{"id":503189,"date":"2026-01-02T20:45:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T20:45:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/503189\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T20:45:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T20:45:12","slug":"mets-afternoon-news-for-january-2-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/503189\/","title":{"rendered":"Mets Afternoon News for January 2, 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Mets and Yankees are both focused on free agent Cody Bellinger, according to<\/a> the New York Post\u2019s Jon Heyman.<\/p>\n

MLB.com\u2019s Sam Dykstra offered 26 prospect storylines<\/a> to keep an eye on in 2026, and listed the Mets\u2019 Nolan McLean as the favorite to win NL Rookie of the Year.<\/p>\n

MLB.com\u2019s Jared Greenspan and Theo DeRosa highlighted ten teams<\/a> who have more work left to do ahead of the 2026 season, including the Mets.<\/p>\n

Around Major League Baseball<\/p>\n

The Astros signed<\/a> Japanese right-handed pitcher Tatsuya Imai to a three-year, $54 million deal. The contract will include an opt-out after each season, and marks the second-highest<\/a> AAV for a Japanese pitcher coming to MLB.<\/p>\n

MLB.com\u2019s David Adler provided five MLB comparisons<\/a> for the newly-signed Imai, likening his pitch sequencing to that of former Met Max Scherzer.<\/p>\n

The Athletic\u2019s Chandler Rome provided seven thoughts<\/a> on Imai\u2019s deal.<\/p>\n

Kona Takahashi, another Japanese right-handed pitcher who was posted for MLB free agency this offseason, may return to NPB<\/a> despite receiving at least one offer, per MLB.com\u2019s Brian Murphy and Mark Feinsand.<\/p>\n

Yesterday at Amazin\u2019 Avenue<\/p>\n

Vasilis Drimalitis said farewell to the Mets\u2019 former core, and turned the page<\/a> toward a new era in 2026.<\/p>\n

Steve Sypa kicked off<\/a> Amazin\u2019 Avenue\u2019s Top 25 Mets Prospects list for 2026 with 21-year-old infielder Boston Baro.<\/p>\n

This Date in Mets History<\/p>\n

David Cone, one of only six Mets pitchers to put together a 20-win season, was born on this date in 1963<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Mets and Yankees are both focused on free agent Cody Bellinger, according to the New York Post\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":503190,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2396],"tags":[5,101,41599,4,1690,61,2548,4203],"class_list":{"0":"post-503189","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-mets","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-mets","10":"tag-mets-morning-news","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-mets","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkmets"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115827462977327559","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=503189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503189\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/503190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=503189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=503189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=503189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}