5 Big Mistakes Mets Could Make This Offseason

5 Big Mistakes Mets Could Make This Offseason

Last week we gave you the dream off season. Great way to start off your week. We’re giving you the nightmare off season. What could go wrong for the New York Mets in the 2026 off seasonason? There’s a lot of things that could go wrong. I [ __ ] hope they don’t. I really don’t. I really hope it goes well, but why not? Let’s make your Tuesday morning or whenever you’re listening to this a nightmare for you as well. Get these negative thoughts in your head. I’ll be honest, not off to a great start this off season. We already had two of the coaches that we liked on this staff. go to the Atlanta Braves. Antoine Richardson and Jeremy Hefner going to the Braves because they’re getting more money. It’s kind that kind of sucks to start this one off with. I mean, I think it’s definitely different for Hefner versus Richardson where we just we told Hefner not to come back. So, he’s he’s a good coach. We knew he was getting a job. I think we said it if he were not to come back, I think we said he’d be unemployed for about five or 10 minutes. It seems like that was the case. to seem pretty pretty well to do where Richardson the thing we talked about last week or week and a half ago whenever it was that we were scared about did happen where he didn’t really go to a staff that he was particularly close like super close with any of the the top guys on it and he didn’t exactly get a bump in role either. It seems like this was kind of a weird situation where a combination of him possibly overplaying his hand and the Mets prioritizing other coaches kind of forced his way out of here inadvertently. I also think at the same time because Carl Mendoza is not a highly paid manager in the grand scheme of the sport. I think it’s hard to bump up the pay of your first base coach to a point where the pays could be close enough with the manager where you’re like that sets up a weird power dynamic as well. And also the case of now he can hop on with a new manager who’s coming in there with a new coaching staff rather than Mendoza who like we said is a bit of a lame duck right now. And Mike Puma had a good a good piece and some good tweets about what happened. He said that the Mets had uh he left Richardson left the Mets for the Braves because of a difference in opinion over his value. He said I had a proposed salary with benefits included. The Mets had a proposed salary with benefits included. We differed on the salary part. So that seems to be the point where then he started looking for other places. Then Puma came back to that and said Richardson circled back to the Mets at the end, but the team couldn’t offer the same deal as originally because of restriction on the number of coaches allowed to receive a pension. The Mets had hired other coaches before Richardson circled back and that is a rule that I think four other coaches in the major league staff besides the managers are allowed to receive pensions. So it seems like as the Mets have hired other coaches promoting Jeff Albert, Troy Snicker, who’s not official and Justin Willard who’s not official either. It seems like maybe they gave out some contracts that got the pensions before like dur while Richardson went the runaround. It did seem like he was going to use another team for leverage circled back but then since he couldn’t get the pension seems like that pushed this firmly over the top. Yeah, and truthfully, it’s not that big of a conversation point. It’s more like we know the impact that both these guys made. It mostly sucks that they’re going in division to the Braves, which spin zone, that’s why the Mets haven’t been able to beat the Braves that have sleeper cells working for them this entire time. Never trusted Jeremy Hefner for a second. He was a traitor. Don’t say that. Don’t say we had great times. We had great Jeremy Heft. Jeremy Hefner. Jeremy Heft was better about this. Again, the Hector thing I’m not mad about cuz we told him not to come back. The Richardson thing was crazy because like he did want a large salary bump and like you just can’t have you can’t have him making that much more than these other coaches and if if losing Antoine Richardson means that we wouldn’t have been able to get these other coaches. Like I think the modernizing the mess are trying to do with this coaching staff, this player development, I think it’s fine. But did I don’t like losing Richardson. It does suck the way circumstantially this has to have happened, especially him going to the [ __ ] Braves. I also think that if we are overly concerned as an organization about our first base coach, we might have lost the entire plot of how to be a successful baseball team. Yeah, a lot of you guys were hitting us up last week like there’s no emergency episode about Antoine Richardson to the Braves and we’re like no, that’s like I we have it’s I don’t know. He’s the first base coach. Like this is there’s a lot more to talk about, especially all the ways we’re going to ruin your day right here talking about how this offseason can become a nightmare for the Mets. You guys are David Sterns hatthers, turn up the volume because we’re gonna this is going to be a dark twisted fantasy for you all. Yeah. And listen, we’re not rooting for this. But there is there is a world where these things happen. Maybe not every single one of them cuz oh my god, I would rip rip the hair out of my head. But there’s a world where every every single one of these scenarios that we give you could happen. Now, that being said, maybe it’s also not the worst thing for this team because they