FanGraphs Weekly Mailbag: January 24, 2026

Right now final week, the Mets had been celebrating their signing of Bo Bichette. Up till that time, although, their offseason was largely being seen as a letdown as they assembled an oddly formed roster. Earlier this winter, they watched as Edwin Díaz spurned them for the Dodgers, let Pete Alonso stroll after which signed Jorge Polanco to play first base, and missed out on Kyle Tucker. Positive, they upgraded at second base with the Marcus Semien commerce, however doing so required them to half with Brandon Nimmo, who was coming off a yr wherein he hit a career-high 25 dwelling runs and posted 3.0 WAR. They determined to switch that manufacturing with 23-year-old High 100 prospect Carson Benge, who had a 53 wRC+ in 103 Triple-A plate appearances final season, as the massive spoon of a platoon in left subject. In addition they strengthened their bullpen with two of the extra inconsistent members of the 2025 Yankees’ aid corps, Devin Williams and Luke Weaver. These weren’t dangerous strikes, to be clear. Williams particularly is a powerful bounce-back candidate; Polanco is a top quality participant, although his whole expertise at first base consists of 1 defensive plate look; and Semien fulfills the staff’s need to get higher defensively. However they had been a bit puzzling provided that the Mets’ biggest areas of want had been one other impression bat, a middle fielder, and a frontline beginning pitcher.

Because it seems, including Bichette was simply the primary in a trio of acquisitions to handle these main roster holes. Late Tuesday evening, the Mets traded for heart fielder Luis Robert Jr., who’s coming off two straight seasons of accidents and poor efficiency however remains to be a tantalizing expertise and simply 28 years outdated. “In the event you made an outfielder in a lab, he’d look loads like this,” wrote Ben Clemens about Robert after the commerce. Then, on Wednesday, they swung a swap with the Brewers for All-Star right-hander Freddy Peralta to anchor their rotation. They’d to surrender two of their high prospects to get him, however as Davy Andrews famous in his column on the commerce, “the Mets are attempting to win this season, and now that he’s not in Milwaukee, David Stearns has the posh of leaving tomorrow’s issues for tomorrow.”

We received’t be answering any questions concerning the Mets or any of the opposite huge current transactions, resembling Cody Bellinger’s re-signing with the Yankees or the Rangers’ commerce for MacKenzie Gore, however we shall be speaking concerning the different huge baseball matter of the week: the Corridor of Fame. We’ll additionally focus on the most effective left-on-left hitters of all time, the aesthetic potential of the Colorado Rockies, and what to anticipate from Foster Griffin with the Nationals. However first, I’d prefer to remind you that this mailbag is unique to FanGraphs Members. In the event you aren’t but a Member and want to maintain studying, you possibly can join a Membership right here. It’s one of the simplest ways to each expertise the positioning and assist our workers, and it comes with a bunch of different nice advantages. Additionally, if you happen to’d prefer to ask a query for an upcoming mailbag, ship me an electronic mail at mailbag@fangraphs.com.