Reese Kaplan -- Let's Think About What No One Wants to Admit

There's an imponderable possibility that most Mets fans don't want to allow to enter their cerebellums in fear it would revive the Midnight Massacre flashbacks from June 15th of 1977 when the Mets essentially gave away both Tom Seaver and Dave Kingman in the quest to show the players that the team was more powerful than they were.  

Nowadays that same prospect appears again as Jacob deGrom has opted out of his contract in the quest of greater riches.  He'd likely stay if the offer was from New York, but like many people before him he might also simply follow the yellow brick road wherever the curbstones made of solid gold are put into place.

Rather than go into the pros and cons of inking the best pitcher the Mets have ever had (look it up -- numbers better than Seaver), instead let's consider what it would be like in a post-deGrom Mets world.  

The money is only one part of the equation as Steve Cohen doesn't seem to fret over every little penny like some well known previous owners did.  The other side is the amount of output the team would have received for that investment since staying healthy has lately been an issue for the man who would like to surpass the dollars earned by now former teammate Max Scherzer.  

So roll your mental clocks ahead to February of 2023 with Spring Training starting down in Port St. Lucie and great hopes for a pennant dancing in everyone's heads.  Optimism for 2023 is infectious and the World Series is the destination planned for the boys in blue and orange.  

So, without deGrom it means the Mets find themselves with roughly $44 million extra dollars to spend to address issues on the team.  That's hardly chump change, yet at the same time you do have to marvel at how salaries have escalated for good but not great players throughout the major leagues.  

Take Brandon Nimmo, for example, a player who is a solid defender and showing a great attitude, but never having made an All Star team and whose greatest attribute is not his batting average nor home run power, but his on base percentage.  He's slated to get a multiyear deal over the QO $19.65 million AAV.  

So coming back to the deGrom-less Mets, how would they use that newfound $44 million bonanza?  Well, for two pitchers looking to depart in Chris Bassitt and Taijuan Walker, the total salary expenditure would be well under that sum and deliver 30+ starts from each of them.  On the basis of not seeing the 2023 equivalent of Thomas Szapucki and his 60.75 ERA starting again for the Mets during an extended IL stint from the former ace.  

Then there is the issue of losing out on Brandon Nimmo.  Would the Mets want to allocate some of that surplus cash to replacing one of the outfielders with perhaps Starling Marte returning to his previous home of center field?

Of course, the bullpen is another matter.  After Edwin Diaz and Drew Smith the Mets are standing to lose out on Seth Lugo, Trevor May, Trevor Williams and already passed on Mychal Givens.  That's a lot of 5th through 8th innings that need to be addressed as well.  

Now it's easy for us who are not part of the management team nor the accounting department to sit back and say, "Just go out and pay for the best of the best to fill your roster!"  Anyone who was alive and kicking during the George Steinbrenner Yankee era knows what that is like.  Lately it's been the Dodgers, Braves and even the Padres spending wildly and usually achieving what they set out to do -- advancing in the postseason.  

The Mets have been vocal about improving the minor league operations as evidenced by the hiring of a new pitching guru who is only 27 years of age and the statements made about trying to avoid negotiations with players who would require draft-pick compensation for having turned down Qualifying Offers.  

These signs are indicative of long range thinking but the team is not quite there yet.  The club has 4 or 5 offensive players who seem ready to make impact in the big leagues soon enough with their bats but there's precious little in the way of arms.  Consequently it may take some free agent signings and trades to fulfill the current vacancies in the rotation and in the pen.  

So instead of focusing on what the Mets might lose if deGrom goes elsewhere, instead ponder what is it that the Mets could do if they suddenly found themselves in need not only of another starting pitcher, but also with a big pile of cash to improve the overall team construction.  Here's hoping that the returns are better than Dan Norman or Paul Siebert.  

This time there are adults in the room and if you're willing to look past some midseason flubs, they seem to have more of a plan in mind than did their many predecessors.