didn’t do pretty well last year. They’ve had a lot of the same over the last few years. Maybe it’s time to really change things up. But let’s get going into it. The first one I think that everyone is talking about that’s a Mets fan, the need for an ace pitcher. And I also think that this is one of the more likely scenarios that does happen that the Mets don’t grab an ace. And we’ve talked about this in previous offseasons. We’ve talked about this with how David Sterns builds a rotation, the Mets organization. I don’t necessarily think it’s because the Mets don’t want an ace. I don’t think it’s David Sturds trying to prove that he’s smarter than everyone. Which is the most famous backhanded comment that everyone puts in their Twitter replies. And whenever I see those, I go, yeah, I think there might be a little bit more behind those words, something a little little extra behind there, a little bit of vitriol with those. But I think at the end of the day, one on the market right now free agent wise, the aces that are available, little risky. I don’t know if we want to give Framber Valdez the money that he wants. And that’s pretty much the only true I think guaranteed ace in this market right now on the free agent side where Dylan CE is up in the air. Ranger Suarez is probably more of a two rather than a one. Those guys are scary. And then on the trade side, it’s kind of up to Scooble. Like obviously you could get Sandy, but it’s the same conversation. Maybe Freddy Peralta, but Scooble’s the real number one guy out there and he just might not get moved. He might not. And we have now the reporter wars that begin every offseason that are happening right now. We’re going to talk about a little more in a sec with some stuff coming out, but there was report from Jeff Pass last week that Terrick school and the Tigers are motivated to stay together and get a long-term contract done. Then Bob Nightingale went out and said the opposite. Said the Tigers are still ready to move them, but they need to be blown away, but the extension talks aren’t that close. So, it’s just all happening. Just saying this out loud, too. Maybe the people who mess up can let us know. Report MLB reporter tier list on the windup for the offseason. Good idea. Good idea. Subscribe to the windup down in the com in the description below. Good. It’s going to piss some people off, but hey, that’s that that’s that’s why it’s called the wind up. But there’s we’re just we’re going to still act like this whole offseason tub available. Next episode’s going to come out later this week as 10 players the Mets. Again, we’re going to title it thumbnail clickbait for you guys. 10 players the Mets will trade for us offseason. And of course, again, they will be led by Scooball. But I think that in terms of nightmare scenario like it does weirdly start and end with him because I’m not I’m not really obsessed with any of those free agent pitchers. Like if we come out of this off season without CE Framber, Ranger Suarez, Michael King, especially without paying qualifying offers for them, I don’t think that’s the end of the world. I think all of those guys very specifically and uniquely, we talked about that in a video a month ago, have a glaring problem with each of them. Whether it be the cost, whether it be something about their game, there’s just something wrong with all of them. I don’t think any of them should be considered the one at this juncture. I think if you did, it would be one of the weaker ones that you would have in all of Major League Baseball. You’d be in the bottom tier of your aces. And truthfully, at the end of the day, we saw it with Corbin Burns, too. This is the risk of giving guys like just anybody. These long big-term contracts, Max Freed was an ace until he wasn’t for the the 2025 season. And truthfully, we again, he’s a stronger two than he is as a one. You don’t feel great Max Freed being your best pitcher. And the Yankees didn’t plan on that with the Garrett Cole injury, but they still did. Similarly with Corbin Burns, while Corbin Burns was great, you don’t want to pay for what happened. We know moving forward it was going to be differently. And then you couldn’t have foreseen that he blew out his arm. But that’s always the fear with these guys as well, especially when a lot of the rheto specifically Dylan CE right now and Framber more so. I think the Mets community is kind of aware that the Framber thing might not happen just because of how much he will command. But CE is CE is the hipster race because CE has the strikeout rate, the strikeout minus walk rate. He has the flashy stuff, especially with the fast ball and the slider, but there really has never been I know he tries knuckle curve like the third pitch to develop on that. So, when you’re signing a guy who has a qualifying offer attached to him, you have to think well enough about his long-term viability to be willing to part with that pick. To be willing to part with that pick, you want to give the guy a long-term deal. You don’t want to part with a potential, you know, top 40 pick in the draft, especially in the Mets don’t have many of those to sign a guy who you think’s only worthy of a two-year deal. So, then with that, you basically need to have some player development projection on top of what you want to do with Dylan CE. Maybe the Mets are confident that we talked last week about all of Justin Willard’s ethos about throwing strikes, being a striketh thrower. CE just doesn’t have pitches he really throws in the strike zone consistently besides his fast ball. So maybe there could be a plan. You know something about the way he releases the ball, his arm slot to find a cutter to find a sinker. Like he’s tried kind of a bit in the past, but you don’t see those things. You just he can’t be a guy you give five the fiveyear 25 million AV which he probably will command if not a bit more. Especially when, like you just said, you’re like, “Oh, no matter what, he’s a workhorse. 