
Cohen doesn’t care if the Mets make him money. They are his toy. Not many owners can treat a team like that.
Stearns is going to be able to buy prospects w/ salary dumps from some of these teams worried about TV deals getting cut. He’ll have an open check book to plug holes in FA too. Philly’s window is shrinking. Mets have more financial power and actually have a top POBO running things. & they have less money tied up on the books.
Philly will hang for another year or two but I think the Mets & Braves have the best 5 year outlook.
Stearns doesnt need to profit off of the Mets itself as a single entity. He’s almost guaranteed leveraging the $3B value value of the franchise and profiting from it. The franchises are much more than toys. They are mechanism for leveraging capital and a super tool for writing off income from borrowing against and shuffling capital to and from.
The A’s have not been one of most profit teams in recent years due to Fisher being cheap and not investing in team, although that does play a part. The real issue is he’s can borrow against the franchise or his stake in GAP. So instead of them pulling each other up pulling capital from one and investing in the other and vice versa, he has two anchors one pulling down on each side. His plan to buy quickly get a tax funded stadium and flip the franchise imploded epically.
I think some of that was purposely to make a splash. You have to do a good job with it, but in the large markets, that generally pays off.
But if you want to look at a great place for owner “input”, you can look up the Panthers where I think the owner is telling the coach who to start at QB.
I still think theyre going to try and get under the tax threshold to reset so they stop getting the penalties for exceeding it, but not many seem to agree w me. I’ve been saying they have more like $90M to spend and stay below (some seem to think its less for some reason), so it can be done.
If only more pitching was added at the deadline. IMO. The Mets front office underestimated it’s team and did nothing. WS chances are hard to come by. This was the Mets season they were on a magical destiny type run.
Anyone who followed the team knows the pitching was fine.
They didn’t get a bullpen at the deadline, where the Dodgers went and added top line guys. Mets missed on the pen at the deadline. Flaherty would’ve been nice to add to the rotation since he didn’t cost much.
They have $158M projected at this point and the first level of CBT is $241M, so that gives them $83M to work with. Of course, the arbitration numbers included in this are estimates.
Remember, that number includes Manaea’s $13.5M (which he’l opt out of) and a few guys who will be non tendered (stewart, probably blackburn, maybe one or two others)… so the 158-160 estimate is actually closer to 140M
According to Cots, they have only $52M to spend. Manaea is likely opting out, making that becomes $66M, but that also adds another opening.
Cots is way off… its closer to 100m
Ma4170
Cots is way off… its closer to 100m
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Which salary is off?
Not sure, but every outlet (including the article) projects their CBT including arb estimates to be between 160-170, and that’s before Manaea opt out and the non-tenders
It depends on whether or not they tender everyone a contract. But without Manaea, and with all their arb guys, they have ~$65M to spend.
I checked all the big numbers. There are only 7 of them.
Not sure where youre getting that, but that figure is off. The active payroll including manaea and maton is ~$141m… with arb and prearb projections it goes up to ~$160M. Manaea will opt out, bringing it down to 147m, and then expected non tenders to blackburn stewart young reid-foley brings it down to -140m. Even if the arb estimates are off a bit, theyll have about 90m to fit under the threshold. Ive seen another estimate at 172m before manaea and the non tenders, but again, that would leave them around 150m.
Just go on spotrac and it breaks it all down.
I don’t think there’s any shot of staying under the luxury tax. Cohen got a taste and wants to win bad. He said he was going to probably use most of the money coming off the books. A ten spot drop in the draft isn’t as big of a deal as you think. Good players are drafted everywhere. Teams don’t even draft the best available player. They draft a lot on who they think they can sign in a certain budget.
I agree that the temptation to win now will be too much. But its not just the 10 spot drop. Its the big hit in comp picks when we lose guys like degrom and alonso.
The cost is paying double on costs over the threshold. It’s potentially worth a hundred million dollars if they plan to go up to 330m+ the draft pick stuff is no real deterrent anymore and certainly not worth capping yourself for.
