The Mets ought to consider a larger pool of players who will still be around after 2024.
The prospect of an even worse season and a lighter offseason has fans of the New York Mets divided. In baseball, the term “punt” has become popular. Some have used it as an adjective to characterize the team’s goals for 2024.
The Mets aren’t wasting their chances in 2024, even though they will undoubtedly be less aggressive than they were during the last three winters. The approach has evolved. One strategy is to wait until the following offseason to raid the free agency beaches if they are unsuccessful in acquiring Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
This isn’t as flawless as it appears. Even though the class of next winter is better than this one, there are serious problems with throwing away the opportunity to improve the team now.
The Mets are pushing back contention further than 2025 if they aren’t making an effort now
A team must typically have won a World Series in the previous year or have advanced to the playoffs. A unique team were the Texas Rangers. They had a terrible 2022 campaign before winning everything in 2023. But during the previous offseason, the team made a concerted effort to improve. It took a year for their two huge additions, Corey Seager and Marcus Semien, to start paying off.
The greater issue for the Mets is that they aren’t improving themselves enough right now. It won’t work to start from a roster that is completely disjointed. The Rangers went crazy in free agency and stacked the rotation even more so after falling well short of the finish line. The procedure carried on. They triumphed in the end. They left early one year to go there.
The entire Mets bullpen is going to need to be reevaluated next offseason with the exception of Edwin Diaz. Brooks Raley, Drew Smith, and everyone else is free agent eligible or unproven at this time. This is one area the Mets will have the most trouble turning around. Delaying this process will only make it tougher when they need to search yet again next winter for bullpen arms.
Of all the questions, the biggest one is about Pete Alonso’s future with the Mets. If they sell at the deadline, will he even be on the team for the 2024 season? What are the odds that he would return if he were traded during another selloff?
Is it not possible for the Mets to assist them immediately and initiate steps to assist them in the future? They’re going to be rudely awakened if they’re holding out for the free agent class of 2019. There will be extensions. Teams that are new will spend. The days will go by and options will get increasingly scarce.
Regardless of the outcome regarding Yamamoto, the Mets’ upcoming offseason is promising to be very significant. With Yamamoto, this year is more of a reset. How about those pieces that will help in the upcoming season? This could easily turn into an endless process.