30 starts five years in a row.” Cuz that’s just that’s true until it’s not like you’re buying innings like that. You It’s really hard to project that. I know it’s it’s easier to trust a guy like Cece for that than Michael King. But it’s still every single one of these guys has a real unique problem inside themselves. And if Mets don’t trade for one of the top pitchers, I don’t know how much I want to tilt and get one of these guys instead. Yeah. To be a little like a little disrespectful to some of the free agents. It’s like just because the pitching free agent market is more middle of the rotation dense doesn’t mean that because those are the only ones available that they’re deacto aces like there have been in previous offseasons. Dylan C not the same pitcher but the idea is it feels like similarly to like Carl Pavanoy where I’m like I don’t really it is but it is a good I mean but Pavano came off a great year when the Yankees signed him all those years ago and obviously we were dumber as baseball fans in general just knowing what makes pitchers successful and what doesn’t and sustain success but the idea being that there is this inconsistency with those bright flashes is scary for someone you’re going to give a long-term contract to. Bavano still just himself had many more injury concerns than C7 did heading into this. Again, like the five straight years of 30 starts, like that’s cool. Salute Dylan C for that. But it’s just whether or not we can find more pitches that can go in the strike zone for Dylan CE. And again, if the Mets internally believe that, then I’m all for throwing Dylan CE because then you I’m not going to complain if we sign him. I’m not going to be like, “Oh, we signed Dylan CE. What a disgrace.” Like, I would be happy, but he is not the answer to the Mets problems at this exact moment. Possibly not. He also possibly is. This is more of like the mystery grabback thing with Dylan CE. Like this is like, oh, I can have a boat or I can get the mystery box. There might be a boat in there. Like that’s that’s just who he is. And we still again like the underlying stuff with CE liked all the strikeouts. And last year he was unbelievably unlucky. I think last year compared to two years ago when he was bad again because Dylan CE is good every other year if you look back at his career. Even year next year. So yeah, maybe next year it’s just worth it to get him. But it’s just it was like I think he had like six home runs that were hit under 340 feet. Like it was a really weird thing where all the wall scrapers happened to him at one time. It’s just when you’re a two- pitch guy and one pitch goes wrong, like you’re just [ __ ] And then like something similar could be said about a guy like Joe Ryan who’s the popular trade candidate as well. Like I think Joe Ryan is more of a strong two than a one. So it’s this come back to the same concept of this offseason could be considered a disaster, disappointment, nightmare if the Mets don’t get an ace. But like is he an ace? Is Sandy an ace? Is Freddy Peralta an ace? I think Peralta might be the closest thing currently of all those guys. Like it’s a very weird pitcher market if Terrick school isn’t like the jewel on top of it. I think we also look at aces differently than most baseball fans where it’s like there’s probably about what 10 aces really truthfully in baseball maybe 10 to 15 and then the rest of them are all kind of fighting on a given year whether they are frontline guy like that. Yeah, you can be the ace on your own team but if you it’s different than being considered an ace leaguewide and that’s that was the max free distinction that was really difficult to kind of uh sort through and find this year. There’s also Tatsuy Mai who was just posted and I think the a similar thing is happening now with him where he will not have a qualifying offer attached to him. He had some really fun godly stats in the MPB over the last few years. He’s kind of he’s just seems like one of the best pitchers, but now I think people are trying to make him an ace because everything you’ve seen with Yamoto, it’s like he’s not even close to that guy. And there were I’ve seen contract projections on Yumi that have ranged from like five for 80 or 90 up to like seven for 250. And it’s just I just can’t give him that money. No, seeing a range like that, like he’s the guy where we know from the Will Sam article that came out yesterday when you guys listening to this, the Mets at least want to add one guy to the starting rotation mix and for him to not have a QO, you could if you could get away with the five for 100. Sure. Like another Kodaiish deal like a similar Yeah, similar to Kodai, but probably a little more because he doesn’t have the same durability concerns now we’ve all seen with Kodi. But my thing in Japan was that he had this kind of back meme up slider that’s it’s his out pitch and it was getting crazy whiff rates against hitters from both sides of the plate. like it was the thing that made him great. He has a good fast ball as well, but that fast ball average 95, which in Japan is great velocity. In here, it’s just average velocity for right-handed pitchers. That it swing strike rate will fall down on that. But again, that slider was his pitch. I just don’t know if a back me up slither