Reese Kaplan -- Mets Coaching and MLB Upcoming Dates

As October begins to draw to a close it’s time to consider the many things the Mets need to do to prepare for the 2026 season from on-field staffing, player personnel and the MLB approved schedule for when various baseball related transactions can take place.

On the coaching staff front the Mets have already secured two new members.  For the hitting side they have opted to promote Jeff Albert to help repeat the recently criticized two-instructor hitting coach program.  Albert advances to the major league level while also keeping his first role in securing another hitting guru to help with the moribund offense.

For bench coach the Mets made what on the surface appeared to be a bit of a curious move by securing the services of former Cleveland Guardians employee Kai Correa.  The young Correa has also worked for the Giants under Gabe Kapler before taking over a multifaceted set of coaching responsibilities in Cleveland that included being a field coordinator who also was asked to oversee defense, baserunning and strategy.  Given that returning coach Antoan Richardson already put the Mets running game into gear this past season it will be interesting to see if there is any in-house jockeying for leadership in this area. 

Coaching personnel changes are still a top priority with a new pitching coach needed to replace the terminated Jeremy Hefner, a third base coach to take over for the departed Mike Sarbaugh and a catching coach to assume the role held by now retired Glen Sherlock.  These moves may have to wait for the post season to conclude as some of the personnel the Mets may want to approach could still be engaged in on-the-field activities for their current employers.

Given the missing pieces needed for center field, the pitching staff and potentially first base, the Mets may need to indulge in additional free agent acquisitions.  According to major league rules players can declare themselves free agents on the day following the end of the current World Series.  Given the calendar in place this year it is entirely possible that a Game 7 if needed wouldn’t take place until November 1st.  Consequently it could be as late as November 2nd for players to declare themselves to be available to the highest interested bidder.

The next key date for baseball teams are the GM Meetings taking place in Las Vegas between November 10th and November 13th.  While usually these meetings do not result in many personnel moves being made, they do provide the opportunity for David Stearns and his staff to start feeling out fellow GMs regarding moves that might be possibilities for further discussion later in the off season. 

On November 21st there is a deadline for the Non-Tender moves the team may or may not make to reshape their roster.  The issue concerns players with less than six years of service time and often includes players who are arbitration eligible.  For the Mets some of the possible roster casualties could include injury recovery players Reed Garrett, Max Kranick, Nick Madrigal, and Tylor Megill as well as Austin Warren.   It is possible that the Mets may decide having roster vacancies for healthy ballplayers makes more sense than paying people to sit in recovery for all or most of the upcoming season.

The big daddy of baseball activity are the Winter Meetings which take place the following month between December 8th to 11th in Orlando.  It was at the previous year’s Winter Meetings that the Mets made Juan Soto the highest paid player in the game so it’s possible for major changes to be negotiated or consummated during this event. 

Another event at the Winter Meetings is the annual Rule V Draft during which the team must make important decisions about who will become a part of the 40-man roster and who might be deemed less critical and eligible to be drafted by other teams providing they plan to position the acquired minor leaguer on their major league roster all year (or offer him back to the club from which he was drafted).  Speedy Nick Morabito, catchers Kevin Parada and Ronald Hernandez, as well as infielders J.T. Schwartz and Luke Ritter are examples of players the Mets must evaluate for their future in the organization.