As the wait for the World Series to begin, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world today:
1. Mets end-of-season press conference:
On the heels of the club being eliminated from the postseason at the hands of the Dodgers, the Mets are now set to shift their attention toward the coming offseason. Part of that process is the club’s end-of-season press conference, which Mike Puma of the New York Post notes will be conducted at Citi Field later today by president of baseball operations David Stearns. Overall, it was quite the successful year for a Mets club that won 89 games and made it to their first NLCS since 2015 despite relatively low expectations regarding the club’s competitiveness just one year after they traded off key pieces like Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander.
Stearns and the rest of the front office face a new challenge this winter, however. Not only is first baseman Pete Alonso scheduled to become a free agent, but the impending departures of Jose Quintana, Sean Manaea, and Luis Severino mean that the Mets will need to rebuild their rotation nearly from scratch this offseason. Beyond that, speculation has run rampant over the past year that the Mets will be involved in the Juan Soto market, presumably creating a bidding war between the two New York teams as the incumbent Yankees try to retain their young star.
2. Are more injury announcements coming down the pipe?
The lull between the end of the NLCS on Sunday and the start of the World Series this coming Friday has created space for teams to make announcements that otherwise may have conflicted with the postseason, and among the most noteworthy have been a handful of injury updates. So far this week, we’ve received word that Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner underwent forearm surgery and Mets right-hander Paul Blackburn underwent a spinal procedure earlier this month. Those major injury announcements that could impact the players’ timelines for Spring Training aside, the Padres also discussed shortstop Ha-Seong Kim’s recent shoulder surgery ahead of his free agency and indicated he might take longer to return to action than initially believed. Could any more injury announcements or updates crop up over the next few days?
3. Managerial searches continue:
Details surrounding the managerial searches for the White Sox and Marlins have been fairly sparse to this point, though a few names of potential candidates have been rumored for the vacancy in Miami. There have been more rumors surrounding Chicago’s search, with exiting Marlins manager Skip Schumaker joining a list of names that also includes Lombard, Dodgers first base coach Clayton McCullough and Rangers associate manager Will Venable. Whoever the two clubs ultimately hire to steer their fifth-place teams in 2025 will face plenty of potential challenges; in addition to the abysmal record of both clubs, the Marlins’ new manager will be tasked with overhauling their entire coaching staff, while the new White Sox manager will join the team amid rumors of a potential sale.
Successful year as the muts spent three times per win as the brewers Indians/royals and have no hardware to show for it.
The Mets spent an amount of money their owner was willing to spend and this was a step back year, so all things considered, it was a pretty solid outcome for them.
For all the lauded underfunding of teams like Milwaukee, Cleveland, Kansas City and others, how many titles do they have?
KC is the only cheap team to have won a title recently, and the year they won (2015), they were the 13th highest payroll, so they weren’t even all that cheap.
The Royals title shows several things.
A. You don’t have to spend to the rooftops in order to have an honest shot at a title.
B. The Royals (and many other teams) are capable of spending the amount needed to win, but most years choose not to. A top 20 payroll gives a team an honest shot at a title. A bottom 10 payroll guarantees a non-title team.
A. You don’t have to spend to the rooftops in order to have an honest shot at a title.
But you can be the Yankees and have a dishonest shot at a title. Massive overpay for known cheaters. And so it goes.
Known cheaters? Please elaborate…with facts.
Thumbs down to whyhayzee for unsubstantiated ( at least to this point ) rumors of cheating.
I thought the Astros had that title last.
WHZ, you have been a good poster to this point. What happened?
Canuckball: the Rays had been the example of a team which moves some players, develops some players, doesn’t make major signings and still is competitive most recent years, though not this past year, with a bottom 10 payroll.
You have to admire the Rays analytics department AND their scouting department. That is also a reason their baseball people get hired away by other clubs seemingly every few years.
Bottom line: it can be done without a huge spend, though it has to be supported by a deep player development pipeline.
And the loser of the World Series is going home having spent either 300+ or 240+million. No reason to single the Mets out dummy.
Canuckleball: I’m a little confused. What title did the Royals win?
@avenger65: KC has played in 4 World Series since their founding as an expansion franchise in 1969. Won the WS in 1985 and 2015. Lost in 1980 and 2014.
@ avenger65
I was referring to the 2015 World Series
What’s your obsession with the Mets hate? It’s at a freakish level.
Gives him a chance to call the Mets “the muts.” You see, it’s REALLY clever. He changed the “e” to a “u.”
All of who take money from the Mets and Yankees and Dodgers
Awwww…mad1 has no friends. He’s craving attention on mlbtr.
Cry harder
Darn. Bringing Pete back should be a priority. The man does shows up in the post season.
