Mets sign 20 players to kick off the International Signing Period
Mets nabbed three of the top-ranked international prospects and the son of Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero. Plus, notes on the Mets roster and Pete Alonso's situation
What’s Up with the Mets? 🍎
The Mets kicked off the international free agent signing period in 2024 by procuring 20 new prospects, including hall of famer Vladimir Guerrero’s son, Vladi Miguel Guerrero (release)
Among those 20 prospects, three are ranked in MLB.com’s top-50 list:
C Yovanny Rodriguez (5th ranked, $2.85 million)
SS Yensi Rivas (31st ranked, $500,000)
OF Edward Lantigua (41st ranked, $985,000)
Manager Carlos Mendoza and David Stearns were on-hand at the club’s academy in the Dominican Republic to participate in their students’ graduation ceremony (SNY)
The Mets claimed RHP Max Kranick off waivers from the Pirates and designated C/OF Cooper Hummel and INF Diego Castillo for assignment
The Mets avoided arbitration with all of their eligible players except for Phil Bickford
Notes on the Mets new prospects, Pete Alonso and the bullpen ✍️
First off, I hope everyone is staying warm and dry as we are now in the midst of the worst part of the winter. Here in New York, we have a rough week ahead with the weather but before we know it, the sounds of baseball will be upon us as the Mets are set to descend upon Port St. Lucie for Spring Training in less than a month.
Now, onto baseball…
I don’t ever pretend to know much about the international free agent pool. What I can tell you is all of these players are very young, most don’t make it to the big leagues but none of these - even the deal given to Yovanny Rodriguez are of particular risk. The Mets have a $5.2 million pool to spend in international free agency, they gave about half of that to Rodriguez, these are all exciting players who have amazing tools but a long road ahead to the big leagues, and I suppose we should hope a few make it to Flushing by the end of the decade, if not sooner.
Aside from that, we will see what time tells about these players.
Just a few thoughts on a quiet and snowy morning in New York…
Last week, the Mets and Pete Alonso avoided arbitration and agreed to a one-year, $20.5 million deal. MLBTR projected he would get $22 million, so this is in-line with that expectation.
What does this mean? Not much, actually.
We’ve said time and time again since we rebooted Just Mets the Mets need to pull out all of the stops and get a lifer deal done with Alonso. That was true three years ago, it’s true today.
But as time goes on, the more worried I get they won’t get a deal done. I don’t think it’s going to be from a lack of effort from the Mets. Ultimately, I think the Mets will meet every demand from Alonso knowing full well this is one of the most iconic players in their history, he is unquestionably the most prolific home run hitter in Mets history, and he is homegrown and this is New York - there is absolutely no reason or way the Mets can explain it away if he were to depart.
The part that worries me is given the state of the Mets and the drama that always seems to follow, he may just want to go elsewhere. That is a completely subjective opinion with no basis or evidence to draw from.
A gut feeling, if you will.
I will gladly take the loss if he and the Mets get a deal done, of course. I would love for something to get done during spring training. It would make for a great story for the Mets in what will be a camp with tempered expectations for the upcoming season.
Lets see what the Mets and Scott Boras have up their sleeve.
As for the Mets and their roster, of course they still have work to do on multiple fronts but according to SNY, they only want to spend another $10 million this winter. It’s understandable given the state of their payroll and all of the dead money they’re dealing with in 2024, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t issues that need addressing.
There have been some off and on sketchy rumors out there connecting the Mets to Jorge Soler, but while he would certainly help and protect Alonso in the middle of the lineup, he doesn’t seem to fit the blueprint for the Mets in 2024. He unquestionably wants a multi-year deal and the Mets have shown no inclination to give out multi-year deals outside of Yoshinobu Yamamoto. I also see no reason why Soler wouldn’t get a multi-year deal elsewhere, so logically this just seems like a long shot.
In a way, I wish the Mets had invested some of the resources they gambled with in the rotation into surer things in the bullpen. This is an age where even the best starters go 5-6 innings and it’s all about run prevention in the later innings.
Right now, the Mets don’t have a lot going on in their bullpen and $10 million doesn’t do a whole lot to fix it. Maybe they can sneak a couple of arms like Wandy Peralta in there, but it’s that tier of reliever that $10 million buys. Yes, the bullpen is easily the most volatile part of the roster and there’s no reason for the Mets or any team to spend too much there, but they do need some arms that will miss bats in innings 6-8. They don’t have that now and it doesn’t sound like they’re going to have that heading into camp, either.
Anyway, that is all for now. Nothing’s really cooking for the Mets at the moment. This is typically the quietest time in the winter, but there are still a lot of free agents available so things might change in a hurry.
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Sadly, I share your gut feeling about Alonso. I hope we're wrong.