The Mets are interested in a Gold Glove first baseman

Also - should the Mets be considering adding another starting pitcher?

What’s up with the Mets? 🍎

• The Mets are among several teams to show interest in INF Ty France (MassLive)

• INF Francisco Lindor will not participate in the World Baseball Classic after undergoing right elbow debridement this past fall (MLBPA)

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Rumor Mill 💨

• RHP Max Scherzer would prefer to pitch the entire year rather than wait until after opening day to sign with a team (NY Post)

• The Yankees are still looking for a right-handed bat for their outfield, having extended a contract offer to OF Austin Slater earlier this winter, and are also looking at INF Paul Goldschmidt and OF Randal Grichuk. They’ve also “checked in” on RHPs Michael Kopech and Nick Martinez (Athletic | NY Post)

• The Diamondbacks are showing interest in 1B Carlos Santana (98.7 FM AZ Sports)

• The Red Sox have “checked in” on trades for Cubs INFs Nico Hoerner and Matt Shaw (Boston Globe)

• The Diamondbacks are still looking for pitching and help at first base (Arizona Republic)

• The Red Sox have shopping pitchers Brayan Bello and Patrick Sandoval (Athletic)

• While the Orioles remain in discussions with Framber Valdez, they’ve shown interest in RHPs Zac Gallen and Lucas Giolito (NY Post)

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What I’m Reading 📰

• Insurance issues are keeping players from entering the World Baseball Classic (Athletic)

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🌴 9 days until Mets pitchers and catchers officially report to Port St. Lucie… 🌴

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There’s still plenty of pitching available - should the Mets sign another one? ✍️

Imagn Images

It’s Super Bowl week, which means we can now truly see the light at the end of the off-season tunnel.

Of course, if you’re in the Northeast, don’t look outside your window. Don’t go outside if you can avoid it, either.

In the coming days, images and videos are going to come out of Florida showing us all baseball activities. Yes, those first cracks of the bat, the first sounds of pitchers pitching to catchers, the first time we get to see the team’s colors again after a long and very bizarre off-season for the Mets.

I can’t say that it isn’t ending well. As I wrote last week, the Mets are different now, but different in ways that, at least on paper, should make them more sustainable throughout a 162-game season and hopefully into the playoffs. I don’t know how much better they are, but that difference in the skills that make the modern baseball team good could make them better by default.

Having said that, we all know there’s probably still some work to do on this roster. They could use a down-roster outfield bat, such as Austin Hays, who just signed a modest deal with the White Sox. They could probably use another down-roster reliever as well, especially with AJ Minter likely needing extra time before joining the team in the early spring. They could also use a first baseman (more on that later).

And of course, many are calling for the Mets to bring in another starting pitcher. It stands to reason that even if the Mets have a lot of names on their depth chart, including top pitching prospects who may be able to help as soon as Opening Day. Last winter, the Mets touted a strength in numbers that would help them have a top third rotation. But that failed approach began to root in mid-February when they almost immediately lost both Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas to soft tissue injuries. In the end, it took the Mets 17 starting pitchers (including openers) to produce an unsightly 4.13 ERA in only 796 innings (4.9 IP per start).

So yeah, it’s nice to have a lot of starting pitchers, but they needed more quality and a better strategic approach to building out that rotation.

Enter Freddy Peralta, who should go a long way towards not only giving the Mets innings, but quality innings at that, which is something they were flat out starving for after June 12, 2025.

The Mets absolutely need rebound seasons from Manaea, progression from both Nolan McLean and Clay Holmes, a full season of reliability from David Peterson, and something in between what Kodai Senga was in the first half, and his nearly absent second half from last year.

And that all begs the question of whether or not that’s actually enough at the top. After all, it was David Stearns himself who said at the beginning of the off-season that it’s essentially unrealistic to pin the expectation that Senga can give the Mets a full season of quality and dependability (that’s paraphrasing while reading the tea leaves). And remember, the Mets were trying to trade Senga earlier this winter too.

One thing this front office has demonstrated this winter is there is simply no affinity or loyalty applied to anyone in the room. If there’s a path to making the team better by jettisoning a player, they’ll do it even if there’s a public relations hit. I certainly can appreciate a more transactional approach to roster building around here, even if it means players I’ve grown to admire need to go. The loyalty needs to be to the name on the front of the jersey, not the back, and that’s how Stearns and Steve Cohen, for that matter - two lifelong Met fans - are running this organization now.

With all of that said, there are enough good starting pitchers still available on February 2 to not close the door entirely on some kind of procurement for this rotation.

I don’t think the Mets will seriously consider signing someone like Framber Valdez or Zac Gallen now, even if they can be had on short-term deals. I just don’t see them giving up two more draft picks in 2027 after having already surrendered two to sign Bo Bichette (they do get a pick in the compensation round for losing Edwin Díaz, for what it’s worth). That all coupled with the fact that none of those three can receive qualifying offers again, assuming that’s a parameter in the next collective bargaining agreement, makes it even more unlikely they take another player tagged with draft pick compensation.

