An lively offseason for the Mets seems to be largely accomplished. President of baseball operations David Stearns instructed throughout a session with the workforce’s beat Wednesday that the Alonso deal was probably the workforce’s last massive splash. Requested if felt he was carried out with main additions, Stearns replied:
“I feel so. We’re at all times going to be concerned in conversations. We’re at all times going to be making an attempt to see if there are methods we are able to get higher. We additionally really feel actually good concerning the group we’ve got that’s reporting proper now, and I’d anticipate, by and huge, that that is the workforce we’re going ahead with.”
Whereas it’s not a decisive declaration that there are not any additional transactions on the horizon, it appears probably that these would come through non-roster invitation. The Mets possess a veteran roster of gamers with five-plus years of MLB service or who’ve exhausted their minor league choices. Additional veteran signings/acquisitions might exacerbate some pretty restricted roster flexibility. Stearns’ response when requested whether or not the workforce was transferring on from infielder Jose Iglesias is moderately telling in that regard:
“I feel the place we at the moment are, for that position on our workforce, it’s essential for us to maintain some avenues open for a few of our youthful gamers. We expect it’s essential for us to have some roster flexibility with that spot. It’s actually robust to freeze your total place participant roster. We did that for a portion final yr, and we really form of bought away with it, however there very simply might’ve been a circumstance the place we bought caught with a very frozen place participant roster, so having some flexibility there in that position is, frankly, most likely wanted for us proper now.”
That’s a disappointing reply for Mets followers who fell in love with Iglesias in what proved to be a renaissance marketing campaign for the 35-year-old. Initially signed to a minor league deal, Iglesias was summoned to the majors on the finish of Might and have become not solely a extremely productive position participant however a fan and clubhouse favourite because of his OMG tune that turned a rallying cry. In 85 video games, Iglesias made 291 plate appearances and batted .337/.381/.448. Nevertheless, that manufacturing was manner out of sync together with his profession norms (.279/.319/.382 getting into the season) and was buoyed by a sky-high .382 common on balls in play that he’s not prone to repeat.
Past some justifiable questions on Iglesias’ means to maintain his 2024 output, Stearns’s reply’s “flexibility” facet is value drilling right into a bit additional. Proper now, the one Mets’ projected lineup member who might be optioned to Triple-A is catcher Francisco Alvarez. They’ll have three bench gamers — backup catcher Luis Torrens, backup outfielder Tyrone Taylor and outfielder/DH Starling Marte — who can’t be optioned. (Outfielder Jose Azocar can also be out of choices, so he’ll must earn a roster spot or be DFA’d later in camp.)
Including Iglesias would create a fourth, successfully “freezing” the workforce’s total group of place gamers, as Stearns instructed. That may very well be why the workforce opted to carry infielder Nick Madrigal into the combo. He supplies related bat-to-ball expertise and infield versatility but additionally has a minor league choice remaining, creating extra flexibility because the season wears on.
It’s related on the pitching employees. Kodai Senga and David Peterson are the one starters who might be optioned. Reed Garrett is the one member of the projected ’pen who might be optioned. Every of Edwin Diaz, A.J. Minter, Ryne Stanek, Jose Butto, Griffin Canning, Danny Younger and Sean Reid-Foley is both out of choices or previous 5 years of MLB service.
That lack of flexibility is magnified when a participant within the lineup may have two to 4 days off however most likely not a full IL stint. It’s additionally notable when a particular reliever or the aid corps as a complete is overworked and the workforce wish to add a recent arm to the combo. There might very effectively be some uncomfortable DFAs on the horizon for the Mets, although accidents or poor spring performances could make these choices simpler.
If the Mets are certainly carried out, they’ll enter the 2025 season with the sport’s No. 2 payroll, trailing solely the reigning World Sequence champs in Los Angeles. Stearns famous that he and proprietor Steve Cohen mapped out varied eventualities concerning their potential payroll early within the offseason, and the Mets have now landed towards the very best ranges the pair mentioned on the time. RosterResource tasks the Mets for a $331M payroll, with $325M on their luxury-tax ledger.