can be like the outest of out pitches in the major leagues comparatively where now fast. Yeah, it’s again, it’s weird. It’s a profile that looks to me more like a low-end two, highend three rather than a one, which is where this conversation keeps spinning around. And then just to be a little bit positive for a second, like no MLAN looked awesome. We still get some development out of him. He he could be the ace of this rotation. The way that he looked in the highs that he had, it’s totally in the realm of possibility. Oh yeah, I think that even just starting to think about fancy baseball stuff for next year. I’m going to have him like as a fringe top 30 guy, just looking at the stuff, looking at the ballpark, understanding how his pitches interact with one another and how good he was in the small sample. But then you can’t like I just don’t think you go into next season with San Gamaya as his key support and that’s how we get back to this first nightmare scenario here. Yes. Which is would love to get someone that’s better than Nolan Mlan in this team. Yeah. Like if you if we come out of this off season just with Mel Kelly, I’d throw up. I think some people be really mad about that. But that’s that’s nightmare scenario one to begin to ruin your guys’ money. Yeah. Mel Kelly is our is our only starting pitcher we signed. Nightmare scenario one. [ __ ] the Ace thing. Mel Kelly only. I still love Mel Kelly. I still happy to have him. I think it’d be worse to get like Zack Allen with his qualifying offer attached than even Mel Kelly. Le Kelly doesn’t have the Qo, but this is just just painting the picture here. I just I have I know Mel Kelly’s better than Paul Blackurn, but boy oh boy has that guy really giving me some PTSD. Yeah, don’t don’t ever conflate those two guys. Mel Kelly is a damn good pitcher. Pratt’s Pop Quiz. What has 35 grams of protein, six grams of fiber, 27 essential vitamins and minerals, comes in excellent flavors, like of course chocolate, vanilla, but chocolate peanut butter, my favorite. No added sugar, gluten-free, under $5 per meal, and is ready to drink. Go out the house, get yourself a fuel. Look at you. You even have one right there. Ready to smack that John. Chocolate, peanut butter, chocolate, and vanilla delicios. Also, there is a new daily greens ready to drink. 42 vitamins, minerals, and superfoods. Only 25 calories on that one. Four grams of fiber. There’s flavors like blueberry, apple, peach. Hule makes healthy eating simple. They also just launched into Target stores nationwide. Try both products today with 15% off your purchase for new customers with the code foul at hule.com/fol. Use that code foul and fill out the postcheckout survey to help support FT. The second thing that could be a real nightmare to this. Oh man, this is brutal. I feel so bad for you guys. Please stay safe on the road. Edwin Diaz doesn’t come back. What the [ __ ] are we going to do with this bullpen if we don’t have him? I mean, this really gets more nightmarish if he’s a Dodger or a Yankee. Yeah. Yeah, maybe that’s what it is. Edwin Diaz not only leaves, he goes to the Dodgers or Phillies. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, again, it’s just especially like relative to our roster and the players that we have in front of us right now. I think losing Edund Diaz, not in terms of like an actual every single day baseball sense, but in the way I would feel in my chest, it if you would feel a little bit worse than losing Pete, it was really nice knowing that the end of games was pretty locked down for like the last four seasons. I’ve really enjoyed that comfortability and I don’t I don’t look forward to not having that at the end of the game. We saw what it was like in the year when Nwin Diaz was hurt. how scary it can be at times. We’ve seen for teams that are good how scary it can be at the end of the games when you don’t have that guy. I know at times we talk about you you don’t pay relievers that much money, but that’s more of the Tanner Scott group. Edwin Diaz is if not the best reliever, the second best reliever in baseball, especially because Emanuel Class is a [ __ ] So, I mean, you got to bring him back. They got to. And if he’s gone and goes to the Dodgers again, I’m going to fall to my knees and scream. Another wind up plug. If you guys want to hear our thoughts of the Emanuel class situation coming up the wind up this afternoon, but there is still the viability concern with Edwin. Again, we just keep rehashing this like is he going to be that good when he’s 34? Like is Edwin Diaz making $22 million at 34 years old? His two pitch who’s losing his elite velocity. It could be bad. But in terms of what if this team wants any chance to win the next two seasons, hopefully the second of those two happens. You don’t it’s hard to find a path to having a plus plus bullpen next year if Edwin Diaz isn’t in it which is so the opposite of what we thought the last few years but I think last year was a humbling moment for you me David Sterns everyone involved here because if you look at other closes available which I don’t even think that we’d consider going in this direction if we don’t sign Edwin Diaz like I don’t think you give Robert Suarez similar money on a shorter term deal like I don’t think you he’s just worse I don’t think you get rice glacius who’s much older than either of those two guys or actually not the Robert Suarez but then Edmond Diaz like is this just to become the Devin Williams redemption project? You signed Deon Williams in the one-year prove it deal and you hope that you just bought a potentially a league closer again. Did you