I think it’s a possibility that would be within the messaging David Stearns is giving out right now. They have a lot of holes to plug here and I can see a posdible scenario that the biggest fa acquisition the mets make this offseason is one of the top starting pitchers. Add in a second potential signing of a solid middle rotation dude from the next tier down and you’re probably up to the neighborhood of 45-55 mill in new payroll with a lot of roster work left to do. It will be interesting to see how Stearns handles alonso too. While the precedent from his time in Milwaukee is worth considering, a team like the Mets can afford to weigh in the marketability abd popularity of a homegrown star like him more easily than the brewers could. So I’m not sure that his brewers tactics are super strong precedents. And jd martinez is coming off the books too so pete is not fully blocking roster maneuvering at the corners and dh.
The big question is Soto…
Would think NYM fans will take this gentleman at his word. Would expect a trade or 2 in addition to FAs
I don’t think they want to trade young talent. I think they are keeping their prospects.
I think they’ll be willing to part with a couple to upgrade the current roster. But to your point, I don’t see them “gutting the farm”
Streams referenced his attraction to trades in press conference. That’s why I would wager after a year of evaluating the farm and MLB roster there will be something
There another factor you’re not considering, Stearns only has one draft class he’s partial to. When management changes then incoming people don’t ever value the previous admins players the same as those that acquired them. He’ll have no problem trading a prospect because there’s no attachment to them.
Look at the Brazoban and Blackburn trades, specifically the former. He basically traded a pitcher with interesting stuff and no control for an older version of the same guy.
Gray could be had for a light prospect return.
Gray would cost only money but I don’t know if he wants to pitch in New York again. I think he goes to the Braves if traded.
Yankee fans hated Sonny Gray and he’ll sure as hell hate Mets fans too.
Gray. NTC.
Gray. Forearm issues late in the season.
Gray. Did not like pitching for the Yankees.
Gray 2/$65 remaining.
Gray. Getting up there in years and mileage.
He said he loves to trade. There will definitely be some trades.
When I say young talent I mean prospects. Perhaps a guy like Baty could be dealt. I could see that kind of deal.
I could see McNeil and Mauricio also being dealt. I’m sure for the right young pitcher. (Crochet) he would move almost anyone.
McNeil is almost definitely going. And they should get rid of Marte as well
Agree McNeill is likely gone. But no way they can trade him straight up for a MLB ready pitcher with an era and FIP under four.
If they want a guy who is familiar with the organization I’m sure they can have Taijuan Walker for a case of body wash and a 3 pack of Okd Spice deodorant
He might do that. The Mets turned around a lot of pitchers last year.
No thanks
Cardinals have mikolas, gray, fedde, matz and presumably helsey available. I’m sure they could line up on a trade
No one wants Matz or Mikolas. Fedde is on a reasonable contract and will stay. Gray and Helsley will almost certainly be traded
I am not so certain there will be a lot of trades, specifically involving Helsley. I sort of want them to make moves like that but I don’t know if it’s going to happen.
Can we have Contreras?
Contreras and F Alvarez get injured every season. They can both catch and DH.
Contreras at DH and 2nd string Catcher works for me.
I’m sure the team will listen to offers for Contreras and anyone else over 30
Astros trade Valdez in a package that gets Clifford and Gilbert back.
Mets sign Burnes and Flaherty and a one-year SP.
I agree, except maybe Fried instead of Flaherty. Either of the last two would be fine, but Burnes should be a must if they want to compete in the WS. People need to chill a bit on Jose Butto. I think he a has a promising career ahead of him, but he has 15 starts and 120 IP in his career. You cannot “pencil him in” for 30+ starts. 3.76 ERA as a starter, 2.63 as a reliever. Trading McNeil now is selling low as heck. If not a starter, he can serve in a utility role. If his BA or other stats perk up, the Mets can try to move him. Right now, no team will give you much for him.
Agree on everything. You’ll get no return for McNeil even if you pay his contract. And if you’re gonna pay him you might as well keep him as a utility bench piece
I think other teams still see his upside value. Fans will always see the worst, but those who actually work in the industry saw his 2023 second half was more like his old norm, as was post asb this year.
