Reese Kaplan -- Relax and Step Off the Post-Correa Ledge

So there have been a few days since the implosion in the Carlos Correa negotiations which saw him return to his former home in Minneapolis after beating a hasty retreat from there in the quest of greater riches elsewhere. 

The amount of time on the contract and the average annual pay are down significantly from the original San Francisco offer and the New York follow up, but no one is going to be taking up a collection to help Correa make his Bentley payments. He's got a job, the Giants have moved on and now the Mets must do the same.

Let's take a moment to reflect what the team was like in 2022 and as it stands right now what the team is like for 2023. To begin, let's compare the state of starting pitching:

• Jacob deGrom
• Max Scherzer
• Chris Bassitt
• Carlos Carrasco
• Taijuan Walker

Wow, that's quite a starting rotation filled with two multiple Cy Young Award winners and three solid veterans who could be first or second starters with most other franchises. However, things didn't quite work out that way. 

If you reflect back on the 2022 IL, it was quite busy there. Bassitt led the staff with 30 starts which meant he was only down for about 4 of them. Then came Taijuan Walker and Carlos Carrasco tied with 29 apiece. They were followed by Max Scherzer with 23 and then finally Jacob deGrom with just 11.

Filling in for the would-be start staff included 19 starts by David Peterson, 9 starts apiece by Trevor Williams and Tylor Megill, and single starts by Mychal Givens, Jose Butto and Thomas Szapucki. That's 40 games started by folks other than the players penciled in to lead the team into contention.

Going into 2023 the Mets rotation on paper is at least as good, if not better. They are headed by twin multi Cy Young Award winners once again, but this time it's Justin Verlander who accompanies Max Scherzer with Jacob deGrom off in quest of a yellow rose in Texas. 

Jose Quintana joins the fold in place of Taijuan Walker who must like cheese steak and awful lot. Then international import Kodai Senga looks to equal or better the 3.42 ERA provided by now Canadian hurler Chris Bassitt who hopes to fare better up there than did other former Mets like Steven Matz and R.A. Dickey.

On the infield, as of right now it's a wash. With third base open in a competition between Eduardo Escobar, Brett Baty and Mark Vientos, the Mets will be the same or perhaps better.

Behind the plate it's a bit uncertain, but the 2022 season was one for the record books with the horrific play of James McCann, the better defense but far from stellar hitting of Tomas Nido, and a late September cup of coffee from Francisco Alvarez.

With McCann now gone (along with money to make accepting him a bit less unpalatable), the job for number one catcher is somewhat up for grabs. In addition to the return of Nido, the Mets signed a decent hitting Omar Narvaez who may be handed the Opening Day assignment. The beefy Venezuelan is a career .258 hitter which would be All Star level by comparison to what was done last season. 

Of course, all of this conjecture presumes that Francisco Alvarez begins the season in AAA to help refine the defensive side of his game while also improving on his offensive stats after punishing pitchers in the lower minors. It would seem that 2023's catching will indeed be better but not quite at the Johnny Bench, Gary Carter nor Mike Piazza levels.

The outfield promises to be one and the same right now with the returning cast of new multi-millionaire Brandon Nimmo, returning multi-millionaire Starling Marte and the second year of the two-year commitment to multi-millionaire Mark Canha. The club most definitely could use some backup assistance here unless the plan is a lot of Luis Guilorme at second base with Jeff McNeil out there.

Designated hitter was another low light of the 2022 season. Daniel Vogelbach has been an extremely popular player in the many cities he's called home while in the major leagues, but there's no mistaking the narrow gate of his talent. He can drive pitchers batty with his good eye at the plate and he can hit home runs with the best of them against right handed pitching. 

That makes for a left handed slugger with very poor base running skills who is not going to displace Pete Alonso from first base.

In 2022 various folks were tried on the right side of the DH platoon with none faring very well at all. I won't upset your tummy by reciting all of the names, but suffice to say hitting against lefties was a "Ruffer" job than it should have been.

This part of the team is still unsettled going into 2023. Will Francisco Alvarez be asked to serve as a DH? What about Mark Vientos? How about Educardo Escobar if Baty wins the third base starting assignment? It's also entirely possible that the DH role in general is yet to be settled while the team contemplates the remaining free agents and trade candidates.

In the bullpen is where the club has seen the most change. Last season's squad included:

• Edwin Diaz
• Adam Ottavino
• Drew Smith
• Trevor Williams
• Joely Rodriguez
• Seth Lugo
• Trevor May
• Mychal Givens
• Tylor Megill
• David Peterson
• Chasen Shreve
• Tommy Hunter
• Colin Holderman
• Stephen Nogosek
• Various others with fewer than 10 games

This year the new squad includes:

• Edwin Diaz
• Adam Ottavino
• David Robertson
• Brooks Raley
• Drew Smith
• Tylor Megill
• David Peterson

Other contenders like Stephen Nogosek, Bryce Montes de Oca, Joey Lucchesi, John Curtiss, Tommy Hunter, Tayler Saucedo and Zach Greene vie for an opportunity to escape sunny Florida for rainy and chilly New York. The top four are at least as good as the top four from last season with a lot of unknowns after that (including whether or not Raley's stellar 2022 was an outlier or the mark of a very late bloomer).

It's entirely possible that the Mets may be looking to add another arm in the pen. There have been rumors about a Zach Britton negotiation, plus others like Andrew Chafin and Michael Fulmer are still looking for new paychecks. It's also possible that some of the Mets positional logjams may result in trades being made.

For now it would seem that the team taking the field for 2023 if healthy is at least as good if not better than the one that performed a 101 win season in 2022. Yes, Carlos Correa would have been a cherry on the cake, but think what his $315 million salary over the next dozen years could do at other positions to improve the team. All is far from lost.