Reese Kaplan -- Perhaps There Is a Plan After All

Many of you all here and among my Met fan friends know I have been less than charitable on how David Stearns has operated as the head honcho of the business of baseball at Citifield.  First were the free agent departures of Pete Alonso and Edwin Diaz, then the trade of Brandon Nimmo for a good glove and questionable bat in Marcus Semien.  Those three things alone were enough to sour many fans on how the 2025 team finished with a lineup and bench far superior to what's on tap for 2026.

Others have longer memories and hearken back to 2024 when a team in desperate need of offense signed a career .247 hitter to play center field, then repeated the same exercise with the trade for Jose Siri and the subsequent trade for Cedric Mullins.  When the starting rotation was in shambles in 2025 he did nothing at the major league level to address the problem and instead waited until late August and early September to force feed three AAA youngsters to help bolster the give-away pitching that they were starting 4 out of 5 days.  He did make an earnest effort to improve the porous bullpen but only Tyler Rogers performed as expected while Ryan Helsley and Gregory Soto did not help win ballgames.  

With players starting to report to Port St. Lucie on February 11th the Mets still have not changed the starting rotation at all except by integrating Nolan McLean who looked brilliant in his brief major league trial.  The bullpen may be better or may be worse depending on the health of A.J. Minter and the performance metrics of former Yankees Devin Williams and Luke Weaver.  

Obviously there are a great many things to criticize in how things have gone for the Mets yet at the same time the people excoriating Stearns for missing out on Kyle Tucker really are a bit off base.  It's odd for me to be in the position of defending the former Milwaukee executive but step back for a moment and think about what actually happened.  By all accounts the Mets had upped their annual offer from $50 million to $55 million and the length of the deal from three years to four.  

Is Kyle Tucker worth more than Juan Soto?  The $60 million he got from the Dodgers far exceeds what the Mets are paying their cleanup hitter.  You really can't fault Stearns for being cheap nor for being stingy with the contract duration.  The Mets offered $220 million over 4 years and the Dodgers bumped it up to $240 million for the same duration.  Pretty much any ballplayer would not walk away from an extra $20 million and the chance each season to be in the World Series.  Don't blame this specific transaction on the oft-criticized David Stearns.

Now, however, the gloves must come off.  With Cody Bellinger apparently looking for over $30 million per year for 7 years he's not exactly going to be consistent with the fiscal responsibility some felt the Mets would exercise for the present and future payroll obligations.  There is not likely going to be a David Stearns press conference with Bellinger at his side holding his name printed on a Mets jersey.  

What almost no one saw coming was the rapid signing of potentially the best right handed bat available in Bo Bichette who hits for average and power for $18 million per year less than Tucker and adding a much needed right handed bat.  That's the good news.  

The bad news, of course, is that Bichette is a challenging player defensively and Stearns was quite vocal in his desire for run prevention.  Shortstop is filled.  Theoretically second base and third base are already filled.  There's another infielder slated to play first base.  

So what happens now?  Is Brett Baty crossing the diamond to try his never-before-tested hand at first base opening up third for Bichette?  Do you try to ask Bichette to play a brand new position that Alonso vacated?  Do you attempt to convert Bichette into an outfielder like his father had been?  Do you bench newly acquired and expensive Marcus Semien? 

If you go back and look at the remaining available free agents for the outfield where the Mets still have two vacancies that need to be filled.  The pickings are mighty slim.  Miguel Andujar, Austin Hays, Harrison Bader and Randal Grichuk represent the best of the remaining lot.  It seems most of the free agents available have already been snapped up by more aggressive GMs who wanted to secure their rosters early into the off season.  On the DH front the only name with some note would be now former Brave Marcell Ozuna.  He had a mediocre 2025 and is getting up their in age which might appeal to the short term contract oriented Mets front office but he's not going to be available for chump change either.

Trades are going to have to be made.  You still need two starting quality outfielders.  You still need to improve the starting rotation.  You need a long man in the bullpen.  Young players who have not yet become regulars during their major league careers like Ronny Mauricio, Mark Vientos and Luisangel Acuna may have to be on the move to address these needs as well as top level minor league prospects.  It also means Brett Baty may now become a trade chip to land an impressive outfielder or starting pitcher.

At this point many are wondering exactly what the plan was for building the roster.  Letting players walk away and trading a few long term Mets was one thing.  Adding Jorge Polanco and Marcus Semien to replace the offense of Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil doesn’t quite add up.  Now factoring the acquisition of Bo Bichette actually does.  They still need outfielders.  They need better pitching.  The clock is still ticking with Spring Training just over three weeks away.