17 Comments
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Matthew Davis's avatar

Jonah Lincecum you mean?

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Joel's avatar

Let's hope so!

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Ed Pierson's avatar

You meant Jonah Tong, not Thor.

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foxy's avatar

I wouldn't mind Thor as an outcome for Tong though

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James Schwartz's avatar

Should the Mets “lose” out on Tucker and Bellinger I’d have to believe they were only “in” on them to claim that they were “in” on them. Until pen is to paper I don’t believe Stearns is serious at all here.

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Kyle Faraday's avatar

Unless there’s significant movement, is this on track to be one of the most disappointing offseason of all time?

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Kevin J. Rogers's avatar

Ken Rosenthal says Marte is staying put, and Preller is on the record as saying Tatis is staying put, too. Those would be the two blockbuster trades. So, signing Tucker is the last of the three really good options out there.

But I don't see Stearns sticking his neck out too far on it. And I highly doubt we're in on Bellinger if the Yankees truly have gone north of $30 million per.

What I could see is Tucker at, oh, three years at $75 million or something like that. It may be a bit of a stretch and it's a significant bump from where he was last year ($16.5 million). It's not a bad deal, though.

But I can also see Toronto easily outbidding that offer with a longer contract and similar AAV. They really want him.

After that, there just isn't much around this cycle. The same group of teams have the same targets in the same group of players. Once the logjam breaks — Bregman or Tucker signing would do it — things will move quickly, but we could end up walking away from it entirely.

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Joel's avatar

My guess is that 3 years 75M would be instantly rejected by Tucker.

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Kevin J. Rogers's avatar

Oh yes. One rumor has Toronto at seven years in the $40 million AAV range. That seems shockingly high to me, but there it is.

We're not going anywhere near that.

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Joel's avatar

It is shocking. On the other hand, how could one describe Soto's 15/765M?

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Kevin J. Rogers's avatar

No doubt about it, those were mind-blowing numbers, too. I almost fell out of my chair when it was announced. I thought it was a massive overpay.

But one can argue it's worth it to pay Soto around $8 million per WAR now, knowing that he's only going to get better while the dollar value per WAR is only going to get higher. Over the life of the contract, he might even turn out to be a long-term bargain.

Kyle Tucker at $40 million AAV puts him in the same general territory: about $8 million per WAR. But is he going to get significantly better over the next seven years? Is he as good as Soto right NOW?

He's a good player, but he's not a centerpiece like Soto is (or Vladdy is, for that matter).

But hey, Toronto looks ready to spend money. 🤷‍♂️

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Dean's avatar

Not worth the money.

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Dean's avatar

Mets are more than a Tucker away from competing. Why pay the high AAV when you are a few years away from competing.

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Joel's avatar

If you're referencing Tucker: "he consistently ranks among MLB's elite hitters, with a standout 179 OPS+ in 2024, placing him 3rd in MLB, and a solid 143 OPS+ in 2025, ranking 10th, demonstrating his strong offensive production relative to the league average (100) across recent seasons, according to Baseball-Reference.com." "worth the money" using what comparison? Look at what Dylan Cease got.

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Joel's avatar

No Bader! Last year will go down as his best offensive year. If we get him to bide time while the prospects develop, he'll hit .239. As I've said before, it makes no sense to have signed Soto for megabucks and then get chintzy when it comes to Tucker. And Lindor won't be in his prime for too much longer. Ketel Marte in left is a longshot, but far more palatable than tossing the season away for a (shhh, don't say it out loud) rebuild.

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Angler1975's avatar

Benge should start in the minors. He’s a bonus this year and should not be the plan.

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Ed Pierson's avatar

Ketel Marte AND Marcus Semien? Who plays where? Second base? What's on second...

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