But, could the Mets consider adding someone like Chris Bassitt or Lucas Giolito? Both are still free agents, neither received qualifying offers, and perhaps the Mets, who are in that opportunistic mode at this point in the winter and wouldn’t be terribly concerned with an overpay on a short-term deal, could see a way forward with one of them.

USA Today Sports

Now, again, bringing someone else in would probably need to serve as more of an upgrade move rather than depth, which in turn means the Mets would likely have to trade one of Senga or Peterson to make all of the pieces fit. I think the Mets believe they’re going to get a rebound, more consistency, etc., from at least one of these two pitchers in 2026, especially Peterson, who probably hit a wall down the stretch of the 2025 season.

So then the question is, can or will the Mets get the same value out of one or both of them than they might by spending more money on a free agent?

I don’t think the Mets should simply sign a pitcher for the sake of signing a pitcher. They don’t have a glaring need at the top or even in the middle of their rotation anymore after they traded for Peralta. They’d be paying 110 percent on new money added to the payroll as well. There needs to be a definite upgrade to the pitchers behind Peralta for them to do that, and I think I am being fair when I say that is not a matter of fact with Bassitt, Giolito, or any of the starting pitchers not named Valdez who are available.

It doesn’t mean Bassitt or Giolito aren’t good. They are. But again, are they upgrades to what they already have? If the answer isn’t certainly a yes, then signing players for more money to get the same value would be a senseless move for the Mets or any team.

Yes, people will get hurt, yes, people will underperform. That’s just how it all works. But the Mets also need to ensure there are opportunities for people who aren’t going to make the team out of camp, that which will likely include Jonah Tong, who they would not trade for Peralta last month. There’s little reason to potentially block one of the best pitching prospects in the game with a mid-30s veteran.

Personally, I believe the Mets would address a problem in their starting rotation at this point at the trade deadline. The ice has been broken with this front office when it comes to dealing prospects after last summer’s deadline, even if literally none of those moves worked out. And certainly, after the Peralta trade, there’s a clear willingness to consider consequential trades for players they need going forward.

As for the buzz around Ty France…

The Mets absolutely need to find some insurance at a minimum for Jorge Polanco, Brett Baty, Mark Vientos, and the rest of their committee at first base, and France certainly would meet that criterion, especially after posting a strong defensive campaign in 2025 with the Mariners and Blue Jays. He’s a multi-faceted infielder, capable of playing first, second, and third, although he is mostly limited to first base at this stage of his career.

France is a defense-first player at this point in his career, although he does have some pop in his bat, having posted a 118 OPS+ and averaging 16 home runs and 120 wRC+ per year from 2021-2023 in pitcher-friendly Seattle. His bat has regressed since, having hit just 20 home runs in his last two seasons while posting a 93 wRC+ and 90 OPS+. But, he posted nine defensive runs saved (DRS), 10 outs above average (OAA), and had a fielding run value (FRV) of seven in 2025, all strong numbers and worthy of a Gold Glove Award in 2025, but possibly an anomaly over previous seasons in which he was a below-average first baseman.

In a way, his career has mimicked that of Luis Robert Jr., although France has been able to stay healthier than Robert has over the last two years.

A question is whether or not the Mets would be able to find 500 plate appearances on this roster unless there were some injuries. Given the competition and the possibility he could have a better chance at more regular playing time elsewhere, the chances might not be great he comes to New York. The Diamondbacks, Padres, and Yankees are among the other teams reportedly showing interest in France.

But, if they can procure France, he would help make the Mets one of the better defensive teams in the sport, and quite possibly one of the best if not the best right-side infield defenses in the game alongside Marcus Semien, a 2025 Gold Glove recipient himself. It would also eliminate some major questions the Mets have from a defensive perspective, specifically on the infield, but it would also further displace players like Baty and Vientos on this roster, with Vientos really not having a place other than as a right-handed designated hitter. The Mets could simply go with Baty in left field to start the year in this scenario, which would allow them to finish Carson Benge’s development at Triple-A Syracuse and give Baty a chance to prove his second half last year wasn’t a fluke.

No matter what, the Mets cannot ignore the problem someone like France would solve at first base, even though they insist Polanco and the rest of the committee can be competent there.

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Around the League 🚩

• The Giants and INF Luis Arraez agreed to a one-year, $12 million contract (ESPN)

• P/DH Shohei Ohtani has decided not to pitch for Team Japan in the World Baseball Classic (CA Post)

• The White Sox have agreed to sign OF Austin Hays to a one-year, $6 million contract (ESPN)

• The White Sox also acquired RHP Jordan Hicks and RHP David Sandlin from the Red Sox in exchange for RHP Gage Ziehl and a player to be named later (ESPN)

• The Twins and President of Baseball Operations Derek Falvey have mutually agreed to part ways (Official)

• The A’s and INF Jacob Wilson agreed to a seven-year, $70 million contract extension (Official)

• INF/DH Eugenio Suárez is signing with the Reds on a one-year, $15 million contract with a mutual option for 2027 (ESPN)

• Former Met RHP David Robertson has announced his retirement (official)

• The Angels signed former Met OF José Siri to a minor league contract with an invite to big league camp (Athletic)