Reese Kaplan -- Who's Left After All the Mets Free Agents Depart?

Earlier in the week we examined the free agents to be for the New York Mets and it’s a whopping magnitude.  The active roster is actually half of what you might think it is with 11 members set for their sell to the highest bidder freedom and two more with opt-out clauses.  That means you are literally just guaranteed to have 13 folks from the 26 man roster returning.  Considering the club made it all the way to Game 6 of the NLCS, there’s an awful lot of turnover on the immediate horizon.

Today we will examine the folks from 2024 who are eligible to return and see if perhaps some turnover is necessary in this group as well.  In some cases it is a matter of looking to improve the overall strength of the collective team roster and in other cases it may be a function of reallocating payroll dollars in a different way.

Now do remember that when David Stearns arrive in New York he inherited the team with all of its 100-loss flaws from the dugout and front office people who did not get the job done.  One by one changes were made but the 2024 season did not unfold exactly as expected.  It was an excruciating April and May leaving folks wondering about the manager, the general manager, the players and whether or not the unsteady footing was going to become permanent.

Well, I don’t need to rehash the mighty changes that took place in the rostre construction, deployment and motivation that led instead to an 89 win regular season and very exclusive entry into October baseball.  In some cases it was David Stearns who swallowed hard and made changes when players he selected were simply not the right fit.  In other cases it was slumps and injuries that forced new faces onto the playing lineup.

So without further ado, let’s take a look at the great remainder of the Mets roster eligible to become part of the 2025 team.  I’ve included some injury recoveries which fluffs up the numbers a bit, too:

Hitters

Luisangel Acuna — This little sparkplug did better than many had expected given his uneven Syracuse season.  He showed defensive range, great speed and some power.  Though he finished the year on the big club he may start the next one proving he can master the next lower level of competition.

Francisco Alvarez —- No one is quite sure what to make of the catcher of the present (and the future).  He is improving defensively but his bat went into lost and found for a great part of the season.  He did finish the NLCS with a pair of multi-hit games, so that probably restored a little bit of faith.  Bear in mind he’s still just 22 years old.

Francisco Lindor — There’s nothing much to say here.  He costs a fortune and plays like he deserves every penny of Steve Cohen’s money that he’s being paid.

Starling Marte — The former All Star is approaching his fourth and final year of the deal that brought him here courtesy of deposed GM Billy Eppler.  Injuries have seriously hampered what was expected of the man after year one.  The salary kept going up but the productivity didn’t.  He can still run and hit around the diamond, but the defense has waned and he’s not delivering over $20 million of value.

Jeff McNeil — On a somewhat smaller dollar scale you have infielder Jeff McNeil who has once won an NL batting title but then went two straight years performing like a shell of his former self.  The outfield assignments were relatively new for him who came up as a second baseman, but with limited power and a poor batting average you wonder how much advantage the team has when he is in the lineup.

Brandon Nimmo — What a long strange year it was for Nimmo. He hit with more power and drove in more runs than in the past, yet at the same time the solid and cautious hitter with a great eye dropped down in the eyebrow raising level for his poor batting average.  He was fighting off plantar fasciitis which could impact comfort by not being able to plant your foot properly.  Still, he’s a keeper.

Tyrone Taylor — A remnant of David Stearns’ Milwaukee days, Taylor showed defense, speed and an occasionally productive bat.  He played more innings than would have been ideal, but with injuries and slumps to others there wasn’t much choice for manager Carlos Mendoza.  He’s fine as a 4th outfielder but a bit weak to be penciled in as a starter.

Luis Torrens — He’s another player who seemed to be writing the word “steal” on Stearns’ resume.  He started off with great hitting and solid defense.  He became very important during Alvarez’ time off due to injury.  Then he went into a long tailspin with the bat but he’s still markedly better than previous substitute catchers.

Mark Vientos — It’s almost like writing the Lindor comments all over again.  Yes, his defense isn’t stellar but it’s improving.  The offense was way better than even the most ardent optimist could have predicted.  Given his paltry salary there’s no question that he will play.  There’s less certainty, however, about where.

Pitchers

Paul Blackburn — News filtered out this week about a surgical procedure for Blackburn that will keep him off the mound for 5 months.  Given that it’s late October, that would mean he’d be starting his Spring Training in April when the rest of the team departs for New York.  His track record is modest and again I question whether keeping him makes any sense. 

Jose Butto — His fantasy value may have been fantastic, but over the final month and in the post season he started showing some cracks in his armor.  Still, he was way more good than bad and after transitioning to the bullpen out of necessity he flourished. 

Edwin Diaz — Unfortunately he had an up and down year where people’s confidence in his ability took a major hit.  Remember how he looked in his first year in Queens?  While it wasn’t quite that extreme it was still a series of unfortunate flashbacks.  Still, when he’s on his game he is unhittable.

Reed Garrett — The club needs to do what it can to bring the man back.  He was unflappable when needed and at times showed the kind of fastball that opposing hitters find difficult to hit well.  Sometimes players are late bloomers and in his case it may be what happened here.

Tylor Megill — The options are gone so Megill is a Met or he is trade bait.  He showed sometimes he had great ability and other times he looked like vintage Tylor Megill (which was not a good thing for anyone).  His chances of making the team are contractually in his favor.  How much he would help and whether it’s in the rotation or pen is one of many great unknowns.

Dedniel Nunez — If he can recover well from his health problems then he’s definitely earned a place in the bullpen.  He was never regarded as a top prospect but his tenure in the new pitching lab helped push him over the edge into quality. 

David Peterson — Unlike his teammate Megill, Peterson put together a season for all Mets fans and stat nerds to enjoy.  With free agents and injury recoveries leaving many question marks for the 2025 rotation, Peterson is in one of the top two spots for now until trades and/or free agency brings in more solid arms.

Kodai Senga — Let’s try to remember what he did in 2023 and forget the forced experiments of 2024.  His arm (and later his leg) did not have the number of innings of solid strengthening to justify the attempt to force him into games prematurely (and it showed).  With a full winter’s recovery time he should be ace quality once again.

Danny Young — While not exactly rock solid on his resume in the past, this Young pitched acceptably well for the Mets after making the team mid season.  He finished with 42 games for the big club at age 30.  The 4-1 record and 11.3 Ks per 9 IP looked great.  The walk numbers of 4.3 per game did not.  He’s a left handed option who has a good shot at returning but to be used in less high leverage situations if he does. 

Right now it would appear that David Stearns has at best a skeleton crew of a competitive roster and he’s going to be earning his keep given how many holes need to be filled.