He earned that 180 million contract because of that postseason
No first name for Lombard. There is a city in Illinois named Lombard. Maybe that’s the way to go. It’ll take a village (or city) to bring the Sox franchise up to life support.
I hope they are in on Soto just enough that the Yankees pay through the roof for him. He would be crazy to leave the Yankees after the year he had.
metsin4;
Love your posts.
Funny how the last few subjects posted above are about:
1. Small market MLB teams can still win because one did it 8-9 years ago. (Then lost all their good players to free agency and has stunk since then, up until this year).
2. The Mets and Yankees get to fight over Soto because other than the Dodgers (who gave Ohtani a kings ransom) none of the other 27 teams can afford to pay Soto and still have the money to put a decent team on the field for the length of his next contract.
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Cheek out the posts on ‘Hoops Rumors’ and ‘Pro Football Rumors’. Sure, teams can mismanage their payrolls, But all teams are on equal footing. In the NBA (‘Hoops Rumors’) the Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs, and Portland Trail Blazers can compete with the New York Knicks, LA Lakers, and Philadelphia 76ers. In the NFL (‘Pro Football Rumors’) the Carolina Panthers, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Green Bay Packers can compete with the New York Giants, New York Jets, and Los Angeles Rams.
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In fact, going back to the KC Royals having 3 good years and winning one championship – look at the KC Chiefs today. A powerhouse, generational team in a small market that didn’t have to be broken up as happened with the Royals.
IMO MLB has the best game, but the worst framework for fans nationally.
Samuel, MLB has myopia. They’re knee deep in one of the oceans (take your pick) and all they can see are the coasts. You would think Chicago, Houston, could maybe compete, but they have competition. Chicago still has 2 franchises, whereas New York and Boston have reduced their franchises by one, giving them an advantage. Houston has the Rangers. Get rid of the two Florida franchises, move the Marlins to New Jersey and the Rays to Connecticut. See how that works. Also, dead right on revenue sharing, baseball is the national pastime for gosh sakes, cut the pie. Twelve degree angle for each slice.
The MLB hasn’t had a repeat World Series winner in 25 years. The NFL and NBA are won by the same few teams every year. The MLB has the most equal footing of all the sports. A
metsin4;
Not the point.
How many medium and mainly small market teams were
real contenders in those years. And of the few that were,
how many had the revenue to keep their teams together?
This year the finalists were:
Yankees. Dodgers. Mets. National baseball media and fans hold nose……Guardians.
The Guardians, Brewers, Orioles, Rays, and Royals are all considered small market teams. They are all good most of the time. The only small market teams that aren’t are the ones not trying. Even the A’s were consistently good until they decided to trade every player heading to arbitration every year. The worst team in modern baseball history just played in a large market. What teams are we really talking about? The Pirates, Reds?They have a ton of young talent and can compete next year. The only other team is the Marlins who always sell off in Miami. They don’t have an excuse.
Only took 3 years for lindor to finally gel as a met. Same with Edwin Diaz. Bizarrely used in the playoffs. If they sign Soto, add 3 years to that.
He’s been a top 10 MVP player and WAR player for the last three years.
So was verlander and sherzer until they became a met
Scherzer had a 3.02 ERA as a Met. Verlander had a 3.15 ERA. What are you talking about?
I dunno. Now I’m questioning whether Soto is really a Yankee or has he been Brett Gardner in disguise all along.
It was never Soto’s choice to become a Yankee. Or a Padre. The only team he got to choose was the Nationals.
Orioles fan hoping Soto stays a Yankee. Good for the game. A superstar confortable playing under bright lights in the Bronx. Not every stud player is cut out for that environment.
If Skip is as smart as everyone thinks he is he’ll take a year off and hope for a better job to open. I wouldn’t want anything to do with either of those dumpster fires.
Hey they have Mike soroka?!
The Mets don’t have any plans of going under the luxury tax and plan on spending pretty much all the money coming off the books. It’s going to be a wild offseason.
Personally I’d like to see them be somewhat responsible so they can reset the penalty on the first round pick slot. They should be able to manage that, unless they go all in on Soto.
I think that’s a slim possibility on what Stearns said at the press conference. I see them resigning Alonso and Manea. I think they will be in on a few top tier pitchers and Soto. Plans can change if they don’t get the players they want. They also need to build a bullpen.
What do to with the Chicago White Sox… hire skip schumaker?? No… (they need to quit all these high wage sports leagues before it’s too late!!)
For what Alonso will be looking for, I’d rather see Vientos at 1B and Mauricio at 3B. Slide Acuna to 2B (or Williams) and fill RF and CF with Acuna/Williams and Gilbert in RF. DH from the left side can be Baty with Marte on the right. Put the money into pitching. Senga is the only pitcher close to solid that is signed. The baseline is in the $140’s once SM opts out – ~$200M below this past year.