you try to force Kenley Jansen back across the country like who like who’s also 38 years old like it’s just bring back too. Why not, you know, give him we let him see if he can figure it out again. Well, but that’s also I mean Hely unironically is in the next tier of relievers who you look to like Amelio Pagan who I think is a really intriguing option but I would love him as Nathan a guy. Pete Fairbanks who I think has the public lexicon closer shine but like under the surface he’s really lost a lot of the good stuff and I think that it’s not that crazy if the Rays just let him go in terms of what his option was like the Kirby Yates redemption arc he’s also what approaching 40 Kyle Finnegan now he’s throwing that splitter all the time that the Tigers had him do like it’s it gets real weird real fast to go into next season without a closer if you don’t have Edwin then you trade assets for a closer like in terms of that we don’t trade for starting pitcher like it’s really weird path forward to be a contender next year without Edwin Diaz. I enjoy the theory of the glob of chaos. I do not want a full bullpen full of glob of chaos because once again I will rip all the hair out of my head. You the one you the one of Michael Copek, Jordan Romano, Adra Allay ninth inning trio next year. Is that does that not sound good to you? I I accidentally got season tickets. I thought I opted out. I found out that I’m really Yeah, I found out I’m back on them. They got you. If if our clo if the [ __ ] closer is Jordan Romano, Michael Copek, Brad Keller, I’ll I’ll be boycotting games. I’ll come with the paper bag on my head. That would be insane. What about Jim Palmer’s favorite uh reliever, Sir Anthony Dominguez? I mean, I’d love him in the seventh. He’s a great seventh inning reliever. Don’t feel good about him getting the last three outs. And this is the whole thing again. I think both of us have not fully changed our philosophy because if some if some team comes down here and gives Edund Diaz like five for 125, then they they got him. At that point, I won’t feel as disgustingly bad as I will if he gets signed for like a similar amount of money. And I still think Edwin Diaz wants to be back. And I think the Mets want Edwin Diaz back for a price that’s fair and reasonable for everyone involved here. But at the same time, if he does get blown out of the water, and this is this is where we wind up shopping, like it’s going to be a great week of messed up content of us just digging through every single team’s depth chart and finding any reliever we could possibly trade for. And that sounds like a nightmare to me. All right, let’s move on to the third nightmare scenario, which is Mark Vientos is our everyday first baseman because Pete Alonzo signed with the Phillies. That’s that’s a nightmare. Or the Red Sox or I don’t know any team. He signs with the Chicago Cubs who they don’t spend money. That’s a that’s a joke. He signs with the Phillies and we have to play Marks every day at first base. Again, I will [ __ ] lose my mind. It’s not It’s the combination of I want Pete back. Pete’s awesome again. I’m unqualified first base. We had the highest WRC plus this year. Mr. Curts had close to qualified and he was way better, but Pete was at number two. He’s an elite hitter. There’s no doubt about it. At the plate, he’s elite. The contract’s gonna be weird. The other the the kicker here, too, is my favorite guy, Mark Vientos, then getting even more playing time at a position where he’s definitely going to be just as bad, if not worse. And also, this funny that we recording this now because Will Sammon, like I talked about before, just came out with a piece for the Athletic. And in it he talked very specifically has grow every single piece of Mets content this offseason will lead with the Pete Alonzo situation about internal options at first base because that’s where the nightmare scenario was. It’s losing Pete and not finding some kind of way to cushion that fall whether it be Josh Naylor if the deal winds up shorter and better than Pete Alonzo. rather than not be finding some kind of fun platoon thing to do with Ryan O’Harn and I don’t know who than Mark Ventas. Mark Vas remains on this roster, but Will Sammon specifically talked about internal options exist. Some evaluators view first base as a position that players with experience at other spots can move to and generally figure things out. Similarly, other clubs choose to platoon at the position. to those points. It wouldn’t be out of the question for the Mets to upgrade defensively at second base and ask Jeff McNeel, a left-handed batter, to play some first base. People familiar with the club’s thinking suggested. It’s likely the club would also think about Mark Ventos or Brett Bailey as first base options, too. I hate this. I don’t like this. I don’t like this one off season. This is upsetting to my stomach right now. Uh the idea of Mark Ventos getting like 300 played appearances next year like gives me gives me a Can I tell you something about Mark Ventos? No. So, the Steamer projection just came out in Fan Graphs a few days ago. This first projection system to come out every year. Mark Fentos projected to have the 18th most home runs in baseball. Are they smoking crack? That’s That’s almost the biggest disservice they could have ever done to their projections. Him having the 18th most home runs in Major League Baseball. And I’m sorry to everybody who I’m sure sure works very hard at Steemer. Bad projection system. It’s broken. It’s broken. It don’t work. It’s come out good the last few years. It’s a projecting him also to have 600 play