ANGRY MIKE
2025 season couldn’t have ended any worse after their auspicious start to the season. It’s done, we all saw what happened, we all know what could’ve prevented their season from ending early, let’s not keep reliving it this winter. It’s time to look ahead to the 2026 season and to focus on which of the bright spots from 2025 the Mets can build on for next season and beyond.
"ANGRY MIKE DOCTRINE -> EMBRACE THE YOUTH MOVEMENT"
If I’m in charge, what I would take from the 2025 season is that I have seen enough from my core nucleus of young players to move forward embracing the youth movement for the 2026 roster. It would be an unprecedented move, but a necessary one, because 40 years without a championship proves just how necessary it is. The Mets have literally tried the same blueprint for success over the last 40 years, albeit at times more expensive versions of that blueprint and it simply has not worked.
"GOODBYE PETE, THANK YOU FOR THE MEMORIES…"
It is time to move on from Pete Alonso, history is riddled with examples of great players, franchise cornerstone talents who spend the majority of their careers with their original team but never win a championship. Vlad Guerrero & Expos, Andre Dawson & Cubs, Ken Griffey Jr & Mariners, or more recent examples such as Manny Ramirez & Indians, Pudge Rodriguez & Rangers, among others. This happens across all sports, Favre & Packers, Ewing & Knicks, Barkley & Sixers, and Peyton Manning & Colts.
The Mets found Alonso’s replacement during the 2024 season, his name is Mark Vientos, and fortunately during the 2025 season, Vientos’ replacement at 3B emerged, his name is Brett Baty. This is when readers’ eyes will pop out of their sockets and they’ll rush to the comment section, vehemently asking, are you stupid enough to think Vientos can replace Alonso’s production? Maybe, maybe not. The fact of the matter remains we just saw Alonso have a career year, and WE DIDN’T EVEN MAKE THE PLAYOFFS.
Steve Cohen has to decide this winter, does he simply want to have a front row seat to watch Alonso accumulate potentially H.O.F. numbers? Or does he want to bring Mets fans their 1st World Series title in 40 years? Unfortunately, the likelihood of the Mets winning a championship with Alonso seems less likely with each given year, and that’s not to say he isn’t a great player, it’s just how things work out sometimes in professional sports.
There are teams like the Dodgers, Phillies, and a couple other teams who are in a position to win a championship, despite investing around $30 million for a 1B. The Mets & Steve Cohen have to accept their reality that they are not one of those teams, BETTER YET, WE DON'T HAVE TO BE!
The Mets have to continue developing homegrown talent, they need to continue improving their team defense, and they have to try to lengthen the potency of their lineup by developing players who can contribute from the bottom of the batting order. Fortunately for the Mets, they have the potential pieces to achieve all 3 of those goals potentially as early as the 2026 season. Unfortunately, a roster committed to developing younger players will take time and patience from a fan base that doesn’t believe in patience.
"IF YOU PLAY THEM, THEY WILL DEVELOP..."
SS -> LINDOR
RF -> SOTO
1B -> VIENTOS
C -> ALVAREZ
3B -> BATY
LF -> NIMMO
DH -> MAURICIO
2B -> BENGE
CF -> JETT
Bench -> Acuna, Clifford, Morabito, Torrens
Mets will never know what they have in their younger players, until they begin to utilize them in the same fashion they were used when they were among the MLB’s top ranked prospects in the minors. The Mets need to begin deploying lineups that many other teams utilize, which is to provide protection for younger players by batting them around their veterans in the lineup to help facilitate their development.
Batting them closer to their star veterans hopefully provides them with better pitches to hit and potentially limits the number of times opponents can opt to pitch around them.
Playing them regularly is also critical for seeing how many of them are capable of performing as viable starters, trying to continuously mix and match lineups was a complete failure during the 2025 season. If the Mets are serious about getting below the CBT Tax threshold, this is the only way. Continuously signing aging veterans for tens of millions of dollars, in hopes of resurrecting the best versions of those players from 3-4 years is not the way to build a sustainable winner.
The Mets have 3 more seasons until the 2028-2029 free agency periods comprised of a historic number of impact bats hitting the market. The Mets also have the highest number of potential impact bats in their farm system, many of them currently performing well at the higher levels. It is in there best interest to systematically deploy these prospects and our current crop of younger players over the course of the next few seasons to see which of them establish themselves as regulars.
The cost of developing younger players is pennies on the dollar when compared to even mid-tier veterans whose salaries continue to rise each year. Continually making $15-25 million dollar gambles like we’ve seen with Frankie Montas or Sean Manea that blow up in our face is not sustainable and brutal to watch.
If Cohen likes throwing money away, sign me, I’m 44, I have two dodgy knees, but quite capable of serving up batting practice during live games for half the money it cost to sign Montas or Manea.
Put me in coach, I can do it…
9 comments:
Mike, I think that line up would be sub par in the Queens pressure cooker in 2026. In 2027, a much more potent adversary. Big question…can Baty/Vientos/Mauricio hit in the clutch? In 2025, even with Soto and Pete taking a lot of heat off them, they hit poorly in the clutch.
I don't think you want Benge at second. I'd like to fast track Ewing and move on from Acuna and Mauricio.
Very true - it’s a typo - I forgot to switch the positions when I moved Jett to 9th
That’s fair - which is probably why we’ll be stuck watching veterans on the down cycle of their careers for years to come. We can only dream lol
Vientos is slow of foot, has a mediocre glove, and does not have the quickness to get a good first step on a ground ball. I get your position on a young, controllable salary team so maybe you let some other team overpay for Pete. But building anything around Vientos is a bad move, especially at first base. DH or trade.
I don’t mind gambling with youth for a year and passing on Pete. I wonder what Soto and Lindor have to say about it? If youth do click, you’ve reset your cap, perhaps, which helps strategically.
I’m glad David Stearns has the job. So easy to be wrong.
I love yiur process, but I think we can tweak it a little.
1. Let Benge and Williams start in AAA and master that level first. I could live with McNeil ans Taylor to start the year in CF. This will help the middle of the order.
2. Mauricio is a better third baseman than Baty and Baty is a better second baseman than McNeil. This is according to the metrics, but also the eye test. Baty doesn’t react quickly enough to bullets as one hit him in the knee because his glove didn’t move fast enough, and one went right under on a line drive. Put him at second.
3. Acuna can platoon with Mauricio, pushing Baty to third.
4. I’d like a real booped for a DH. I’d love Yordan Alvarez if the Astros would let him go. If not, look around for a real hitter, not a Jesse Winker clown.
Gus, I had no idea with my Mets Myopia that the Astros missed an astonishing 1,927 game to the IL last year. Yordan missed a ton. Any idea what was wrong with him?
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