The Mets top free agent starting pitching target

Meanwhile, what is actually realistic if Pete Alonso leaves? Plus, more notes on Kyle Schwarber, their interest in the Brewers big arms, Pete Alonso's next steps, and more

Justin Mears

Dec 09, 2025

What’s up with the Mets? 🍎

The Mets recently held a video meeting with RHP Michael King, who appears to be their top free agent pitching target (NY Post | MLB.com)
New York continues to be connected to Kyle Schwarber’s free agency (NY Post)
The Mets have checked in with the Brewers on RHPs Freddy Peralta and Trevor Megill (NY Post)
1B Pete Alonso is headed to the winter meetings for in person meetings with interested teams — including the Red Sox and Orioles but not the Mets (NY Post)
The Mets are reluctant to to make long term offers to free-agent starters with Framber Valdez, Ranger Suarez, and Tatsuya Imai (Athletic)
Carlos Mendoza told reporters that Brett Baty will be the club’s starting third baseman in 2026 (SNY)
New York signed signed veteran RHP Carl Edwards Jr. to a minor league deal with an invite to Major League spring training (Athletic)

Monday’s Rumors from the Winter Meetings 🔎

The Blue Jays are monitoring the market for Edwin Díaz and other late inning relievers, including RHP Robert Suárez (Sportsnet)
The Royals are looking to add multiple outfielders and have former Met Harrison Bader on their radar (NY Post)
San Diego is listening on RHP Nick Pivetta and INF Jake Cronenworth (The Athletic)
The White Sox are showing interest in RHP Pete Fairbanks (MLB.com)
The Mariners are NOT looking to trade RHP Luis Castillo (Seattle Times)
The Angels and Tigers are expressing interest in RHP Kenley Jansen (7 News Boston)
The Red Sox recently held a Zoom meeting with INF Bo Bichette (7 News Boston)

Earlier Rumors 🔍

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)

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Winter Meetings Livestream 🚨

Join us tonight at 8 p.m. on YouTube for our livestream covering the second night of the Winter Meetings!

Rich MacLeod & Andrew Claudio will be streaming live each night (Monday - Wednesday) and reacting to the day’s rumors, signings, and trades, plus responding to your comments in the live chat.

Watch Monday night’s livestream here.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE JUST METS PODCAST: YouTube | Apple Podcasts | Spotify

The Winter Meetings continue today at the Signia by Hilton Bonnet Creek & Waldorf Astoria in Orlando, Florida.

The MLB Draft Lottery will be held today 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)

David Stearns speaks with the media, Day 1 🗣️

The Mets President of Baseball Operations met with reporters on Monday night and said the following:

“I am confident that we’re making progress to ultimately make some transactions that we think really help our team and our organization going forward.”
On Pete Alonso: “Pete has demonstrated that he’s one of the best offensive players in baseball. And he’s performed at a high level for us. That would be a priority for any team, and it certainly is for us.”
On the addition of Devin Williams: “We’re certainly thrilled that we were able to add Devin Williams. I wouldn’t say we’re done with our bullpen at this point…some of those may come through free agency. Some of those may come through trades. Some of those may come from internal candidates.”
On the rotation: “I think we’d like to be able to add a starter. We are also really comfortable, we like our young starters that are emerging. We saw that last year with Nolan McLean, but certainly, we’re going to be canvassing where we can to bring in a starting pitcher and help stabilize the staff.”
On Marcus Semien’s defense and if that impacts his view on first base: “I don’t know that I necessarily look at Marcus’ skill set at second necessarily impacting the type of skill sets we’re looking at the defenders around him.”
On the outfield: “We are in the market for an outfielder and we’ll see if we can pull something off there.” He indicated the team is comfortable with Jeff McNeil in left field but that top prospect Carson Benge is also an option there.
On Kodai Senga: “Kodai has had an outstanding offseason and I think maybe that’s the most encouraging development we’ve had in terms of our offseason player progression. He feels great, he feels as good physically as he has since that 2023 season, he’s going through his normal offseason routine.”
On the report of a disconnect between Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto: “Juan and Francisco are two elite baseball players who care a ton about winning and show up and work incredibly hard and play very well together. From my prospective that’s what’s most important.”
On Christian Scott: “Scott is going to come to spring training as a full participant ready to go.”

