Winter Meetings are here! What's up with Yamamoto, and the Mets shopping list
The Mets are expected to be busy this week at the Winter Meetings in Nashville
What’s Up with the Mets? 🍎
Yoshinobu Yamamoto is coming to the United States to meet with teams in the coming weeks and the Mets are expected to be among the teams he meets with (New York Post)
The Mets wish list for the Winter Meetings is an outfielder, starting pitching, and relief pitching (SNY)
The Mets signed RHP Kyle Crick and invited him to major league spring training
Rumor Mill 💭
The Giants are currently rumored to be the favorites to sign Yoshinobu Yamamoto (SF Chronicle)
The Mets are reportedly interested in signing Korean centerfielder Jung Hoo Lee, who is expected to be posted today (Athletic)
Winter Meetings 🎺
The Winter Meetings are set to begin on Monday in at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee.
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza is scheduled to speak with the media at 3:20 PM ET on Monday, December 4, and David Stearns will be available in an informal capacity on Tuesday, December 5 beginning at 3:30 PM ET.
The MLB Draft Lottery will be held on Tuesday, December 5 at 4:30 PM ET and will be aired live on MLB Network.
The Mets currently have a 4.3% chance of winning the first pick in the draft. If they fail to land a top 6 pick (protected from competitive balance tax (CBT) penalties), they will automatically be bumped to the 17th pick from the 7th slot as part of the penalty for exceeding the highest CBT threshold for a second straight year.
The Rule 5 draft will be held on Wednesday, December 6 at 1 PM ET. The Mets currently have 33 players on their 40-man roster, meaning there is some 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 ourighted off the 40-man roster and sent to the minors if their former team declines to take the player back.
For more on this year’s Winter Meetings, check out MLB’s primer here.
The Winter Meetings are coming and the Mets have A LOT of work to do… ✍️
With the Winter Meetings starting up this week, the MLB Hot Stove should finally ignite this offseason.
Shohei Ohtani could decide where he’s going this week (Blue Jays, Giants, Dodgers perhaps?) and Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s decision might take a little longer but that doesn’t mean other moves won’t be made. SNY’s Andy Martino reported the Mets are focusing on free agent starting pitching which of course includes Yamamoto but they have other options as well, and the Mets need more than one starting pitcher at the top of the rotation, anyway.
Other potential targets targets are Eduardo Rodriguez, Jordan Montgomery, Blake Snell, and Lucas Giolito, with Montgomery being connected the most to the Mets and probably serving as the best fit among the aforementioned options. Realistically, the Mets will need at least two of these starters if not three to complete their 2024 rotation, although two seems more likely with the Mets rounding out the back of the rotation with Tylor Megill and anyone else at Triple-A who has a glove.
Even if they sign only one from that group, there are other secondary options such as Seth Lugo who pitched perfectly fine as a starter in San Diego, and if he’s interested in a reunion and the Mets actually now see him as a starter, this could be an interesting fit for them on a two-year deal.
As for relievers, Josh Hader is the top name on the market, but the Mets are probably not in the closer’s market since they have Edwin Díaz coming back in 2024. But they’re definitely in the 7th-8th inning markets.
Aside from Díaz, the Mets bullpen needs a total redo. David Robertson is again a free agent - he was fabulous when he was with the Mets but then struggled after he was traded to Miami. Fireballer Jordan Hicks is also a free agent and could be a good add to the bullpen, although if he wants to close it may not be the best fit for the Mets.
The team should learn from Billy Eppler’s mistake of signing “optionable” arms instead of legitimate and historically sustainable swing-and-miss bullpen pieces.
As for outfielders, the Mets could potentially solve that vacancy internally with Jeff McNeil, although the Mets should definitely look at the external markets to solve this issue first. They’d still be painfully thin if they chose this route given the uncertainty with Starling Marte’s health and viability.
In fact, Marte chould be considered a DH option as the Mets go full bore after a legit run preventer in the outfield.
But if they went this route with McNeil, Ronny Mauricio could then slide in at second base with Joey Wendle serves as the middle infield utilityman.
External options could include Tommy Pham, who expressed interest in a reunion (although that might be a little weird after the things he said) and Michael A. Taylor or Jung Hoo Lee, the latter of which will be posted today and the Mets are reportedly interested in.
There are a lot of needs here with the Mets. But fortunately for them, there are also plenty of options to address those needs. This will be a crucial test for David Stearns as he faces his first offseason as President of Baseball Operations while also serving as their GM.
The winter meetings are coming and it is time for Stearns to take the first step in reshaping the organization for this season and beyond.
Hot Stove 🔥
Jim Leyland was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee (release)
Shohei Ohtani’s big decision could come within the next week (MLB Network)
Ohtani has received multiple offers of at least $500 million and the Dodgers, Cubs, Blue Jays, Giants and Angels are believed to be the finalists for Ohtani (New York Post)
Alek Manoah could be part of a Juan Soto trade to the Blue Jays (New York Post)
At least the Dodgers, Braves and Orioles are in talks with the White Sox for RHP Dylan Cease (MLB Network)
The Braves acquired Jarred Kelenic, Marco Gonzales and Evan White from the Mariners in exchange for RHP Jackson Kowar and RHP Cole Phillips (MLB.com)
The Brewers are close to re-signing LHP Wade Miley one month after he declined his mutual option with the club