The Mets have work to do as the stage is set for the Winter Meetings
Executives from all 30 clubs are in Orlando this week, ready to reshape their rosters ahead of the 2026 season
What’s up with the Mets? 🍎
The Mets could consider moving Clay Holmes back to the bullpen (USA Today)
Rumor Mill 🔎
The Marlins have sent signals Edwards Cabrera is available, but Sandy Alcantara is not (USA Today)
The Pirates are “hanging around” in Pete Alonso’s market (USA Today)
The Pirates have offered Kyle Schwarber a four-year contract for more than $100 million - he is expected to decide where he is going in the next two weeks (Athletic)
The Dodgers would prefer to sign Robert Suárez over Edwin Díaz (USA Today)
The Cubs are showing interest in signing 3B Eugenio Suárez (Beisbol FR)
The Royals are interested in bringing back Mike Yastrzemski and Adam Frazier (KC Star)
The Red Sox, Rays, Mariners, Pirates and Tigers have all expressed interest in a trade for INF Ketel Marte (NY Post | USA Today)
Winter Meetings Livestream 🚨
Join us tonight at 8 p.m. on YouTube for our livestream covering the first full night of the Winter Meetings!
Rich MacLeod & Andrew Claudio will be streaming live each of the next three nights and reacting to the day’s rumors, signings, and trades, plus responding to your comments in the live chat.
SUBSCRIBE: YouTube | Apple Podcasts | Spotify
The Winter Meetings begin today at the Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort in Orlando, Florida.
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza is scheduled to speak with the media at 5:40 p.m. ET.
The MLB Draft Lottery will be held on Tuesday, December 9th at 5:30 p.m. ET and will be aired live on MLB Network. The Mets have a 0.67% chance of winning the first pick in the draft.
The Rule 5 draft will be held on Wednesday, December 10th at 2 p.m. ET. The Mets currently have 39 players on their 40-man roster, meaning there is next to no wiggle room for them to take a chance on a player. If the Mets do choose a player from the major league portion of the draft, they must pay the player’s former club $100,000 and carry that player on the active roster the entire season. If they don’t, they must then be waived. If the player clears waivers, they offer that player back to their former club for $50,000. The player can only be outrighted off the 40-man roster and sent to the minors if their former team declines to take the player back.
The meetings conclude Wednesday afternoon.
For more on this year’s Winter Meetings, check out MLB’s primer here.
Winter Meetings Reading 📖
Just Mets Free Agency Guide 💰 (MacLeod)
Outfield trade targets 💰 (Van Buskirk)
The wide net the Mets are casting for their rotation (Baron)
Unpacking the Mets involvement in Kyle Schwarber’s free agency (Steele)
The Mets have another ace on their radar (Surovich)
The Mets are in on everyone (almost)! (Van Buskirk)
Jeff Kent elected to the Hall of Fame 🏆
Former Met infielder Jeff Kent was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Contemporary Era committee on Sunday.
Was acquired by the Mets from the Blue Jays along with Ryan Thompson for David Cone on August 27, 1992
Hit .279/.327/.453 with 98 doubles, ten triples and 67 home runs with 267 RBI in 498 games with the Mets between 1992-1996
His 377 career homers are the most by a primary second baseman in AL/NL history and 351 of his 377 home runs came as a second baseman, the most in MLB history
Had 1,518 career RBI, the third-most among primary second basemen behind only Nap Lajoie (1,599) and Rogers Hornsby (1,584). His career .500 slugging percentage is second-best in AL/NL history behind only Hornsby (.577) while his 2,298 career games are 11th-most among second basemen
Was traded by the Mets to the Indians along with José Vizcaino for Carlos Baerga and Alvaro Espinosa on July 29, 1996
Let’s get to work! ✍️
Well, we have reached the Winter Meetings.
The Mets have already been busy this winter in their attempt to retool their underachieving roster, and that early activity is clearly a warning sign of things to come as the Mets still have a ton of work to do.
Now, I am not sure what’s going to get done this week. The buzz around baseball is that it could potentially be a quiet week as there’s more groundwork to be laid and a flurry of activity could follow into the holidays. Of course, that could change in a heartbeat, and with the Mets needing clarity on a bunch of areas of their roster, I could certainly see them being one of the teams that makes a move, if for no other reason than they’re not one or two players away from re-jiggering their roster to their liking.
I think the most likely area the Mets can or will move on over the next 2-3 days is in their pitching staff. Again, there’s a lot of work to do there - they need at least one starting pitcher, they need to figure out where or even if Kodai Senga fits going forward, they need a closer, and a few other bullpen pieces as well. I don’t think the Mets can seriously consider moving Senga until they procure other arms, myself.
The loudest noise right now seems to be coming from both parts of their pitching staff. There are numerous connections between the Mets and Framber Valdez, who was the best free agent pitcher available when the winter began, and with Dylan Cease likely setting a higher floor, Valdez could be in for an even bigger payday.
