Welcome to the official start of the off season during which teams can build and prepare for the upcoming baseball games of 2026. The World Series is over and now free agents can officially put themselves on the auction block, baseball executives can begin to converse with their agents and we all forget that the second best team in baseball won consecutive World Series titles.
For the Mets there are numerous things that need to be done. Obviously the two big opt-out situations with Pete Alonso and Edwin Diaz need to be addressed. The consensus among most covering the team is that if the club had to choose one of the two then Diaz is a more critical piece than is Alonso. Power hitters are readily available elsewhere and Alonso did not provide the envisioned defensive skill set that David Stearns purports to want moving forward.
There are some fine relievers available in free agency but none with the dominant skills that Diaz has demonstrated again and again. Not coincidentally the cost to retain Diaz is considerably less (perhaps by as much as 1/3) compared to what Alonso would command this time around in the open market after his 2025 season that ended with a solid batting average, 38 HRs and 126 RBIs. His WAR rating of 3.4 is quite nice though diluted a bit by his defensive limitations. Is he worth a long term investment of around $30 million per year? Or is it better business to make a shorter deal for Diaz at perhaps $22 million per season?
The other two players with opt-out clauses will not likely be exercising them. Frankie Montas is on the shelf for the entire 2026 season recovering from Tommy John surgery while A.J. Minter only had 13 games in 2025 before being shut down for the remainder of the year due to pain that eventually resulted in lat surgery. Opting out would not likely earn him more money elsewhere since no one is sure how ready he is to pitch and at what level.
Then there’s the logjam of infielders. Luisangel Acuna, Brett Baty, Ronny Mauricio, Jeff McNeil and Mark Vientos immediately come to mind. You also have recovering Nick Madrigal who went down in Spring Training due to a fracture of his left shoulder earned during preseason game play. It is certainly reasonable to assume that the club will be looking to make more than one of this group available in trades to help fortify team needs.
The outfield is truly a shambles. Yes, you have Juan Soto and his suspect glove along with Brandon Nimmo with his diminishing defensive skills along with good field/no hit Tyrone Taylor. That’s it for now. A center fielder is most definitely needed as is another bench outfielder.
On the catching side, the up and down season of Francisco Alvarez suggests that curtailing his long ball swing might actually increase his batting average. Defensively, however, he still seems to be adjusting to what he needs to do as the unofficial captain of the pitch selection decisions. Luis Torrens has it in spades over Alvarez defensively, but as a career .227 hitter with limited power he’s not a starting caliber player either.
Designated hitter is once again the great black hole. The team did get some decent at-bats from now free agent Starling Marte but other than his singles and doubles hitting they got almost nothing from everyone else they tried there (which is historically exactly what the club has received from many failed DH experiments). Some big names are out there in free agency or the club could turn to convert Mark Vientos into a full time DH so that his defensive won’t continue to impact the club negatively.
The starting rotation and the bullpen are both wide open right now with returning subpar players or people in injury recovery. Lots of names have been bandied about for free agent acquisition or as trade targets, but if the season started tomorrow the club is in a deep pitching tailspin.
Word has filtered out that the Mets have a new pitching coach from the Boston Red Sox who fits the young and analytics happy mindset that David Stearns apparently desires. 35 year old Justin Willard did have some good performance from his hurlers, so it will be interesting to see how the yet unknown Mets pitchers mesh with him.
The team also poached Rachel Folden from the Cubs where she headed up their hitting lab for prospects in the system. She worked as high as AAA and at this time no one is quite clear what the exact role will be for her in the Mets organization, but praise is abundant all over the media about the job she has done for Chicago.
It’s time to kick off the hot stove season in style.
11 comments:
Gonna start posting tomorrow at 4:30am, the previous day's highlights of the Hot Stove transactions in baseball.
Or the recipe of Mrs. Mack's New York Potato Salad
Your call
Does that make you Mr Potato Head, Mack? I did love those bakery items she used to whip up.
Diaz is unique. His velocity and fastball angle is fierce. Can he be successful if he loses a few MPH? I hope we sign him. Unless they are thoroughly convinced that Ross or Lambert will be the next Edwin in 2026. Me? I doubt it. There is only one Edwin. 839 Ks in 519 innings, career. Unreal.
Mrs. Mack's Shortbreak and fudge recipes - yum (raised $1,500 to cover partial expenses for daughter's first cancer operation)
Expect him to re-sign quickly with Mets
That shortbread was GOOD!
probably the reason I have schedued carotid artery surgey
We want both Diaz and the shortbread back!!
Adding 2 yrs at 4m more than current contract should get it done for Diaz, which means 8m more for next 2 years than the contract and 44m more thereafter for 2yrs (and plus a mutual option). That calculates to very little both in terms of opportunity costs and actual costs. Appropriate way of calculating costs for Alonso contract would yield much bigger numbers. The opportunity costs for Skubal border on insane when you add the cost savings you would have by keeping the players you would almost certainly have to part with. I am sure the brain trust of the Mets understands the meaning of opportunity cost calculations and that their decisions will take due account of it. Better to look at top of rotation choices like Peralta and Ryan and middle to back end free agents like Bieber.
The recipes will be an exclusive. Most of us will already know the moves! Don’t forget, if we are still here in the off season, there’s a reason….
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