I could see him as a piece in a salary dump trade to offset some money (i.e., a trade for Sonny Gray and then we add a 50 grade prospect)
To little to late! The seasons over!
Resign Manaea, Winker and Iglesias all of the rest of the free agents can go. We need to start with 2 new SP’s ( Burnes & Fried/ Buehler), Soto or Santander in RF. Also trade McNeil and Marte, we have young replacements already in Acuna and Gilbert.
@ jvent a handful of games and ABs does not mean Acuna is ready. And Gilbert has certainly not demonstrated MLB readiness yet – he’s still having ups-and-downs in AAA, and now again in the AFL. Maybe he is ready sometime next season. Or maybe he comes up and struggles and doesn’t put it together till ’26. Either way, he hasn’t done anything to warrant a secure spot on the roster.
I think the point is signing a long term player for a decade. Moves aren’t made just for the upcoming season alone.
I just dont see acuna becoming a high impact player. Hopefully im wrong
I think Marte stays and fills DH/RF role.
I hope Jeff McNeil has played his last game as a Met.
2b men? Sign Iglesias. We have Acuna, Mauricio . We don’t need or want Jeff. Trade for Brandon Lowe.
Burnes, Beiber, Manaea, Senga, Peterson. That would be the best rotation in the NL
That wouldn’t even be the 2nd best rotation in the division.
Beiber is likely out the first couple of months then on a pretty strict pitch and innings limit.
If they need pitching, I still don’t understand why they traded both Scherzer and Verlander. One, I get it, but both? They had a good season fall apart and traded away aces. They’ve been aces short the last year. I know their injury history was not great, but when healthy, both were aces.
NYM morphed into LOLmets the way they choked away the NL East in 2022. Went even more LOL in 2023 so they ended up sellers at the trade deadline that summer.
I know they say it’s rebuilding, but they really weren’t sellers.. if that was the case, Alonso and Lindor would’ve been gone. They offloaded two great pitchers and now they need more pitching. I called it when it happened that it wasn’t really a move that made sense because they never had a full rebuild… they could have kept one.
Now look where they are… scrapping for pitching. They were arms short from winning the last series.
Correction: They offloaded two old, and formerly great pitchers who now seem very questionable. They were also highly expensive.
They can really follow a similar model as last year if they want – sign pitchers w upside who have been successful in the past. They could sign kikuchi and pivetta to replace severino and quintana pretty easily. Remember, they made the highest offer for Yamamoto but he was going to LA all along. They can also trade for sp like they did w bassitt a couple years back.
They willingly paid for the two “star” pitchers.
You do you know how moronic it is to say that a team winning 101 games choked away the division?
It is not moronic to say the Mets choked away the NL East in 2022. All they had to do was win one game in Atlanta on the final weekend and NYM had the tie-breaker for the division. Instead they got swept, finished below Atlanta, then got smoked by San Diego in the wild-card round in Queens.
Such is why LOLmets endures to this day.
Endured by who? Who’s your favorite team?
They were 2 games from the WS. I’m not quite sure how that is enduring to this day.
True that the Mets were two games away. But they played in over their heads. Phillies folded even more. I do think they are headed in a good direction. The 2011 Phillies team looks better on paper than the 2009 Phillies, and we know how it worked out for both.
And I agree, Verlander and Scherzer are questionable. But one of them wouldn’t hurt, especially at their level of talent. After seeing what happened to Sale this past year, I 100% would have taken a chance on one of them because their replacements weren’t great. After all, Mets signed both to those expensive contracts knowingly.
2024, went more LOL and made the NLCS
Well both their contracts are done now so they would still need pitching.
There’s a new billionaire in town, ladies and gentlemen please help me in welcoming Mr. David Rubenstein! There’s a wild card in the off-season deck. Can’t wait to see what happens.
Steve Cohen is worth over 20 billion. Probably isn’t to many owners that aren’t billionaires.
