Words of advice to the antsy Mets fan...
Words of advice to the antsy Mets fan...
The Mets officially hire a President of Business Operations. Plus, don't let antsiness dictate your opinions of a young offseason.
What’s Up with the Mets? 🍎
The Mets officially hired M. Scott Havens as their new President of Business Operations – Havens was previously the CEO of Bloomberg Media
What would David Wright’s path to the Hall of Fame have looked like if injuries didn’t derail his career? (Lupica)
Rumor Mill 💭
The Astros may be listening to trade offers for 3B Alex Bregman (Duquette)
The Braves and Dodgers are among the teams interested in trading for White Sox RHP Dylan Cease (MLB.com)
Why the Red Sox could have the inside edge during Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s free agency (MLB.com)
The Reds are interested in trading for Rays RHP Tyler Glasnow after losing out on signing Sonny Gray in free agency (MLB.com)
Despite the trauma of Mets fans, it’s far too early to judge the offseason ✍️
Every offseason seemingly starts the same in Metsland.
The World Series ends, free agency begins, and often times things start off rather slowly. Inevitably, Mets fans begin to feel uneasy and ultimately grumble at the inactivity. The problem with this normally, though, is that it’s not even December yet and most big offseason targets are usually still on the board when this all starts.
I think this has been the case, especially over the last few winters, for a couple of reasons. For one, I think that the “PTSD” of being a Mets fan under the Wilpon regime still has fans defaulting to the belief that this team isn’t going to do anything in the offseason to improve their roster in a meaningful way. And two, the expectations for a Steve Cohen-owned team are elevated even further due to so many years of inactivity and cheapness.
This has been a phenomenon early in each of the last two winters. Players that Mets fans likely would have complained about the team signing as a half-measure come off the board and all of a sudden, people start to look around the room as another seat gets removed like it’s a do-or-die game of musical chairs. A name being removed from the pool of options, even if it’s one they never wanted, causes immediate anxiety and triggers the Wilpon era belief that they’re not going to do anything.
But, as someone who has loads of anxiety and real-life trauma they’re working through (yay therapy), let me alleviate your concerns and provide you with some words of reassurance.
First off, it’s November 28th. Free agency is rarely the fast-and-furious dash that it used to be in this sport, and the winter meetings haven’t even taken place yet.
Secondly, almost no major names have come off the board so far. The most notable players that have signed thus far this offseason have been Sonny Gray, Kenta Maeda, Aaron Nola (who was never leaving Philadelphia) and… I don’t know, Lance Lynn, I guess? It’s not exactly the gauntlet of starters that everyone’s gut instincts may be telling them that it is.
Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Clayton Kershaw, Cody Bellinger, Justin Turner, Eduardo Rodríguez, Liam Hendricks, Josh Hader, Teoscar Hernández, Matt Chapman, Rhys Hoskins, Brandon Woodruff, Jordan Montgomery, J.D. Martínez, Craig Kimbrel, David Robertson, Seth Lugo, Jesse Winker and Joc Pederson are all among the names of players who are all still very much available as of the publishing of this newsletter. And there are still a plethora of options still available via trade, as well. A small handful of names being crossed out shouldn’t be a cause for concern at this point – we’ve barely begun to scratch the surface on this offseason.
Lastly, this is at least the third consecutive offseason under this owner that fans have gone to the “they’re really not gonna do anything” well based on a slow start. This was the case during the 2021-22 offseason… and then the Mets proceeded to acquire Max Scherzer, Starling Marte, Eduardo Escobar, Mark Canha, Chris Bassitt and Adam Ottavino before Opening Day. Even last year, while the on-field results did not pay off in the way anyone was hoping for, the Mets had a pretty busy offseason after fans showed major concern over what was deemed to be inactivity or passiveness. Last winter, New York re-signed Edwin Díaz, Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil to long-term contracts and acquired Justin Verlander, Kodai Senga, David Robertson, Brooks Raley and Tommy Pham.
I know that most of your trigger responses are telling you right now “the Mets aren’t going to do anything,” and that’s likely even more intense of a feeling coming off of a massively disappointing 2023 season. I understand the feeling. There is almost a weird comfort that comes with being right about our negative Mets thoughts because hey, at least we saw it coming and maybe braced ourselves for it. But while we can debate at a future debate if what the Mets do is going to be enough to catapult them back into World Series contention, we really cannot determine our opinions on an offseason that has yet to even really begin.
As I say every year, talk to me in February after all the contracts have been signed and every trade that could be made has been. Until then the offseason is incomplete, and therefore I refuse to be a contributor to the hot take landscape by making brash declarations and digging my heels in on an opinion that would be incomplete at best.
Hot Stove 🔥
The Cardinals officially signed RHP Sonny Gray to a three-year, $75 million contract with a club option for 2027
The Dodgers reportedly re-signed OF Jason Heyward to a minor league deal (MLB.com)