An lively offseason for the Mets appears to be like to be largely accomplished. President of baseball operations David Stearns prompt throughout a session with the workforce’s beat Wednesday that the Alonso deal was probably the workforce’s final big splash. Requested if felt he was performed with main additions, Stearns replied:
“I feel so. We’re at all times going to be concerned in conversations. We’re at all times going to be attempting to see if there are methods we will get higher. We additionally really feel actually good in regards to the group we have now that’s reporting proper now, and I’d anticipate, by and huge, that that is the workforce we’re going ahead with.”
Whereas it’s not a decisive declaration that there are not any additional transactions on the horizon, it appears probably that these would come by way of non-roster invitation. The Mets possess a veteran roster of gamers with five-plus years of MLB service or who’ve exhausted their minor league choices. Additional veteran signings/acquisitions may exacerbate some pretty restricted roster flexibility. Stearns’ response when requested whether or not the workforce was transferring on from infielder Jose Iglesias is fairly telling in that regard:
“I feel the place we at the moment are, for that function on our workforce, it’s essential for us to maintain some avenues open for a few of our youthful gamers. We expect it’s essential for us to have some roster flexibility with that spot. It’s actually powerful to freeze your complete place participant roster. We did that for a portion final 12 months, and we really form of acquired away with it, however there very simply may’ve been a circumstance the place we acquired caught with a totally frozen place participant roster, so having some flexibility there in that function is, frankly, in all probability wanted for us proper now.”
That’s a disappointing reply for Mets followers who fell in love with Iglesias in what proved to be a renaissance marketing campaign for the 35-year-old. Initially signed to a minor league deal, Iglesias was summoned to the majors on the finish of Might and have become not solely a extremely productive function participant however a fan and clubhouse favourite due to his OMG track that turned a rallying cry. In 85 video games, Iglesias made 291 plate appearances and batted .337/.381/.448. Nevertheless, that manufacturing was approach out of sync along with his profession norms (.279/.319/.382 getting into the season) and was buoyed by a sky-high .382 common on balls in play that he’s not more likely to repeat.
Past some justifiable questions on Iglesias’ capacity to maintain his 2024 output, Stearns’s reply’s “flexibility” side is value drilling right into a bit additional. Proper now, the one Mets’ projected lineup member who could be optioned to Triple-A is catcher Francisco Alvarez. They’ll have three bench gamers — backup catcher Luis Torrens, backup outfielder Tyrone Taylor and outfielder/DH Starling Marte — who can’t be optioned. (Outfielder Jose Azocar can also be out of choices, so he’ll have to earn a roster spot or be DFA’d later in camp.)
Including Iglesias would create a fourth, successfully “freezing” the workforce’s complete group of place gamers, as Stearns prompt. That may very well be why the workforce opted to convey infielder Nick Madrigal into the combination. He supplies comparable bat-to-ball abilities and infield versatility but in addition has a minor league possibility remaining, creating extra flexibility because the season wears on.
It’s comparable on the pitching workers. Kodai Senga and David Peterson are the one starters who could be optioned. Reed Garrett is the one member of the projected ’pen who could be optioned. Every of Edwin Diaz, A.J. Minter, Ryne Stanek, Jose Butto, Griffin Canning, Danny Young and Sean Reid-Foley is both out of choices or previous 5 years of MLB service.
That lack of flexibility is magnified when a participant within the lineup may have two to 4 days off however in all probability not a full IL stint. It’s additionally notable when a particular reliever or the reduction corps as an entire is overworked and the workforce want to add a recent arm to the combination. There may very properly be some uncomfortable DFAs on the horizon for the Mets, although accidents or poor spring performances could make these selections simpler.
If the Mets are certainly performed, they’ll enter the 2025 season with the sport’s No. 2 payroll, trailing solely the reigning World Sequence champs in Los Angeles. Stearns famous that he and proprietor Steve Cohen mapped out varied eventualities relating to their potential payroll early within the offseason, and the Mets have now landed towards the very best ranges the pair mentioned on the time. RosterResource projects the Mets for a $331M payroll, with $325M on their luxury-tax ledger.
