Paul Articulates – The time is upon us

For Mets fans, the 2023 MLB playoffs were an excruciatingly long pause in our endeavor to hear how the 2024 team will be constructed.  As many are aware, the MLB free agency period does not begin until after the World Series is completed, so we had to watch everyone else’s favorite teams slog through what amounted to a dud of a playoff season.  The painful end is finally upon us, so here are things we can actually look forward to:

• Free agency officially begins the day after the World Series ends.  However, free agents cannot sign with a new team until five days after the World Series ends.  
• Trades are also not allowed between the long ago August 1st trade deadline and the end of the World Series.  Once the trading season opens up again, minor deals are typically announced, but the announcement of major deals are often reserved for the MLB winter meetings which begin this year on December 4th in Nashville TN.
• The draft lottery occurs during the second day of the Winter Meetings, December 5th.  This is the time when the Mets will learn the extent of the silver lining around the cloud of their awful 2023 season.
• The rule 5 draft occurs on December 6th.  To refresh you on the rules, the Rule 5 Draft allows clubs without a full 40-man roster to select certain non-40-man roster players from other clubs. Clubs draft in reverse order of the standings from the previous season. Players signed at age 18 or younger need to be added to their club's 40-Man roster within five seasons or they become eligible for the Rule 5 Draft. Players who signed at age 19 or older need to be protected within four seasons.  Rule 5 Draft picks are assigned directly to the drafting club's 26-man roster and must be placed on outright waivers in order to be removed from the 26-man roster in the subsequent season.
• January 12th is the deadline for player arbitration, so all those players with more than three but less than six full years of MLB experience who have filed for arbitration must exchange salary figures with their team for the upcoming season.  By mid-February if the two do not come to agreement, a hearing is held with an independent arbiter to resolve the dispute.

All these dates mean that the Mets front office will be extremely busy over the next three months.  Adding to the complexity of this decision process, the Mets chose to fire director of player development Kevin Howard, director of pro player evaluation Jeff Lebow and Jim Cavallini, director of performance in the end of August.  With a GM and Manager search still underway, the club needs to do several things:

• Secure agreements with any and all high profile free agents they are pursuing because the competition for those players is always intense.  He who waits is lost.
• Decisions must be finalized to protect prospects.  This is more relevant than ever for the suddenly prospect-rich Mets, who must place players on their 40 man roster to protect them from being claimed in the Rule 5 draft.  The rules on protecting the players carry with those players when they are traded, so if a club receives a prospect in a trade that has not been protected for five years from their 18th birthday, that player is rule 5 eligible.  If too few are protected, they may be lost; but if too many are protected, there will be no room on the 40-man roster to grab another team’s rule 5 players.
• Decisions also must be reached on any players that the Mets would like to poach in the Rule 5 draft – this involves an intensive look at the performance of many players in other teams’ minor league systems.
• The draft strategy and prioritized list of targets must be finalized.

I would imagine that the lights are on all hours of the day and night at the Mets' headquarters as these decisions are debated and finalized.  David Stearns has had precious few weeks to come up to speed on the Mets' organization, players, and staff.  He is faced with correcting a disappointing 2023 season, evaluating a full list of prospects, and building a sustainable winner for years to come.  As we enter this very critical period in the future of the New York Mets, each of these decisions will be analyzed in detail.  Stay tuned!