Gwreck

Of course, all of this — assuming it’s the plan — counsels against trading McNeil with one year left. And as noted above, taking this approach (and not signing impact free agents) requires either banking on a whole lot of improvement from existing players or foregoing the playoffs in 2026. The Mets have massive resources. A lengthy contract is not an albatross for the Mets the way it is for others. They can both make the team good AND keep their prospects.

I’ll apologize to Tylor if he ever throws another pitch in the majors for the Mets.

I think you’re right. The “plan” to make this team playoff-caliber is to assume/hope/guess that: -Baty can not only repeat, but improve upon his unprecedented 2025 season -Alvarez can perform as he did in 2025 (post-demotion) for an entire year -Vientos can return to the form he had in 2024 -Peterson can pitch a full year’s worth of innings and be reasonably effective -Holmes can be as good as he was in 2025 but throw more innings -Manaea and/or Senga can return to their 2024 or 2023 form, respectively -Some combination of McLean, Sproat and/or Tong are effective major league starters over a full year (and not the 8, 3, or 1 good starts they respectively had in 2025) -Devin Williams can return to his pre-2025 form -Tyrone Taylor is better -Some positive offensive contributions are made by Mauricio, Benge, and/or Williams. And of course that all of this happen without ramp-up/adjustment periods occurring that cost the team wins. If this all happens, then sure, we probably have a 95-100 win team. If some-to-most of it happens, maybe the Mets make the playoffs. I think it’s a terrible plan, but I suppose it is a plan.

Led the 2022 (101-win) team in WAR. Great Spider-Man catch bouncing off the silly outfield netting in…Chicago(?). Don’t have the data to prove it but I’ve always felt that McNeil was one of the players most hurt by the ban on the shift, as he always seemed to excel at hitting around a shifted infield.

The only players left from the 101-win 2022 Mets are Lindor and Peterson. (Plus the very small cups of coffee that Baty, Vientos, and Alvarez had when they debuted that year). A guy as good as McNeil as your key utility player is a luxury item…seemingly ideal for a team with massive resources. Dumping him to just save money doesn’t make sense on its face.

For a 17 year old pitching prospect. And Mets sending $5.75M with Jeff, so the next savings is $10M in 2026 salary plus the $2M buyout of his 2027 option. This is…odd. McNeil is as useful a bench/utility player as there is, and it’s not like he is expensive or signed for a long time…

Hard pass. Robert is barely an upgrade over Tyrone Taylor (and in 2024 would have been a downgrade). Separately, it seems pretty hard to fathom the Mets being desperate to get rid of two years of Sean Manaea’s contract, and even harder to fathom that they’d trade him to save a grand total of $10M over the next two years.

I believe they did that with R.A. Dickey in 2012. (In fairness, it was a great trade).

San Diego just re-signed King for 3/$75.

Other than Montas (who didn’t come directly from the Bronx) those other signings range from good to excellent.

People listen to Mike Francesa?

…in the major leagues…in 2026?

The way he’s talked about here, you’d think Tong was a lock for 25 starts and an ERA+ over 125.

Announced today: Nolan McLean and Clay Holmes will be on the Team USA roster. This is infuriating. The idea that McLean is somehow being picked and there’s no commitment from Skubal or Crochet or Gausman or Webb or 50 other established starters to play instead of guys who have real durability concerns this season…

That is in fact his entrance song (with the original lyrics).

Last time I checked They could use a LF with some RH pop, too. Later 100%. And I’m a Laureano fan and think he’d be a fine addition. I just don’t think he’s a CF solution.

He’s a corner outfielder (hasn’t played center full time since 2019) but has made occasional appearances in center (15-20 games a year).

San Diego also has had 5 consecutive banner years in attendance, ranking top 5 each year 2021-25, despite being in about the 20th largest market in MLB. Only the Dodgers (with a much larger stadium) had a higher attendance than the Padres this year. San Diego basically sold out the entire season in 2025 and weren’t far behind in 2024. By comparison, San Diego ranked between 14 and 21st overall in each of the 10 seasons from 2010 to 2019. Sure, the playoff results aren’t there, and it’s not easy to win the division when you’ve got the Dodgers around…but if I’m running the Padres, I’m in no hurry to tear things down.

A week and a half ago, trading prospects for relievers wouldn’t have made much sense to me given that there were a plethora of standout relief options that cost nothing but money. Of course, the Mets didn’t sign any of them (Diaz, Suarez, Rogers) so maybe it’s time to think differently. A Mason Miller, coming with multiple years of team control, is worth strongly considering. That said, there are many holes on this team that are much more significant than the bullpen (middle-of-order hitter; reliable starting pitching) and that’s where key prospects for trades are better deployed.

Seaver. That’s the list. And I say that as someone who was too young to have even seen him pitch for the Mets.

Exactly. This *could* be a good lineup but of course it’s all dependent on what goes in the empty spots: Lindor SS ____ Soto RF ____ Montero (1B??) Alvarez C Baty 3B Semien 2B Taylor/Benge CF

This is a real head scratcher. The stated goal is to upgrade the infield defense, but we want a guy who was very bad at playing second base to now move to first base, where he’s never* played before? Really? Offensively he seems ok. Discussing this deal with a friend whose response was “It’s one of those moves that I won’t mind so long as they get better players after this,” which is where I am too.

I also would have liked to retain Rogers. I again wait for an indication of what Stearns has planned for making the team, you know, good.

Stearns seems to be banking an awful lot on existing talent improving. I think it’s possible but I see it as a huge, everything-must-go-right gamble. -If we get Vientos’s 2024 production for a full year, that could be +3 or +4 wins over the negative contributions he had in 2025. -McLean, if he can do what he did in 8 starts over a full year is probably +3 or 4 wins. -Manaea and Senga, if healthy and pitching effectively: a couple wins from each. -If Taylor’s offense is akin to 2024 and not 2025, that’s probably a win. -Alvarez playing like he did post-demotion, if he can do it over a full year: a win+ of potential improvement. Maybe more if you account for not giving ABs to Senger. -Mauricio, Benge, Williams: who knows? Presumably it’s possible any one of them or more could be an impact player and thus drive multiple wins of value.

Baltimore will come to Citi Field on the last homestand of the 2026 season, September 14-16.