appearances which is a big part of that but at the same time it’s him at 28 home runs. So usually very low on power but yeah so that’s different than like them being like 38. Yes. And but that that’s where it is. I think with 600 play the appearance they have him with a 310 on base percentage and at 28 home runs. What’s it do they do ops? They do ops. They do do ops. I can show you the OPS right here. I’ll tell you what we’re I mean again just keeping on some gambling topic here. I’d be taking the unders on all of Mark Vento’s next year, no matter where he plays. Especially because if the Mets are really commit, it’d be a 770 OPS in between. That’s way too high. In between Carlos Koreah and Jack Kagleon. No [ __ ] way. I mean, just below Masaka Yoshida. Again, it’s one projection system of many, but last year big reason that we liked Rep was because the projection system still loved him when everyone else in the world seemed to hate him. But I only like when they fit my agenda. I don’t I don’t I don’t want when they go against what I think. But again, this is part of the nightmare offseason is if the Mets lose Ponzo’s bat and don’t really jump to improve elsewhere. Like if you wind up pulling off the trade matching salaries for Catel Marte and Jeff McDeal moves to first base and that’s how you replace Palon’s offensive production, I won’t really be very upset about that. Truth Katel Marte is going to help this team win more than Pete Alonzo. That being said, it’s not a guarantee. So it still is a scary scary idea of the New York Mets without Pete Alonzo. And especially also in this um in this piece by Will Salmon, he said the Mets aren’t really interested right now in either Munak Morakami or Kazuma Okamoto coming over from Japan. Those two guys are both very different. We’ll probably wind up talking about those guys some point over the next few weeks here as we maybe do a whole episode about options at first base besides Ponzo. But then just to really lock in this nightmare scenario before we move on, great line here from Will as an assign Sturds did something similar years ago with the Milwaukee Brewers when he moved Kton Hura from second base to first base and signed defensive wizard Colton Wong to bolster the infield up the middle. I think that’s where a lot of Mess fans right now are like that’s my nightmare scenario. You would like Pete Lonzo Walk, Jeff McNeil, and Mark Ventos, your first base platoon who probably wind up for the season running to a 750 OPS, 110 WRC plus, 35 homers combined, you hope. And then you get some kind of just defensive specialist up the middle. That sounds like a nightmare to me. Don’t want to talk about it anymore. Number four, no big splashes for this lineup. They just are like, “Fuck it. Let’s run it back with that same team. They got to play better.” cuz we know that this team does need to make some changes. While they still kind of ranked well offensively, we know how much of the heavy lifting was done by Wanoto. And then if you include Petonzo there, too, I bet you that’s probably going to make the Mets one of the worst offensive teams. It’s a little unfair to say. You take the good hitters off any team, they’re going to be worse. But this team needs some help. Like Lindor, Alonzo, Sodto, those were the guys last year that really did anything exceptionally well offensively. The bottom of the lineup was a problem. Centerfield was a big issue, big issue. DH was a big issue. We gota got to shore up some more bats in this team. Yeah. And that would be the part of again Mark Fentos being an everyday player. And some of you guys out there might be still very confident. Mark Fto two two years ago was one of the best right-handed hitters in the National League. It’s true. It happened. But like if this scenario happens where the Mets focus the entire offseason on defense, which seems like there’s a chance this happens. Like a big part of this big part of drawing out these nightmare scenarios is that they don’t seem like the most unlikely things individually. And I think individually I could see it’s alto together again drive the car off the road like what’s happening. So I want to point them all out just like the dream scenario last last week but also in the dream scenario nest talked about Kyle Tucker which I think is interesting. I don’t think the Mets have been linked to Tucker at all but Jim Bowden put him in his article. I was like Mets aren’t spending that money on Kyle Tucker. No, of course not. But there’s weirdly murmurss of Kyle Tucker’s market being more suppressed than I ever would have imagined. Like there’s some stuff coming there. I just it seems like there’s a little bit of disrespect drifting out here and there about Kyle Tucker, which is weird because he’s unbelievable. He does all the stuff that you’d ever like. I don’t know what there is to dislike about Kyle Tucker. If you can get three years of Kyle Tucker and pay him like an elite player. I would do that in in such a second. It’s not that big of a a investment to put in on it for you. Just I think that’d be something that would be great for this team to do. But again, if losing Pete, focusing everything on defense, not kicking the tires on Tucker, not kicking tires on Schwarber, and then seeing not really letting the Catel Luis Rober, Bobette, those markets also kind of dissipating in, which I do think is very possible. There was a really funny exchange on Twitter last week that I’m trying to find. Oh, yeah. From Mark Healey. So, Mark Healey, yeah, great person in the Mets world, right? They’re everything. One thing worries me about potential Mets moves this