The Mets are open for business and shopping rostered veterans
Plus, believe it or not, the Mets have a bevy of internal options for their pitching staff
What’s up with the Mets? 🍎
As expected, Edwin Díaz declined his qualifying offer, and will remain a free agent
Roster Moves 📰
Designated RHP Frankie Montas for assignment
Added OF Nick Morabito to the 40-man roster
Rumor Mill 🔎
The Mets are interested in potentially signing Edwin Díaz and Devin Williams, and Kodai Senga, Brett Baty, Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil are all available via trade (ESPN)
The Just Mets Podcast 🎙️
Welcome to Mets Therapy! In this inaugural Just Mets Therapy Session, join Andrew Claudio for a full breakdown of Jeff Passan’s offseason preview and its many Mets mentions.
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Two prospects have re-entered the picture for the Mets for 2026 ✍️
Amidst the ample noise that already surrounds the 2025-26 MLB Offseason, one particular sentiment shared by David Stearns has lingered longer in the air than others, to varying degrees of concern.
Stearns has made it clear that the franchise is as ready to rely on ‘internal options’ in pursuit of improvement around the diamond as it is to pursue upgrades via trades and free agency. Though I’m ever the optimist, even I don’t begrudge Mets fans any frustration they feel hearing that.
Since Andrew covered the big points from Jeff Passan’s lengthy offseason preview article on the Just Mets podcast, I decided to take a different route in this section today. Inspired by Linda’s piece from yesterday, I felt compelled to talk a little bit about two other arms some Mets fans may have temporarily forgotten about — one of whom only just re-entered the organization.
Christian Scott
After an electric debut in 2024, Christian Scott’s rookie campaign was cut short by a UCL injury that required a combo Tommy John/internal brace surgery. Now, he enters the 2026 season as one of this staff’s most interesting, highest-upside arms, one we should see back in action this spring.
Earning a May 2024 call-up after a strong start to his Triple-A season, Scott posted a 3.90 ERA over his first five MLB appearances. He was sent back to Syracuse until July, but he struggled upon his return before the elbow injury ended his season. Despite the setback, though, Scott gave fans plenty to get excited about. He showed off his particularly lively, dominant fastball early and often (53% usage rate), pairing it with a plus-grade sweeper that elicited a 36% whiff rate at Triple-A.
His fastball isn’t the league’s flashiest, but it’s still got plenty of zip to it, usually crossing the plate around 95 mph. Though Scott can coax some extra arm-side run out of it, the pitch’s mostly-straight flight path makes it a perfect complement to the more severe sweeper, which breaks almost 14 inches glove side, seeming to mirror the fastball’s trajectory out of his hand before plummeting to the other side of the zone. It’s a mix that helped Scott dominate minor league hitters, with a near-30% K-BB% rate across MiLB.
Since Scott should be ready to go at the start of Spring Training, I’m curious to see exactly how far the front office goes to fill out the rotation beyond checking that frontline starter box. While I don’t think Scott should have a rotation spot out of the gate by any means, I wonder where Mets brass will cap their assumed arm-adding spree, considering their self-acknowledged wealth of talent at the position.
Still, I have to assume that he’s one of the ‘internal options’ that Stearns has been cagily referring to the last few weeks. If all goes well this spring, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him start the season out of the bullpen in Queens.
Nate Lavender
Another 2024 elbow surgery victim, Nate Lavender missed all of 2025 after being selected by the Rays in the Rule 5 draft, which forced Tampa into a ‘cut him or keep him’ situation. They chose the former, sending Lavender back to the Mets and dropping another talented young southpaw into an already-stacked pitching pool.
While Scott profiles more like a traditional power pitcher, Lavender relies more on tricky pitch shapes and effective sequencing to garner his results. With a fastball that averages 90 mph, his lower-than-average delivery point makes the ball arrive at the plate on an unusual angle, which helps it tunnel more naturally with his deceptively nasty slider. That combination has turned Lavender into a strikeout machine, tallying 174 strikeouts in just 115.2 total MiLB innings. Across the minors, he’s posted a 2.45 ERA with a 1.22 WHIP. All the tools are there.
As with Scott, health and durability will make all the difference for Lavender. Historically, he’s not been one to rack up innings, only ever crossing the 50 IP threshold once in his MiLB career to date. He’s also demonstrated some control issues in the past, averaging a 12.2% walk rate in his first two full minor league seasons.
Still, the potential of his raw stuff makes Lavender a highly intriguing relief option heading into next season. Though he’d definitely benefit from starting the season down in the minors and further refining his mechanics and repertoire, I wouldn’t rule out a semi-early call-up if his numbers look good and present circumstances call for it. Having an extra lefty arm with sneaky good stuff in your reserves is never a bad thing…and the Rays liked this guy for a reason (they said so themselves, recently.)
While time will tell how much impact either of these arms will actually have on the organization, Scott and Lavender are yet two more examples of just how much high-ceiling pitching talent the Mets have at their disposal that they weren’t able to tap into last season. The Mets will be doing plenty of roster retooling before pitchers and catchers report to camp in two-ish months — I’m curious to see what exactly roles these two end up playing in any of the Mets’ immediate and long-term plans.
Around the League 🚩
RHP Tatsuya Imai was officially posted for MLB teams yesterday, who will have until January 2nd to sign him; 1B/3B Kazuma Okamoto will be posted today
The Orioles traded former MLB No. 1 overall prospect Grayson Rodriguez to the Angels for OF Taylor Ward
Trent Grisham, Gleyber Torres, Shota Imanaga, and Brandon Woodruff all accepted their qualifying offers
The Twins acquired former reliever (and former Met) Eric Orze from the Rays
I do not want Peralta. He will be Montas2. I’m also sick and tired of the Stearns/Milwaukee link. Just because he had success with players when he was there means nothing when it comes to playing in NY. If Alonso doesn’t come back Stearns better get the checkbook out for Bichette and Bellinger plus! I also like the Diaz-Williams combo and concur with if Diaz leaves Williams become the closer. I have to believe Cohen knows he sold the fans a load of shit this year. He got on us for attendance and put that out there for us to watch. The fans give him the all time record for attendance at Citi field and this is what we got? He knows that can’t happen again. Stearns better be active and not be stingy with the checkbook. I want Pete and Edwin back. Then he can go out and start wheeling and dealing.
"...their self-acknowledged wealth of talent at the position." Well, maybe there's a wealth of talent but in terms of performance, we're on welfare. After last year's performance, that's a hard one to swallow, brother Buskirk. I'm ardently hoping that Stearns's talk about internal options and Benge starting in center are just ploys to tamp down fan expectations and help with free agent and trade negotiations. I can't imagine the Mets can get much of a return from trading the players you mentioned. Better to hold Senga and hope for a rebound than trade him for some mediocrity.