Rubie is worth 4+ and as of 2023 only about half of MLB owners are billionaires. I do see your point. Nobody will likely throw around money like Cohen. But, there’s a new billionaire in the fray who’s a Baltimore native and eager to be loved. Dude was working the garden hose splashing fans during a game. This isn’t a prediction, just a statement of excitement for the unknown.
It should be an exciting offseason. It will be great to see how it plays out. The Orioles first move should be to get Gunnar locked up long term.
Yes! 100 up votes to you my good sir. Anchoring Gunnar in would be the most concrete first step I could imagine. O, where these birds could fly
Will he actually spend on impact FA?
The Mets obviously do not understand the blueprint or if they do can’t implement it throughout the organization.
The World Series is won every year since 2017 because of the non traditional slider called the Roger Beshens (Football Slider) inside the lines, we are going to watch in the Yankees-Dodgers series.
That Cole, Rodon, Schmidt, Holmes…slider is thrown a certain way, it has a certain Grip, Tilt and Wrist action needed.
Just Hire Roger Beshens/Football Slider. If done now before Spring training the Mets will have a dozen guys in the Minors as good as the major league staff. This isn’t rocket science, other teams have been doing this since 2019 when Roger Beshens introduced his Football Slider, that’s called a sweeper thrown from a lower arm angle. Roger is in Arizona just got done consulting with 4 Dback pitchers, the Dbacks Front Office is a mess, they want to call the shots with the analytic dept which is nuts when they had Strom. Everyone knows Strom had to deal with almost 10 pitchers that had no business being in the majors.
Now if this football slider is so great and the yankees have had those guys together for a couple of years shouldnt they have been and won a world series? Also werent those same pitchers had an injury history the last couple years? Rodon Cole and Schmidt im pretty had some extended stints but not sure about Holmes, Could this be due to the slider and damage it does on the arm and wrist?
I am pretty sure none of them have been to the world series as a yankee and the only one that has been there was Cole was there once with the Astros and got beat up and lost that start? Maybe he shouldnt use that pitch after all?
The most dominate slider in baseball history is Jacob Degroms. He learned that with the Mets.
Degrom throws the Roger Beshens Football Slider.
He learned that cause of Roger Beshens
On center grip, throw like football, stiff wrist.
Callaway, Eiland, Heffner those guys had no clue what a Roger Beshens Football Slider was.
You think deGrom or any pitcher is going to give Roger Beshens credit when all someone has to do have is Google Roger Beshens Football Slider click images and see all the messages to Glasnow, Taillon, Musgrove, Flaherty, GIolito, Fried, Bieber, Bauer, Clevinger, Sonny Gray. and hundreds more? No of course not, especially in 2018.
MLB calling the RB Football Slider a sweeper thrown from a lower arm angle is a easy way indicator of that.
Try harder to get a pitch named after you. In reality sweeper is just easier to say though.
Multiple needs + lots of cash = they offer the QO to both Manea and Severino.
Severino accepts or accepts a 2-3 year extension so the Mets have one fewer dire need in free agency.
I think Burnes should be probably priority #1 for NYM. If he isn’t interested (maybe regional preference or some other team gives him an additional year and more $ they miss out) they could pivot to others.. More than half the league will have strong interest.
They need at least 2 A, B type pitchers IMHO. I would explore a trade for Sonny Gray, Montgomery or possibly Crochet
(I remember S. Grays supposed NYY problems with and I believe the main issue wasn’t allowing him to pitch his style; don’t believe pressure was main issue) There are definitely other names as FA and trade targets that are good ideas. Does MIN trade Pedro Lopez or one of the MIA SPs get traded (even to a rival in their division? We’ll See
Keeping OR losing Alonso is the first or 2nd domino/puzzle piece to be decided as it will cause a new IF organization.
Would Vientos shift to 1B. 3B be a sharing of Mauricio/Baty.
Does Acuna make team and play some 2B/ part time OF?
Does another AAA OF make the roster out of ST or are they brought maybe late May if doing well?
Can DH spot be shared by Alonso (IF he stays), Alvarez, Vientos and others. That is what I would do.
