Mets are interested in Edward Cabrera & updates on Cody Bellinger, Kyle Tucker

Plus. the Mets should also be looking outside the clubhouse for their cultural problems

What’s up with the Mets? 🍎

• The Mets, Yankees, and Cubs are showing interest in a trade for Marlins RHP Edward Cabrera (Miami Herald)

• The Mets, Dodgers, Giants and Yankees are all still interested in OF Cody Bellinger, while the Cubs checked in on him - the Yankees have made a second contract offer to Bellinger (NY Post/Heyman | NY Post/Sherman)

• The Mets are among the big market teams who have “checked in” on OF Kyle Tucker (NY Post)

• Former Met RHP Paul Blackburn says the Mets clubhouse in 2025 didn’t mesh as well as it did in 2024 (NY Post)

• Lenny Dykstra is potentially facing drug possession charges after a recent arrest in Pennsylvania (TMZ)

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Rumor Mill 💨

• The Phillies, Yankees, Cubs, Dodgers, Red Sox and Blue Jays are expressing interest in INF Bo Bichette (NY Post)

• The Red Sox have made an aggressive offer to INF Alex Bregman (ESPN)

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The Mets should aim higher to solve their clubhouse problem ✍️

New York Post

Aside from the Mets blowing their team up and putting the chances of a quality team in 2026 in serious question over the last month, one of the other bigger talking points so far this winter is how and why we might have gotten to this point.

On the surface, it’s pretty simple. The Mets were awesome for three months in 2025 and were bad for four. The pitching was awful for those four months, so was their defense, and at least at the beginning of the off-season, it appeared as though David Stearns and his front office were on a course to fix those primary problems. The buzz phrase for the first month of the off-season was, “run prevention,” which most people took as a shot at the club’s defense but in reality, it was the bad pitching that exposed that bad defense, which evolved into a two-pronged baseball problem for Stearns after Game 162.

But then came the seismic shift, starting with the Brandon Nimmo/Marcus Semien swap, the botching of the Edwin Díaz negotiation, letting Pete Alonso walk, and then as expected, the club trading Jeff McNeil. They were the longest-tenured Mets on the roster, essentially the last of the Wilpon era Mets and the closing of the book on Sandy Alderson’s regime in the front office.

As all of this has evolved, we have heard some stories about a rotten clubhouse in 2025, as uncovered by the New York Post. There was more drama between McNeil and Francisco Lindor, and some noise about an icy relationship between Lindor and Juan Soto. Then, this past weekend, former Met Paul Blackburn, who the Mets cut last summer and then joined the Yankees, spoke with the Post about that clubhouse problem, elaborating on some of the surface issues which were uncovered by the same outlet earlier in the off-season.

“The clubhouse in 2024 compared to last year was definitely different,” Blackburn explained to the Post on Saturday. “I wouldn’t say guys were in there throwing blows or anything like that, but it definitely had a different vibe. When I came over in 2024, J.D. Martinez and Jose Iglesias had a big impact on everyone in there, and everyone vibed together. Those were the guys that helped the clubhouse mesh, and last year, those guys weren’t there.

“It could have been guys trying to play into different leadership roles. It’s tough.”

He went on to explain how unique the environment was, and not in a good way.

“It was definitely a different clubhouse than I’ve ever been a part of. I’ll say that,” he continued. “I don’t think there were bad guys in there. I just don’t think people meshed well together.”

So, it’s not too difficult to see why the Mets ultimately decided to blow the room up. Partially anyway.

That’s not to say that bad clubhouses always lead to poor results on the field. Although they always seem to walk hand-in-hand in the public’s eye. There are often cases where there are bad clubhouses and very positive results. And the reverse is true as well, where there are good clubhouses and bad results.

Now, could the Mets’ problems in the room stem from a poor culture, which would be cultivated outside the room? I don’t know the answer to that question. Stearns has said repeatedly that there was basically nothing to see here on the matter. Mets manager Carlos Mendoza dismissed the notion there was a bad environment during the Winter Meetings a month ago.

But, there was obviously a problem, right?

I’ve said this before, but it’s worth repeating - a clubhouse is a workplace, not a summer camp. It’s a professional space for baseball players, ie their offices. They spend a ton of time in there working, preparing, conditioning, seeking treatment, studying film, studying metrics and trends, and so on and so forth. Fans often believe that this is supposed to be a fraternity party every single day in that room; everyone must get along and everyone must be a part of the tribe.

But that is not the case. It never has been, never will be.

Everyone in that room, from players to coaches to clubbies, comes from all different walks of life with different backgrounds, educations, belief systems, opinions, and views of the world. They spend seven and hopefully eight months on the same planes, on the same fields, on the same buses, in the same hotels, and in the same clubhouses, all day and all night. There will be contention, there will be disagreements.

