Reese Kaplan -- 2022 is a Nice Start But What's Next?

What will the 2023 Mets look like?  That question is dancing around a lot of folks' heads as they watch this team splurge far ahead, then look totally lost, then seemingly find their way again like the first place team they are.  

Some advocate a major overhaul which is somewhat surprising given their standing atop the division for nearly the whole year.  Others simply want to purge the roster of ineffective players.  Still others want a hybrid of the two.

While it's easy to start with the George Steinbrenner "buy everyone" approach of doing things, the fact is that it's a much more expensive approach than ever before.  Word came down, for example, that Juan Soto of the Nationals just turned down a $440 million contract which would have paid him for the next 15 years.  That number is north of what Mike Trout earns for a guy who is quite good, very young and likely a solid member of whatever team can claim him as one of their own, but in reality he's not yet at that level.  

His best season was 32 HRs and 110 RBIs, numbers any team would be tickled to have coming from one of their own.  This year he's only hitting .250 and his 19 HR/42 RBI accumulation are quite nice but not quite at that previous level.  Still, for a 23 year old to think he's worth more than $29.3 million per season for the next 15 years is partially arrogance and partially greed. Mostly it's just a matter of trying to get on a better team.  

The point here is that the very best is like shopping for a car.  There's Kia, there's Cadillac, there's Lexus, there's Rolls Royce, there's Koenigsegg, there's Bugatti and there's Lamborghini.  The problem is people want to pay for a Kia and have it perform like a Lamborghini.  Many feel that Steve Cohen's money is not their money so they should have an entire garage full of Lamborghinis. 

The mid level approach is theoretically how long term successful franchises like the Tampa Bay Rays and the Houston Astros operated.  They would do whatever was possible to promote and enhance their internal prospects to become core pieces of their major league baseball march towards the postseason.  

How many young ballplayers came up through these franchises that were integral to their success?  Where these approaches differ is in the depth of the pockets of the respective franchises.  

One could afford to keep whomever became a star and the other would try to trade away folks still in their prime because the accountants simply wouldn't fathom throwing big money at them when there were replacements down on the farm who would give another six years of bargain priced roster occupancy.

Neither of these approaches is 100% right nor are they a sure fire guarantee to success.  Remember when the Mets thought guys like Fernando Martinez and Thomas Szapucki were sure-fire long term All Stars, only to find out that the combination of health and ability can interfere dramatically with projections.

So given Steve Cohen's deep pockets and the franchise's heretofore lackluster history of promoting from within unless forced to do so, it would seem that the Mets need to watch the Lamborghini market but not at the expense of the next big thing down in Syracuse or Binghamton.  

How you balance the Francisco Lindor type of contract with opening up the opportunities for Ronny Mauricio, Brett Baty, Mark Vientos and Francisco Alvarez takes the high wire skills of the Wallendas.  No one knows if Billy Eppler is up to that kind of challenge, but after a highly successful start to the 2022 season we'll soon find out.  

Grabbing a Starling Marte was a pretty obvious move that helped immensely and immediately, but no one foresaw the same type of benefit from lesser known players having a daily positive impact.