Last season, Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns capped the winter meetings with a coup, signing Juan Soto to the largest contract in North American sports history. It looked to be the major missing piece for a team that just missed a trip to the World Series, but instead, Year 1 ended with the team losing on the last day of the season to miss the playoffs. Â
While the Soto signing is undoubtedly Stearns’ crowning achievement with the Mets so far, these upcoming winter meetings may be just as impactful: With the good will of the 2024 playoff run squandered, the Mets must now attempt to spackle the many holes left on the roster.
Here are five questions facing the Mets as they head into the winter meetings in Orlando:
Framber Valdez. Credit: Getty Images
1. Will the Mets land a front-line starter?
Stearns acknowledged during the general managers’ meetings last month that the team can’t rely on Kodai Senga returning to form. That leaves Sean Manaea, David Peterson and Clay Holmes as the last regular starters standing. Sure, Nolan McLean seems all but a lock to make the Opening Day roster, but given the rotation’s performance last year, it’s not close to enough. Teams are still waiting to see how serious the Tigers are about trading Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal, and the best free agent pitcher on the market, Dylan Cease, just signed with the Blue Jays. The Mets have been linked to Framber Valdez – talented, but temperamental – and Ranger Suarez is also still on the table. Both those options will require longer, more expensive contracts.
2. Will the Mets make a heavy push for Pete Alonso?
Alonso didn’t sign until mid-February before last season, and it wouldn’t be shocking if this next turn at free agency is also a long one. His name has been linked to a few teams, and there are few places that couldn’t be improved by his offense. Still, there’s a reason the Mets balked at a longer contract last February, and this will be a good time to gauge if they’ve become more flexible on that issue. Alonso is coming off one of the best seasons of his career and there is a definitive need at first base: the infielder made concessions to return to Flushing last February and now it’s time to see if the Mets’ front office will return the favor.
3. What are they going to do with the bullpen?
Stearns showed that he was willing to allot some serious cash to the relief corps this week when he signed Devin Williams to a three-year, $51 million contract, but a source said that doesn’t preclude them from also re-signing Edwin Diaz. That said, the Mets have a lot of bullpen left to build and, at last month’s MLB awards dinner, Diaz made it clear that he was hoping to secure the biggest possible contract. Stearns could opt to throw all the cash he can at one of the best closers in baseball, or he could redirect and build out the rest of the bullpen with that same money and hope Williams can be the shutdown closer he was in Milwaukee. Of note: Stearns knows the value of shortening games and a back end of Diaz, Williams and a returning A.J. Minter could be suffocating.
4. How much do they leverage the farm?
From the outset, owner Steve Cohen has made clear that he wanted to build a sustainable winner – a sort of self-feeding monster that can only flourish with a strong farm system. There’s no doubt that they’ve done a good job building up the organization’s backbone, but Stearns said during the GM meetings that one of the benefits of doing so is having greater trade capital. It wouldn’t be surprising if the Mets decide to part with some of the gems in their system to address some immediate needs; now they just need to decide who’s untouchable and who’s not.
5. What are they going to do with the outfield?
If the season were to start today, the Mets would be looking at a possible outfield of Soto, Tyrone Taylor and prospect Carson Benge. That’s just not going to cut it for a team with World Series aspirations. Stearns has repeated time and again that Benge will get a legitimate shot in spring training but Taylor, while defensively sound, profiles more as a fourth outfielder due to his lack of offense. Soto is untouchable, but he’s also a substandard defender. All of this means that the Mets are going to need to try very hard to land an outfielder who can do it all, and that won’t necessarily come cheap. Cody Bellinger is a tantalizing option, but his offense and versatility mean that he’s on a lot of teams’ radars. They could shell out some serious cash for Kyle Tucker, who headlines the outfield free-agent class, or decide to spend a whole lot less and reunite with Harrison Bader. The Guardians also shopped Steven Kwan last year and might opt to do so again. Options, though, are limited, and the Mets certainly don’t want to be in a position where they’re regretting trading Brandon Nimmo to the Rangers for Marcus Semien.
Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.