winter. The lack of any real actionable intel into the team’s plans from the folks who cover the team. Many feel the no leaks reality is a good thing, but when it’s combined with the unpredictability of David Sterns, it’s frustrating. And then from the clouds of all the people in the world, Steve Cohen replies, “Mark, I like operating this way. If you call Alex, she’ll tell you everything.” Insane tweet from both sides. But it is funny because Mark Healey does come from the the old world of of the Mets beat, which again, I think I think Mark still really good piece of the Mets world. But from the willpond seem like everyone just knew everything like it was these things were coming out left and right and we we know what was going on back there. So like yeah and these exercises are fun at least for Mark and I hope they’re fun for you guys watching and listening as well is because we’re just we’re just trying to get inside people’s minds like we’re trying to figure things out and that’s kind of a joy of this time of year where there’s we don’t know anything that’s [ __ ] going on right now. We have no clue where we’re going. Here’s one thing I’m going to say. I know we’ve been saying that the Mets are going to trade Jeff McNeel all this kind of stuff. Messi to improve defense. What was McNeel’s OA at second base last year, James? It was good. We talked about that last week. It was four plus a few. Yeah. Yeah, it was four. That’s like around the top 10 among second baseman in Major League Baseball. While people have their qualms about Jeff McNeil, we’ve talked about that. Maybe it’s just time to move on from him. Defensively at second base, he does fit the need that David Sterns has talked about where if he’s going to be playing second base every single day, Brett Batty at third base every single day, maybe again they can kind of look past defense at first base or a different position and you go get a big bat, which would be nice. And again, maybe this also comes with the fact that something happens with Brian NMO. Either he accepts dhing a good bit more or you just find a way to match salary. You know, Paul Deodesta was just was just signed was just became the lead executive to run the Rockies, which is he hasn’t even been in baseball for a long time. He wasn’t that good. One of the worst NFL trades ever. Ever hit probably one of the worst trades in the history of sports, acquiring a sexual deviant and giving them the most guaranteed money the game’s ever seen. But I digress. For I think four, three first round picks. Those with Deshun Watson, right? Graduate from Clemson, I believe. He did graduate from Clemson. Good. Just want to put that one out there. But Baldi Podesta used to be in the Mets front office. Yes. Yeah, we drafted Brandon NMO. Just gota say that should put that out there. And you know what team Brandon NMO grew up rooting for as a kid? Colorado Rockies. It’s probably he’s got a no trade clause. Maybe that’s the one place he’ll go be like a you know he’ll live a great life out near Colorado. Probably the only place you I don’t know what you have to do to take to figure that one out. Again, not not that we want to trade Brand NMO, but if the Mets want to get more athletic on other places in the field and they want to forego defense at first base, it makes sense to find athleticism in the corner outfield. It’s also that Will Salmon article said that there’s still no talk about DHS. He’s the right fielder. Absolutely. I think it’s because of the arm thing and like you said, second half of the year, he was completely average in right field, which with that incredible, incredible and he does still have a really good arm. like the Mets don’t have that many good arms especially because there was a lot of Brand Nemo last year in the outfield and Cedric Mullins in center field towards the end but you feel having that arm but now this is just kind of how we’ll wrap up the nightmare scenario everything we just gave you mashed it all together spit it back out this mess the mess basically have the same team next year without Petono Redmond Diaz it’s basically just let’s get that let’s get that luxury tax a little bit lower and see if we can do better than we did in the year that was incredibly disappointing which that would truly be the worst scenario same team no Pete Edwin, I don’t know how this team could make the playoffs without those two guys. And I also think there’s no way this will happen. I really don’t think what we just said, there’s no way those four things all coales at the same time to let this be true. Like there’s no way we go into next year with Mark Fanzo as the first baseman and like Ronnie as the DH. Like that’s just it simply can’t happen. There’s no way next year Adel is closing games in March. Like it’s just that’s not going to be a thing that in April that won’t be a thing that happens. But and I know that people are there they’re there’s such a strong group of people that are anti-David Sterns. And I think from a winning standpoint, you’re allowed to feel that way. Last year was a mega disappointment even though the year before we made it to the NLCS, but mega disappointment last year. I think you have every right to be upset with David Sterns. But at the same time, I think to to assume that he’s going to operate as if this is the Milwaukee Brewers because that’s the lazy take you can have and wake up in the morning be like he was the Brewers guy. He’s going to treat the Mets like the Brewers. I don’t I don’t think there’s been any indication that he is going to run the Mets in that way. So, I think it is actually stupid to think that he’s