A blueprint for the Mets reimagined bullpen, with or without Edwin Díaz
Also - what could Tarik Skubal cost in trade, and an alternative idea to Alonso at first base
What’s up with the Mets? 🍎
The GM meetings began Monday in Las Vegas, the first major league and club event in the off-season and a place club executives typically lay the groundwork for their off-season plans with other clubs
The Mets agreed to terms on Monday with free-agent IF/OF Jose Rojas. It’s a minor league deal with an invitation to Major League spring training—Rojas led the Triple-A International League with 32 home runs in 2025
Rumor Mill 🔎
It could take three top 10 prospects and one other 10-20 prospect for the Mets to acquire LHP Tarik Skubal (NY Post)
With the Mets likely searching for front line starting pitching this winter, RHP Tatsuya Imai will be posted by the Saitama Seibu Lions this offseason after pitching to a 1.92 ERA across 163.2 innings in Japan in 2025
Free-agent lefty Framber Valdez attended the first day of the GM meetings in person and intends to meet with teams this week (NY Post)
Unless he comes back on a deal they can’t turn down, the Mets will let 1B Pete Alonso walk (USA Today)
If Alonso walks and the Mets decide to stay internal at first, they could ask players including Jeff McNeil, Mark Vientos and Brett Baty to play first base (Athletic)
There is some early trade interest in RHP Kodai Senga (Athletic)
The Mets may plan to add not just one but two front line starting pitchers this winter (USA Today)
How can the Mets assemble a championship bullpen? ✍️
The Mets pitching staff in 2025 was woeful almost across the board, but as we’ve discussed ad nauseam on this platform over the last several months, the starting rotation has to take most of the blame.
New York’s relief corps was solid at the beginning of the season, but as the poor starts began to mount in the early summer, this bullpen quickly became taxed and the results showed.
The best way to mask a bad starting staff is a deep, dominant bullpen, which, to David Stearns’ credit, he tried to accomplish at the trading deadline with the additions of Tyler Rogers, Ryan Helsley, and Gregory Soto. Unfortunately, that trio was largely uninspiring in orange and blue, and all three are now free agents.
Obviously, every conversation about the Mets bullpen right now has to start and end with the status of Edwin Díaz, who recently opted out of his contract. The Mets and Diaz will certainly attempt to work out a new agreement, and for the sake of at least part of this discussion, let’s assume that they do.
If Díaz stays, there is a lot of work to do to round this into a bullpen that can protect a starting staff that could potentially have a few young hurlers operating on innings limits.
If Díaz goes, the Mets will have to be in the market for a closer. Robert Suárez, Devin Williams, Ryan Helsley, Pete Fairbanks, Raisel Iglesias, Kyle Finnegan, and Kenley Jansen headline the closers market as alternatives for the Mets, although there are legitimate questions about Williams and his ability to perform in New York, and we know what happened with Helsley here as well, albeit in an unfamiliar role behind Díaz this past summer.
Iglesias and Jansen can probably be had at shorter-term and less expensive alternatives to Díaz if he walks, but it would be hard to see either of them joining as a setup man for Díaz. They’re not getting any younger, however, but they did have strong seasons in 2025, although Jansen’s peripheral stats and metrics were concerning.
Right now, the club’s primary set-up man would be southpaw A.J. Minter, who is going to be coming off season-ending surgery to repair a torn lat.
Fellow lefty Brooks Raley was excellent in middle relief, and Huascar Brazoban had a so-so season as a multi-inning weapon, but both of those guys are miscast as late-inning relievers. Simply put, the Mets have to find more swing-and-miss relief pitchers to deploy ahead of Díaz/next closer at the end of games, or whoever their closer is.
So where could these arms come from?
Suárez is probably the most qualified option on the free-agent market. He led the National League with 40 saves last season and pitched to a stellar 2.97 ERA with well over a strikeout perinning. Convincing him to come to Queens to pitch the eighth inning would be a hard sell, but one Stearns and company should at least discuss.
Of course, if Díaz goes elsewhere, Suárez becomes and immediate candidate to replace him here.
Beyond that, Helsley has the resume but struggled so mightily in New York that a reunion feels unlikely. Williams an intriguing name but after a disastrous one season with the Yankees he probably wants out of New York as well.
I like Fairbanks and Finnegan for set-up roles, and the Mets could conceivably speak to both.
There’s also Seranthony Dominguez, Hunter Harvey, Tyler Rogers, Brad Keller, and Michael Kopech are all intriguing, late-game options from the right side for the Mets. On the left side, there’s Danny Coulombe, Taylor Rogers, Drew Pomeranz, Wandy Peralta, and Caleb Ferguson are all intriguing options on the left side.
But the Mets search for relief help should not be limited to the free agent market.
Perhaps they would take a look at Kansas City’s John Schreiber and Colorado’s Victor Vodnik? They stand out to me as good fits to pursue.
At the end of the day, I think we can all trust that Stearns and the Mets front office are well aware of the team’s lack of legitimate late-inning relief, and several arms will be brought in. This bullpen needs to be generally rebuilt but also reimagined with the modernized approach which clubs making deep runs into October employ. They need more strikeouts, swings and misses and more ground balls specifically and of course a rotation that keeps it from throwing so many innings while overexposing them in the process. As mentioned earlier, for the Mets to rebound from a disastrous 2025 the starting pitching will have to take center stage, but all good staffs complement each other, and the bullpen will play just as big a role in the team’s 2026 result.
Around the League 🚩
MLB and outside sports books agreed on Monday to limit the amount that can be wagered on individual pitches (ESPN)
Former Met Justin Turner plans to play in 2026 in what would be his 18th Major League season (MLB Network)
Veteran RHP Kyle Hendricks is retiring from baseball (Chicago Sun Times)
Braves catcher Drake Baldwin was named the National League Rookie of the Year, and Athletics first baseman Nick Kurtz won the American League Rookie of the Year award
It could take three top 10 prospects and one other 10-20 prospect for the Mets to acquire LHP Tarik Skubal (NY Post) -- HARD PASS
Reading that Cohen isn’t happy and wants Stearns to be aggressive in getting not one but possibly 2 front end starters is music to my ears. It’s not more obvious Stearns was landed on by the Cohen’s. You maybe need to read into it no further then when Cohen called out Mets fans on attendance and they heed the call giving the greatest attendance mark in history and they got to see this year up close and personal. I believe Cohen knows that the upcoming labor dispute is going to be a rough one and one that possibly kills a season if not most of it and he has given Stearns explicit terms to do whatever it takes to get top flight arms. If there is interest in Senga? Send him out and then they won’t need the 6 man rotation giving him that extra day rest while juggling to keep you other starters on their schedule. We all know McClean is easily 2/3 depending on what deals happen and honestly I’d keep him at 2 rewarding homegrown talent should be a priority no matter what MLB experience other arms have. Playoff rotations can be juggled and they can be swapped during the season too. I’m sorry. Letting Pete walk will be a something that haunts this organization. I feel it in my bones.