(President
of baseball operations) David Stearns said in his news conference that the Mets
need to improve their field defense. Do you have any thoughts on how they could
or should do that? — Mack
Tim: By getting younger and more athletic. That’s hard to
do in free agency, of course, when most players are older (and consequently
less athletic). So it will likely take a couple of forward-looking trades,
consolidating their surplus of infielders perhaps into one good, two-way player
— “two-way” here meaning good on offense and defense, which we didn’t have to
clarify before Shohei Ohtani — who fits the
roster better.
I go back to a comment a scout made to us early in the
season, that all the Mets’ best hitters were bad fielders and vice versa. The
data bore that out: The Mets had 16 players who accumulated at least 50 plate
appearances last season, and only three had positive values both offensively
and defensively, according to FanGraphs (Francisco
Lindor, Brett Baty and Francisco Alvarez).
Those guys are harder to find than you’d suspect: Only 82
players across the majors met those criteria in 2025. But the teams that are
still playing — a few of which sure seemed to overperform their purported
talent level — tend to have a handful of them: The Blue Jays have six, the
Brewers, Dodgers and Cubs five, the Phillies four.
The Mets need more guys who fit that mold. The good news
is Jett Williams and Carson Benge are two internal options who might help at some
point next season.
Additionally, the Mets clearly found their coaching staff
lacking; infield coach Mike Sarbaugh was
among those let go despite helping Mark Vientos (in
2024) and Brett Baty (in 2025) make nice strides forward.
These 9 Mets might as well pack their bags
Mets have several trades to make this offseason
3B Mark Vientos
Mark Vientos looked like the third baseman of the future
for the Mets following a breakout 2024 campaign and an even better postseason,
but he came crashing down to earth in a big way in 2025. I didn't necessarily
expect him to repeat what he was able to accomplish in 2024, and I've always
had questions about his defense, but he regressed heavily on both sides of the
ball.
Vientos slashed .232/.285/.412 with 17 home runs and 61
RBI in 120 games. He had an outstanding month of August, which helped boost his
overall numbers, but he ended his season just about as slowly as he began it.
That, while he ranked in the sixth percentile in OAA, according to Baseball
Savant, is just not good enough. His -0.2 bWAR just about sums it up.
The Mets floated the idea of trading Vientos around at
the trade deadline, and they should strongly consider doing so in the
offseason. Vientos' defense makes him unplayable at third base, I'm not
convinced he'd be a good enough first baseman if Alonso were to depart, and his
bat is too inconsistent to commit to giving him regular DH at-bats.
His market wouldn't be all that great, but the Mets
should be able to get someone who can help in some way in 2026 more than
Vientos can.
Re-grading
the 3 big NY Mets trades for center fielders David Stearns has made
2) Cedric Mullins
The big talking point on the day of the MLB trade
deadline was whether the Mets would add a center fielder and if so, who? Luis Robert Jr. rumors ran so rampant you’d swear
we were one Bob Nightengale report away from readers tearing a hamstring just
by absorbing the latest update that led nowhere. Cedric Mullins was always a
logical match for the Mets given his impending free agency, the disastrous
results for the Baltimore Orioles, and what he could bring to the table at an
affordable trade cost.
Because it was the last of their four trade deadline
moves, we might have felt a little better about this complementary piece than
we should have. He was someone to give us a break from Tyrone
Taylor (who was struggling at the time). Maybe a change of scenery could
spark something new. It did cost the Mets three prospects which felt a little
hefty. However, with all of them being lower in the minor leagues, it was a
risk worth taking.
Initial
Grade: B-
Probably not the Mets trade deadline deal we’ll roast the
most in future years, this deal still gets a worse grade than initially
believed. Mullins played so badly that all of a sudden the same fans who wanted
Taylor out of the starting lineup were craving for him to play more. Once hurt,
the Mets gave us a large dose of Mullins and Siri for a short period. Neither
worked.
Maybe only Ryan Helsley did
less to help the Mets win games after getting traded here. The fundies weren’t
even good by Mullins who misplayed balls and got caught standing between first
base and second base on a live ball. He didn’t have the kind of intensity the
locker room needed.
Updated
Grade: D+
2 Yankees free agents we may see in Queens, 2 NY Mets who
could ride to the Bronx
3. Devin Williams to
the Mets
Nothing has been said about the status of Edwin Diaz's opt-out quite yet, and chances are he
stays, but the Mets should always be prepared for Plan B in case he ends up
elsewhere. The closer market is thin this offseason, and Devin Williams is one
of the best options on the board. Mets fans may be opposed to this -- it was a
rough year for the (perhaps formerly) elite closer -- but if the Mets find
themselves without Edwin Diaz next season, it's not too far-fetched to imagine
a reunion between Williams and former Brewers executive David Stearns.
Of course, one of the big ways to fix the disaster of the
2025 Mets is to stop banking on reclamation projects, but Williams is a bit of
a different story. The elite level at which Williams had pitched since his
rookie year in 2020 is unlike any of the other guys the Mets have brought in to
try and "fix." 2025 was undoubtedly a rough year for Williams, but it
appeared to be more of an anomaly than anything else.
Despite his struggles, his xERA was 3.04 (87th percentile
in MLB) and he would still get batters to chase and strike out at an elite
level, suggesting that much of his problems were more a result of bad luck than
anything else. There's still a lot to be valued in Williams, and if Diaz
doesn't return, I can see him taking on the Mets' closer role.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6701964/2025/10/09/mets-mailbag-center-field-upgrade/
Please
list, in order of importance, the five acquisitions the Mets need to improve
significantly. — Hchoops
Will: I love this question. It’s too early to advocate
for specific players without knowing the market and cost, so I will mostly
stick to ideas. I will love this question more when I feel comfortable
mentioning specific players. For now:
1. Acquire reliable starting
pitchers.