Now, will that push the Mets further out of their comfort zone for a free agent starting pitcher to the point they look elsewhere? Does that send them towards Michael King or Tatsuya Imai? Or are they more likely to make a trade for a big, front end arm? My gut says the latter in the end. The Orioles are another team apparently involved in Valdez’s free agency, and it would seem crazy to me they would outbid and further overpay Valdez, who will be 32 in 2026. But as I always say, free agency can get really, really weird and the Mets have yet to really prove they’re willing to sign a second generation contract for a pitcher of this magnitude.
Then there’s the Edwin Díaz situation.
I’ve said from the beginning this winter the stars were aligned for the Mets and Díaz to eventually come back together. It’s been a great relationship for the last six years; he’s the best closer in baseball, the Mets simply will not be as good without him no matter what the alternatives are, and that qualifying offer severely limits the market for a 32-year-old closer. That’s not to say Díaz won’t get paid - he will. But while I am sure he would like to get a serious raise in his AAV, he opted out to get more years in the end, and unless the Mets seriously screw this up, I’d be really surprised to see Díaz go elsewhere. And, with the Dodgers being a little more conservative and angling more towards someone like Robert Suárez for their primary plan, it potentially crimps Díaz’s options even more.
I am not at all saying Díaz coming back is a slam dunk. I don’t know in the end. All I am saying is, it makes too much sense and someone really has to mess this up to me for him to go elsewhere.
The Mets have other work to do behind the closer situation. They did land Devin Williams last week, and they have Brooks Raley and AJ Minter in the fold as shoo-ins for Opening Day (assuming Minter is ready, of course, which isn’t a guarantee), but that’s about it right now unless they decide to move Clay Holmes back to the bullpen, which I would suspect wouldn’t happen unless they get two big starting pitchers this winter and can trade Senga.
Speaking of crimped options, it’s déjà vu for Pete Alonso, isn’t it? It’s not quite the same, but in the end, it would seem he’s facing the same problems - more or less - than he did last winter in that the market just isn’t developing the way he hoped it would for his services. The only difference is, there’s no draft pick compensation associated with Alonso now, so that should at least create some sort of market for him this winter. But, in the end, it’s the same general market as it was last winter with the Mets and Red Sox as primary suitors. Alonso may need to wait for Kyle Schwarber to land somewhere, be it with the Mets, Phillies, Reds, Red Sox, or elsewhere, before he comes off the board, and while I would love to see the Mets get both, it’s really hard for me to see the Mets or any team have both on the same roster considering they both project as designated hitters in the short, medium, and long term.
Yeah, it’s one or the other for the Mets, and while Alonso unquestionably has his shortcomings, he’s a better fit and checks more boxes for the Mets than Schwarber does. Also, there’s the homegrown thing, the Met-for-Life thing, the legacy thing, the Hall of Fame potential thing, and all of those other things. Also - he’s still a great hitter.
Now, I do see the Mets signing Alonso or Schwarber and getting a corner outfielder. I say corner outfielder because there’s no true difference maker available for center field on the free agent market, unless that player is Cody Bellinger, someone they’re in the running for. But, as I’ve said a few times this winter, I’ll believe he’s leaving the Yankees (and Schwarber with the Phillies) when I see it. Bellinger is a great fit for the Mets between his versatility and his offense, but he’s better suited for the Yankees in that ballpark which is designed for his swing. But, while the Yankees have reportedly made him their big target this winter, the Mets have outbid the Yankees before for a big bat, if you know what I mean.
What they do in left field represents part two of the Brandon Nimmo/Marcus Semien trade, and how they act on that will help determine how good of a trade that was heading into Opening Day.
If Bellinger falls through, I’m guessing the Mets would turn to the trade market. There hasn’t been a lot of buzz about them being in on Kyle Tucker’s free agency short of a few vague “the Mets are in on everyone” bits. Personally, it’s hard for me to see the Mets entertaining what it would take to sign him considering the deal they gave to Juan Soto last winter and the lengthy deal they had before with Francisco Lindor. But these are the Steve Cohen Mets and there’s a higher threshold here for bad contracts, so I won’t rule the Mets out on Tucker until he signs elsewhere.
There are of course some peripheral issues for the Mets to deal with, including Jeff McNeil and finding a taker for the $15 million in guaranteed money he has left, figuring out what to do with the option-less Mark Vientos and perhaps finding him a new home, and finding defense-first depth around the diamond and for the back of the roster. Some of these trade scenarios might need to be tabled until January or until some of the primary free agents start to come off the board.
Hopefully the Mets make some progress in some of these areas in the coming hours and days. It’s a pivotal time for Stearns as they look to scrub the bad taste of 2025 from everyone’s mouth.
But again, will all of this happen this week? Will even some of it happen this week? Or, will none of it happen this week?
I get the feeling the Mets have something up their sleeve in Orlando, for sure…
Around the League 🚩
Tom Hicks, the former owner of the Texas Rangers, passed away at the age of 79 (MLB.com)