Centerfield

BTW. To be clear. This isn’t my proposed team. I just tried some obvious moves to see if I could work this right.

I cut Marcus Semien and ate the contract. So he should be dead money, not "POS". Though some might argue that POS is appropriate.

I feel like I did something wrong. I signed Tarik Skubal and Clay Holmes for the rotation, signed Sato to play 1B, and signed Alex Vesia as a lefty for the pen. I'm at 343.94MM. I feel like I should be paying more. Did I do something wrong? C: Francisco Alvarez ($5.20M) 1B: Teruaki Sato ($26M) 2B: Jefferson Rojas ($1M) 3B: Bo Bichette ($42.00M) SS: Francisco Lindor ($27.00M) LF: Juan Soto ($42.50M) CF: A.J. Ewing ($1.00M) RF: Carson Benge ($1.00M) DH: Jared Young ($1M) 4th OF: Nick Morabito ($1.00M) Utility: Jorge Polanco ($20.00M) Utility: Brett Baty ($2.5M) Backup C: Luis Torrens ($5.75M) POS: Marcus Semien ($26M) SP1: Nolan McLean ($1.00M) SP2: Christian Scott ($1.00M) SP3: Zac Thornton ($1.00M) SP4: Tarik Skubal ($51.00M) SP5: Clay Holmes ($22.00M) RP: Devin Williams ($10.00M) RP: Reed Garrett ($1.30M) RP: Tylor Megill ($2.5M) RP: Dedniel Nunez ($1.00M) RP: Tobias Myers ($1.00M) RP: Alex Vesia ($11.00M) RP: Kodai Senga ($14M) RP: Sean Manaea ($17.25M) POS: Add Dead Money Here ($0.00M) Payroll is 1.18% under budget

This feels like just the Mets just letting Andy Green fill out his staff. I have no issue with it. Wish we had Kevin Long though.

Disappointed that the first 24 hours of free agency have passed and we have not yet signed Skubal.

Yes. I think there are free agents that Stearns deems worth giving up the QO compensation. Clearly Soto is one of them. I think if you are looking at a short term deal for a player like Lowe, I don’t think he will deem it worth the QO price. I could be wrong though. For instance, I didn’t think, and still don’t think, that the QO compensation was worth giving up for the deal given to Bichette. Both in terms of the player we signed, and the fact that he could walk after a year. But Stearns felt it was. So who knows.

Eight players have received the Qualifying Offer. A few that may have been of interest to the Mets. 1. Randy Arozarena - Seattle 2. David Bednar - NYY 3. Ryan Jeffers - MN 4. Trevor Rogers - Baltimore 5. Jake Bauers - MIL 6. Brandon Lowe - PIT 7. Adrian Morejon - SD 8. Seiya Suzuki CHC

I just heard that Lowe is a QO candidate. That would probably make him a non option to Stearns.

Ron Darling right? That’s a bit surprising. We’ve had some good ones over the years. Mike Hampton in 2000 was very good.

25 years is insane. I love this place and all you crazy folks.

I think so too. There are plenty available. The best reliever available this winter is left handed but he will be expensive and may be tied to a QO. But there are plenty of good arms available. Alex Vesia, Steven Okert, Sean Newcomb etc. Maybe even a reunion with Brooks Raley. No one we have currently is a shut down guy, but you feel like everyone there can give you a quality season.

We’re nearing the time where we won’t have any ‘69 Mets left. Sad times.

Seems kinda crowded already. Assume that the Mets sign two SP to fill out the rotation. That leaves 8 spots for the bullpen. By my count: 1. Sean Manaea (swing) 2. Devin Williams (Closer) 3. Tobias Myers 4. Tylor Megill 5. Kodai Senga 6. Reid Garrett 7. Nate Lavender (LHP) 8. Dedniel Nunez Other Candidates: 1. Jeffrey Yan (LHP) 2. Daniel Duarte Lavender and Nunez have options, so you don’t have to start the year with them. And of course you can’t assume full health. Maybe one or more of those guys get traded or non-tendered.

Michael Soroka is a free agent. Corbin Burnes and Luis Severino are not. Both opted back in, as expected.

Nick Martinez declines his mutual option and is now a free agent.

One idea I hear floated around as truth is that he struggled in the beginning, but after the two month adjustment period he was Bo Bichette after. Thats not really true. He had a .739 OPS in the second half. And after a hot August, cooled back down in September. In fact, it wasn’t so much he had two bad months and then was fine. It was he had four bad months, and two hot ones (June and August). I think it’s good for the Mets that he opted in, but it’s far from a given that he’s going to be “Bo Bichette” next year.

Brandon Lowe would be an interesting option for the Mets but it would mean that they’ve decided to eat the contract with Semien, and they’re not relying on one of the kids for 2027. I certainly see the value in both of those but I wonder if the Mets will. Lowe comes with injury risk. He’s been healthy the last two years, but missed a lot of time from 22-24. Productive player when healthy. Last year’s .824 might be a stretch for him to replicate at his age, but he should be good for high 700s. Jim Bowden predicts a 3 year, $45M deal but I think others are estimating a bit higher. Maybe 4 years, and as high as $20M per.

So now. Barring a trade (unlikely) we have 6 of our 9 position players set. RF Benge CF Ewing LF Soto 3B Bichette SS Lindor C Alvarez/Torrens This leaves only 1B, 2B and DH to improve an offense that ranked 23rd in OPS.

Thinking out loud. I would think that Bichette has already made up his mind. I can’t imagine what might change over the next few days that might affect his decision. If he’s opting in, today would be the day to announce it. Then he gets to say “it was a no brainer, no place I’d rather be, etc”. I mean. No reason to wait if that’s your decision. if he decided to opt out, maybe waiting a few days is better optics. But it’s also a short window before the lockout. Guys like Michael King and Clay Holmes have already announced. But overall, I’m guessing the longer it goes, the more likely he’s out.

Five day window starts now. Word around the team is that he’s likely top opt in. It’s a shit free agent market. You never know.

Congratulations to the Brewers. They took out the Padres, Dodgers and the Rays. No one can say their road was easy.

Joe Davis just said Milwaukee is successful because they value bat to ball skills. The Brewers struck out 1383 times. 11th most in baseball. The Mets struck out 22 times less. 13th in MLB.

Go sign him.

Rasmussen gets the start. So what do I know.

So will they start Rasmussen? I would not. You need to win 3 games anyway. Might as well have Rasmussen fresh for one of them.