Mets Remaining Moves

With the addition of Juan Soto this offseason, the Mets filled a hole in the lineup they’ve had for years with an 8+ war player. Sure the price is absurd to many, since a contract that big (765 million for 15 years) almost always seems destined to spark criticism, but when does a player as young as Soto hit the market with his prestige? Not often. Look at Ohtani’s contract that Dodgers dished out last year and how that worked out. If championships are how you measure success, which ohtani helped bring to the dodgers in his first season behind a FIFTY/FIFTY YEAR, then Soto can quickly validate this contract by bringing home hardware that’s been missing since ‘86. So where do the Mets go from here? The rotation looks unproven with an ace that was banged up all year in Senga who is on the wrong side of 30, Manaea is still a free agent after a breakout year, Severino is gone, and Clay Holmes will be an interesting yet risky gamble with a move from the bullpen to the rotation. Holmes’ percentiles in groundballs, whiff, velo, and breaking stuff are intriguing and the Mets’ new pitching lab may make him a solid 2 or 3 starter for cheap. Griffin Canning is who he is, a 28 year old righty who can eat innings, that’s about it. Can David Peterson repeat the success he found last year? Hopefully so, as it seems David Stearns may have made his moves for the rotation. That doesn’t mean the bullpen can’t be revamped for a reasonable price. Could that be Josh Hader? Houston may be looking to unload contracts after the Kyle Tucker trade and the Mets would be buying “low” after a down year for Hader, who still ranked in the 99th percentile xBa, whiff %, and strikeout %. Tanner Scott is available but the price may be too high. A Paul Seward reunion could definitely unfold for around $2 million after an injury plagued 2024 campaign. The biggest part of the offseason remaining is keeping Manaea and Pete Alonso, though we may not see if that plays out until later in the offseason with the way the market is playing. Christian Walker going to the Astros is the first corner infielder piece to fall and it’s almost Christmas, so teams are obviously looking to lower their potential offers. Rumors are starting to pickup about the Mets being interested in Paul Goldschmidt, but being unwilling to pay a 30 year old Alonso and willing to risk a much older Goldie deal makes no sense so it’s probably all smoke and mirrors. Alonso leads the majors in RBI’s since his debut and would easily become the Mets’ all time HR leader with a re-sign. Manaea is an interesting case for the Mets, mainly because of how expensive lefty starters are this offseason. After Blake Snell and Max Fried’s mega contracts, Manaea could be in for a decent payday with high AAV considering his age. He ranks in the 89th percentile for pitching run value and is in the 98th percentile for fastball run value. Outside of that, he doesn’t rank above the 67th percentile for any other advanced pitching stat which signals he could be die for regression. The Mets should still do whatever it takes to resign him, as his mechanics are nearly identical to last year’s NL Cy Young, who won it at age 35 after multiple down years. If I’m the Mets, I go out and get Anthony Santander for a DH/OF role. He won’t command an insane amount of money because of his lower batting average but you know the guy will hit plenty of homers and drive in runs as a switch hitter. Kind of hard to argue against wanting that in a lineup that would call him to be a 5 or 6 hole hitter. Steve Cohen got the big fish this year but he has some residuals to check off on still.