Offensively IF NYM can trade Marte and OR McNeil that will give them some salary back and open up a roster spot
Peterson and Butto who could both be a starter may be more needed as a reliever as least initially. There are about 4 AAASPs prospects NYM would love to grab one of the Starters spots. Sproat, Vasil, Tidwell etc.
I will be REALLY surprised IF the WS doesn’t go 7 games.
I am still torn between thinking NYY wins despite underwhelming starts from Cole OR LAD wins pulling a Houdini act and not letting their SP sink them. IF LAD does win I think they win despite underwhelming starts from Flaherty, doing a masterful job of using RPs FWIW.
Forgot to address the Elephant in the Room.
I am not a big fan of signing Soto (for NYM) He may be the missing piece that helps the NYY win their first World Series since 2009 BUT I think we can create just as much offense with better defense spread out among multiple players. The salary could be spread across to other players.
I like depth in event of injuries.
Would TEX be interested in trading deGrom back to Us?
Would SEA be interested in trading a SP, probably not their top 2..
Not in favor of signing Fried or Flaherty as a FA
Would HOU trade us Tucker? I would do this IF the cost of players wasn’t excessive. HOU can use some young starters. I might expand the trade to include McCullers coming to Citi field. He must pass medical scrutiny.
Ask Heffner, Blake, Katz and all the cats that have no business being MLB, MILB pitching coaches…
If Roger Beshens in May 2018 never messaged thousands of ML, MILB, NCAA, HS pitchers his Football Slider, which is On center grip, throw like Football, Stiff wrist, where would you be today?
Understand before 2018, Andrew Miller, Brad Hand, Corbin and a few more had the best sliders in MLB, Then all of a sudden in May 2018 dozens like Glasnow, Flaherty, Hicks, Folty, Luke Jackson, Jesse Biddle out of no where threw a differently shaped slider called the Roger Beshens Football Slider.
MLB should have reported Brandon McCarthy confirmed he contacted Roger Beshens on May 29 2018 and tried that Football Slider June 2 2018 vs Nat’s in that game 34 K’s, The nearly famous Jesse Biddle even struck out 8 in 3 IP. BMAC said he struck out Rendon, Turner, Gonzales gave up the HR to Michael Taylor with this new weapon, Football Slider.
W/O Roger Beshens there is no Glasnow striking out 45 out of 65 hitters and the Rays noticing that. There is no Rays blueprint to teach the Roger Beshens Football Slider. There is no Peter Bendix acting like he’s a guru….See a pattern? I hope so.
I’m pretty sure the MLBtraderumors comment section isn’t going to help get your “message” out Roger…
Especially when they have kicked you off two or three times prior.
baseballsavant.mlb.com/gamefeed?gamePk=530284&…
Brandon McCarthy didn’t throw a single slider in that June 2 2018 game that you keep referencing and his cutter shape was no different in that game than it was throughout that season.
So long as Cohen can set a budget and get out of the way, I’m confident the Mets will be a powerhouse for years.
Stearns is a genius, let him do his thing.
Wow, all those players are Jose Iglesias? So does he have split personality disorder?
The rumblings from Klapisch and Sherman are they are going to go 600-650 million for Soto.
No team should go that high for him but i guess someone will.
Yeah, I think that’s to much for any player not named Ohtani. But let’s keep in mnd that Ohtani’s contract changed the math on how contracts are done now….. the deferred money he’s getting means his $70 mil counts for only $42M against the threshold. Stearns already dabbled in this when he gave JDM $12M that counts for only $4 against the thresh this year, so – for better or worse – there’s no telling where this might go.
Didnt soto say he wouldnt defer money? Obviously, thats all speculation but for some reason i thought that was explicitly said.
OOK, I hadn’t heard that. If so, then I would think it limits the top end of what his total value will be.
Who knows if it’s true. In the end, he might, but I think the implication was he didn’t want to defer a significant amount. This should be a fun winter.
He’ll be deferring money, regardless, unless he really is hoping to insist on getting paid for 12 to 14 years all upfront, then dive into that pile of cash delivered into a golden swimming pool.
There are stranger fantasies, I’m told…