What is the plan at first base IF Pete Alonso doesn’t return? ✍️

Surprise, surprise, Pete Alonso’s name was everywhere during the first full day of the winter meetings.

In a span of just a few hours on Monday, we had Mike Puma of the NY Post reporting that Alonso plans to drive up from his Tampa home to meet in person with interested teams—namely the Red Sox and Orioles—among others.

Later in the evening, both David Stearns and Carlos Mendoza expressed that bringing Alonso back to Queens is a priority—though the club does not plan to meet with the slugging first baseman while he’s in Orlando given the two parties’ familiarity with one another.

The last part of that caught my attention. Obviously, at this point, the Mets (and all of us reading this for that matter) know exactly what Alonso is.

He is simply one of the best offensive power threats in the game. He’s connected on 34 or more home runs in every season of his career (the COVID-shortened campaign not withstanding), he has four 100+ RBI seasons on his resume, and he’s coming off a contract year where he dramatically outperformed his lifetime slash line of .253/.341/.516.

Alonso “posts”, he’s played in all of the Mets games for two years running, and in fact, has only missed 10 total games in the last four seasons.

His defense can be suspect at times, and analytical metrics are not kind to him, but he does have good hands around the bag and saves his infielders a plethora of errors with his ability to handle off-target throws.

While Alonso is not a perfect player, he has always seemingly been perfect for this organization, and it’s hard to imagine a scenario where the two sides ultimately don’t come to an agreement. Especially given the lack of a realistic alternative.

Let’s dive into what the Mets could or would do in the event Alonso signed elsewhere.

Internal

Should Alonso leave and the Mets not address the absence via free agency or a trade, Mark Vientos would immediately slot in as the starter at first base, which isn’t good.

Vientos’ offensive breakout in 2024 was music to the organization’s ears, but his failure to build on that a year ago was concerning. Heading into 2026, what the Mets have in Vientos is unclear. He’s a highly talented offensive player who, in parts of four Major League seasons, has delivered a consistent and reliable campaign only once, and it wasn’t a full season of success. His slugging percentage went down more than 100 points in ‘25, and his defense at third base—while never a strength—was even more problematic given the lack of offense.

Vientos ultimately lost his starting job at third base to Brett Baty, and considering his difficulties at the hot corner, I would be hard-pressed to count on him handling a new position full-time without issue.

Free Agency

There is simply not a free agent option available that would be comparable to Alonso’s impact, unless they signed Cody Bellinger to play first which wouldn’t make sense in a full-time capacity. If the Mets were to address a potential hole at first base via this route, it would be with an eye towards improving the team’s defense with a stopgap type player. Names like Paul Goldschmidt or Carlos Santana could potentially fit here.

Trade

It’s been no secret that Orioles first baseman Ryan Mountcastle has been available at the right price for a while now, and the Mets were even connected to him this time last year before Alonso came back. He would make sense again now, though it would be a buy-low endeavor as he’s coming off a season plagued with injuries and inconsistency.

St. Louis’ Willson Contreras would also fit here, as after moving out from behind the plate full-time, he’s become a very strong defensive first baseman. And we all know his bat has always played. He has two years left on his contract plus a club option for 2028. He’s also older than Alonso, so part of the calculus here could be: is bringing in three years of Contreras really better than giving five to Alonso?

Prospect

The dark horse lingering over this entire conversation is Ryan Clifford, whose Mets future feels directly tied to that of Alonso’s. Clifford was one of the two prospects New York brought back from the Astros in the deal that sent Justin Verlander to Houston a couple of summers ago. He plays both corner outfield and first base, but his best trait is clearly his bat. In 139 games split between Double-A and Triple-A in 2025, Clifford slashed .237/.356/.470 with 29 home runs, 93 RBI, and 23 doubles. He does strike out a lot, which is concerning when thinking about a promotion to the sport’s highest level, but his power potential is intoxicating.

In a world where Alonso is not here, Clifford’s presence likely keeps the Mets looking for a stopgap first baseman until he is ready. If Alonso is signed long-term, you’ll almost definitely start hearing a lot of Clifford’s name in trade rumors for pitching help.

Around the League 🚩

The Diamondbacks are in agreement with free-agent righty Mike Soroka on a one year deal (ESPN)
The Tigers signed RHP Drew Anderson to a one-year, $7 million contract (Athletic)
Tampa Bay has signed former Mets LHP Steven Matz to a multi year contract (NY Post)