going to do it that way. No, clearly not. Since David Cerns became the lead executive for the Mets, they’ve offered the largest starting pitching contract in history of baseball. That’s that’s Nope. That’s not David Cerns. It’s Steve Cohen. When you spend a lot of money, it’s Steve Cohen. When he when you make bad moves, it’s David Cerns. Don’t forget that. Of course, he also kind of handled the Pete thing kind of perfectly last offseason. We still don’t do it again. What’s what’s going to happen this offseason with that? But then the fear Three for a 100 is going to hit like crap. The fear honestly is if these nightmare scenarios happen. This how we get my nightmare scenario. If all these nightmare things happen and then we start tilting in the middle of the market. I don’t want to be tilting in the middle of the market. I do not want to give up the Qo to give Zack Allen a four-year deal. We don’t want Frankie Montas again. No, that’s I think again that’s where David Sterns fled last offseason. It was too much middle of the market. You we got one solo at the top and it was kind of filling these things in the middle. I do think that there’s a really sustainable path forward for the Mets over the next few years of we got a good ass farm system right now. We have a lot of players who ready to come up and rip Mets right now again the sixth the fifth best farm system in all of baseball and most of that talent is congregated at the top. You’re going to get Carson Benj in the major leagues next year. You’re probably going to get Jet Williams. You might you might sneak in and get AJ Ying if things go crazy. Get Ryan Clifford at some point. You might get Ryan Clifford at some point. Not saying that those guys are replacements for the nightmare scenario guys we’re talking about here, but there is something about baseball being this kind of team game. And we we saw it this year with the [ __ ] Blue Jays. Like you don’t need to start at every position. You need a few stars to stir the drink together. I’m not saying you don’t need that. You need good pitchers. You need guys in your bullpen to throw velocity, but there’s something about this just this feeling of goodness that can come from when the team starts to play like a team. I was in I was in a pub in Newcastle over the weekend. I was talking to a Jordy over there about why the team’s built bad this year with basically the same roster with a bit more investment in it compared to last season when they had their best Premier League season in a while in the Champions now. RIP Champions League now ripping too, but they suck ass in the Premier League. He said last year we had this can never quit attitude. The guys, it was such good team cohesion. No one believed in them, but they believed in themselves. Then they got a little skis. They got a little too confident. Kind of fell apart when people realized how good they were and they thought they were good. I mean, it’s kind of like conversation we had with the team this year. It was like 2024. They were just that was just happiness and vibes. They were playing baseball. This year they felt a little pressure, a little target on their back and they [ __ ] their down their pain. They didn’t play well. You think the Mets had a target on their back this year? No, they felt like they had interesting. I’ll never say they’ll bring that back on their back. You guys out there remember that one. You guys all remember that one. But there could there just could be something to that. Like it might feel like a nightmare off season at the end of the day if we do lose these pillars of our organization. And I really think there’s less than a 10% chance we lose both. I think it might be a at least 50% chance we lose at least one. Yeah, I think it’s a coin flip. Yeah. But at the same time, probably a 20% chance we keep both, which is probably kind of shitty to say in here right now. Maybe 35% chance. But that’s that’s [ __ ] baseball. Like we got a lot of young kids in the system. We have two legit top 10 players in the whole league superstars at the top that are going to keep this team good. At least good. Not great, but good no matter what. Last year we have a [ __ ] 24 year old pitcher looked like a damn ace from the second he stepped on the field. Like there’s a lot of exciting things that are still on this team. We need a lot of reinforcements. Need a lot of help. But got you got to let the team get on the field first. Yes. Need the team to get on the field and let’s make some noise. Do something. Make some changes because they were way too good to be as bad as they were last year. Play a little baseball. That’s it for this one though guys. Thank you so much for watching. Make sure you subscribe over on YouTube to Mess Up. If you’re listening to us, Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google. Drop us a rating. Drop us a review. download and subscribe. You can follow James on social media at James. I’m DraftK Neck Mark. Thank you guys for watching, listening. We’ll catch you on the next one. Peace out. Peace out, guys.

Last week we made the Mets dream offseason. Here, we have a five-part catastrophe that would give every Mets fan nightmares. Losing Edwin Diaz and Pete Alonso without replacements, not strengthening the rotation, it’s really a nightmare. Firm advisory to not listen to this right before bed.

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0:00 – What’s Up Mets fans
0:36 – Antoan Richardson to Braves
4:44 – Not Finding an Ace
15:33 – Goodbye Edwin Diaz
20:02 – Mark Vientos everyday 1B
30:00 – Team is Stuck?

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