Are Mets fans being braced for a Yamamoto disappointment?

New York signs outfield Trayce Thompson to a minor league deal. Plus, recent reports may suggest that the Mets may not land Yoshinobu Yamamoto after all.

What’s Up with the Mets? 🍎

• The Mets reportedly signed OF Trayce Thompson to a minor league contract with an invite to Spring Training (SNY)

• Thompson was productive in 2022, but hit just .163/.285/.294 in 72 games with the Dodgers and White Sox this past season

• The Mets were supposedly “underdogs” to sign RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto up until recently (SNY)

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Rumor Mill 💨

• The Dodgers are still in on free agent RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto, even if they complete a trade with the Rays for RHP Tyler Glasnow and OF Manuel Margo (Nightengale)

• The Yankees are the perceived favorites to sign Yamamoto in free agency (Nightengale)

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A Yamamoto letdown feels as if it’s looming… ✍️

Throughout the offseason, I’d remained largely confident in the Mets’ chances to land Japanese RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

By all accounts, Mets owner Steve Cohen has been said that he will not be outbid for the right-handers services, as the organization has been aggressive from the get-go on this sweepstakes. Overall, this has always seemed as if it were the right superstar at the right time for this franchise to go all-in for.

As we wrote recently, the club bowed out of the Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes, in part due to reasons that were not in their own control, and that was okay. But this time felt different; an opportunity for Cohen to finally flex his financial might over the rest of the baseball world in a way we haven’t quite seen yet in his ownership (i.e., on a long-term deal for a highly sought after star).

Over the last few days, however, something just hasn’t felt quite right to me.

More and more the Mets chances at Yamamoto seem to have been indirectly downplayed by the national reporters, with the Dodgers and Yankees consistently being listed as the “favorites,” but rarely the Mets. And then came last night’s article from SNY’s Andy Martino…

After months of him, and others, reporting that the Mets have always been in it for Yamamoto, suddenly Martino is referring to the club as “underdogs” in the sweepstakes. Martino even went as far as to say the Mets were recently thought of “afterthoughts” with some sources saying the club had “no chance” to sign the free agent pitcher.

Martino’s reporting does go on to say that “against all odds” the Mets are still in this thing and have a chance, but the seemingly revisionist history in the reporting along with the decreased mention of the team’s involvement by the national media feels to me as if we’re being braced for disappointing news. You don’t often hear of a team going from a perceived top suitor over several months to being called an underdog in the final days if the team feels as if it’s in a good position to win a bidding war.

With the Ohtani pipe dream over (and again, this one isn’t the team’s fault) and the increasing potential that Yamamoto doesn’t sign, the Mets find themselves in a reality where they may really not be particularly competitive in 2024. I still think they’ll pivot to other free agents and make improvements to the club, but without that high-end level talent it does seem that the more likely path would be for the organization to sign shorter term deals to free agents they think are true fits and then wait until next season’s deeper free agent pool to spend big.

After all, Max Scherzer did air out that the Mets told him they wouldn’t be an all-in team until 2025. Some people took that as sour grapes from Max, others thought it may have been a ploy to get him to waive his no-trade, but perhaps it winds up being the truth.

There’s still an entire offseason to go with a lot of free agents remaining unsigned, so it would be far too early to make any final judgements, but it would certainly be a disappointing and sobering reality for Mets fans who came into the winter with hopes for more.

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Hot Stove 🔥

• The Dodgers are set to officially introduce RHP/DH Shohei Ohtani in a press conference later today

• Ohtani’s contract reportedly contains an opt-out clause if the team’s ownership changes or if President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman leaves the team

• L.A. is in discussions to acquire RHP Tyler Glasnow and OF Manuel Margot from the Rays in exchange for RHP Ryan Pepiot and OF Johnny Deluca

• Free agent RHP Liam Hendricks should be ready to return from Tommy John surgery by next year’s trade deadline