They are just like you and me, only a lot richer. They have good days, they have bad days. They get to the ballpark sometimes having not slept well for any number of reasons; they show up under the weather, and just like us, I am sure they sometimes need a kick in the ass to get their workday going. And, just like in your workplace, there will always be personality clashes. It’s just life regardless of where we work.

And this happens with every professional sports team around the world, even if we don’t hear about it.

That doesn’t mean it’s okay, of course. And clearly, the Mets did not find the combination of bad baseball and whatever cultural issue they had inside the room to be acceptable going forward. But I will always believe that talent overrules everything else, and, in the end, the Mets were obviously not talented enough on the mound specifically to be a playoff contender.

A bad clubhouse isn’t going to change the fact that the pitching staff was a bottom five unit after June 12. They could’ve had a bad clubhouse, had better pitchers, and won the World Series too.

New York Post

Don’t get me wrong - I think a good culture in the workplace matters. I think it matters for ballplayers, I think it matters for you and me, I think individual team chemistry is important as well, whether its sports or an internal corporate team. But, it’s not everything and it’s hard to build any of that in any workplace when there’s a lot of turnover. And with the Mets, they’ve turned over this front office two or three times in the last five years, the dugout staff has turned over the same number of times, and the roster is now around 50 percent turned over since Stearns took over two years ago.

So, while the Mets might have had personality clashes in the room in 2025, maybe they should aim a little higher at their problems, including but not limited to better players. I know that in our workplaces, positive cultures, team chemistry and having people who are good at their jobs start at the top.

And, as I said, a workplace is a workplace. These people are just a lot richer than us in most cases.

If the Mets employ the same practices only with different people in the room, why should the result be any different, just because Semien or Jorge Polanco are supposedly good clubhouse guys?

Think about it from that perspective for a second.

Lastly, let’s stop talking about the past. It's a distraction and quite frankly, for the Mets higher ups to solve. Lets look ahead and how this roster needs to be fixed so the team can actually be good.

Which brings me to the club’s reported interest in Edward Cabrera…

Cabrera turns 28 in April. He’s a hard thrower - his fastball sits in the upper 90s but his best pitches are his curveball and change-up. The key for Cabrera and being able to lean on his strength is his ability to throw strikes and get ahead of hitters. Historically, that has been a problem for him, as he averaged 5.1 walks per nine innings from 2021-2024. But that mark improved to 3.1 walks per nine in 2025, which led to fewer baserunners, more strikeouts, a lot of ground balls, and a lot of chase.

Edward Cabrera, via Baseball Savant (Statcast)

He threw a career-high 137 innings over a career-high 26 starts in 2025. So, that combined with his historically concerning command issues means the jury is still out on Cabrera’s sustainability. That’s not to say the Mets can’t use Cabrera - he’s unquestionably an upgrade for them given the low bar they set in the rotation last season. He’s under control for three more seasons, so that could mean the cost in prospects will be considerable, especially since there’s big market competition for Cabrera among the Yankees and Cubs this winter. But the upside is undeniable, which is why the interest is as high as it is right now in him.

Of course, Cabrera doesn’t have the credentials that his teammate Sandy Alcantara does, but Cabrera is also younger and has two additional years of control tied to him, which better meets the criteria for what this front office looks for in starting pitching.

The Marlins have reportedly been willing to listen to trade offers for their starting pitchers this winter, but they’ve also shown a willingness to contend in 2026, evident by the signing of Pete Fairbanks to be their closer. The only arm which is reportedly untouchable is Eury Pérez, so their two most attractive arms would be either Cabrera or Alcantara.

USA Today Sports

As always, it remains to be seen if the Mets are ultimately a match for either of these pitchers. It also remains to be seen if they’d be more interested in a possible deal for Tarik Skubal, for whom they are also well positioned to make a trade.

But as we all know, the Mets have to make at least one significant move for the top of their rotation. The rotation posted a 4.92 ERA after June 11, the fourth-worst mark in baseball. The rotation threw only 824.2 innings after June 11, which was the sixth-worst mark in baseball.

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Around the League 🚩

• The Blue Jays agreed to a four-year, $60 million contract with Kazuma Okamoto (ESPN)

• The Twins are signing INF Orlando Arcia to a minor league contract (MassLive)

• RHP Kona Takahashi is returning to the NPB after not finding a contract to his liking in the Unites States (Athletic)

• The Royals announced they extended manager Matt Quataro on a three-year contract

• The Yankees signed INF Paul DeJong to a minor league contract (NY Post)