2. Acquire a real center fielder.
3. Improve the defense on the right side of the infield.
4. Re-sign Edwin Díaz.
5. Convince Pete Alonso to
spend more time at designated hitter for the Mets (or add someone like Josh Naylor, who brings an edge).
Jim
Koenigsberger @Jimfrombaseball
"His
virtuosity was a synthesis of physiognomy and physical imagination. He didn't
just dominate hitters or games. He dominated the ball. He could make it do
things: rise, break, sing. Gene
Mauch, the old Phillies skipper, was once asked if Koufax was the best
lefty he ever saw. Mauch replied: "The best righty, too." As Billy Williams, the Hall of
Famer, put it: "There was a different tone when people talked about Sandy
Koufax." Hank Aaron was his toughest out: "You talk about the Gibsons
and the Drysdales and the Spahns. And as good as those guys were, Koufax was a
step ahead of them. No matter who he pitched against, he could always be a
little bit better. If somebody pitched a one-hitter, he could pitch a
no-hitter." He was an artist who inspired ballplayers to reach beyond
their usual idiom for metaphor and simile. They called him the game's Cary Grant and Fred Astaire and compared
him to the Mona Lisa and
the David. "He looked like Michelangelo," Ernie Banks said. "Pitching, walking,
whatever he did was kind of in rhythm with life, stylish." Sometimes one
analogy did not suffice. As Koufax's teammate, the noted art historian Lou
Johnson, said, "He was Michelangelo and Picasso rolled into one."
"Sandy Koufax,
A Lefty's Legacy" Jane
Leavy
The most surprising player from every MLB team for the
2025 season
New York Mets:
Clay Holmes, SP
The Mets
appeared to have confidence in Holmes when they signed him to a two-year deal
and converted him to starting this offseason. Their optimism has paid off, with
Holmes going 11-7 with a 3.61 ERA through his first 28 starts this season.
Surprisingly, he's been the team's most durable starter despite the conversion
from relief.
Munetaka Murakami
During an August 13 live stream with Bleacher Report, MLB
insider Jon Heyman noted that the New York Mets are one of the top potential
free agency fits for Japanese infielder Munetaka Murakami, who is expected to
be posted by his NPB team this winter.
"Number three team [for Murakami], I got the Mets. David Stearns was just seen over there, right?
Mets have three third basemen right now. Are any of them the answer? I don't
know... So I'm not gonna rule out the Mets. Stearns did take a trip. Is he
wasting his money? I don't know," Heyman said, per an X post from B/R
walk-off.
A.J. Hinch reflects on incredible effort in Game 5
He was referring to the fact that the Mets' president of
baseball operations, David Stearns, had
taken a trip out to Japan in August to scout Murakami and several other
top-tier Japanese players. And Murakami hit an absolute moonshot walk-off home
run while he was in attendance.
Murakami is a corner infielder with a career .951 OPS and
246 home runs in eight seasons playing in NPB. He has hit at least 28 home runs
in each of the last six seasons and proved he could hit off quality MLB
pitching when he hit a home run off Rangers pitcher Merrill Kelly in the
championship game of the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
Carlos Mendoza
The NY Post’s Mike Puma went
into what led to the ouster of so many coaches with one former coach suggesting
it came from an angry owner, Steve Cohen.
Another ex-Mets staff member
suggested Mendoza isn’t off the hook quite yet for 2025. “If they are 10-20 at
the end of April next year, [Mendoza] will be gone, unfortunately.” was told to
Puma.
MACK – I just don’t believe this crap.
First
of all, Steve Cohen doesn’t get angry. He also doesn’t attempt a Trump like, “your
fired” statement about anyone on this team. I know he was unhappy with the
season, but this is a class act Puma is writing about.
Second,
the key statement was “EX-Mets staff member”. It’s always comes from someone
that was fired and is now bitter.
John Gibbons
The Atlanta Braves are entering unfamiliar territory from
a managerial standpoint. They now face a key decision: stay in-house, as
they’ve often done in the past, or look outside the organization for someone
with proven success. Either way, the writing was on the wall—Brian Snitker was
likely not returning.
“Because of that consistent recent success, Snit would
normally be afforded a ‘mulligan’ year—even though going from the second-best
preseason World Series odds to possibly the third-best odds of winning the
draft lottery is a pretty serious mulligan,” Bleacher Report’s Kerry Miller
wrote. “At 69, though, he's already the oldest manager in the National League
by a several-year margin and was likely to retire at the end of this season,
which is the last one in his current contract.”
One potential candidate outside the organization—but with
a direct connection to GM Alex Anthopoulos—is John Gibbons. Gibbons previously
managed the Toronto Blue Jays while Anthopoulos served as GM.
“Before serving as the Mets bench coach the past two
seasons, Gibbons was Anthopoulos’ manager in Toronto from 2013-15. The bond led
to Gibbons being hired as a special assignment scout for the Braves in 2020,”
MLB.com’s Mark Bowman wrote.
Gibbons led the Blue Jays to multiple ALCS appearances,
though he never reached the World Series. While not a direct organizational
hire, the connection to Anthopoulos could carry significant weight.
I can see Gibbons in Atlanta…. After all, he walked away in his own. Having gotten fired would be a black mark.
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