The New York Mets did everything they could do to sign Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Everything.
Steve Cohen flew his private jet to meet him in Japan. He hosted him in his home. He also offered him the largest ever contract for a starting pitcher.
12 years. $325 million. Opt out after five years.
Short of hypnosis, the Mets did all they could. They went above where even the New York Yankees were willing to go. They just couldn’t overcome Yamamoto wanting to join Shohei Ohtani.
The Los Angeles Dodgers matched the Mets offer, and now, Yamamoto chose the Dodgers. If the Dodgers didn’t match, or the Mets were given a chance to match, who knows how this ends?
While we can guess, in the end, Yamamoto is a Dodger. Worse yet, the Mets offseason was structured as Yamamoto or bust. The Mets busted.
The question is where do the Mets go from here. There’s mid rotation options like Jordan Montgomery. Blake Snell is also available, but he isn’t an innings eater.
If the Mets want everyone to forget about the failed Yamamoto pursuit, they could give Pete Alonso an extension. Other than that, the fans will be up in arms over this failed pursuit.
They can also do what they were going to do all along. Cohen waited years for David Stearns, and it’s now time to see what he can do.
Whatever he does, he will be doing it without Yamamoto. Maybe that’s a good thing considering that cost and complete and utter lack of MLB experience.
Yes, that’s sour grapes.
That doesn’t mean the Mets can’t contend. There are still players here. An 84 sim Arizona Diamondbacks team went to the World Series. Just get in, and anything is possible.
That all said, the Mets did all they could. Doesn’t matter. Yamamoto is a Dodger.
We were not in the New York Mets clubhouse in 2025, so we can’t know just how bad things were. In fact, we don’t even know if it was bad.
However, there have been signs. The vibes were different from the OMG Mets. Juan Soto talked about how Starling Marte was the true leader.
The team was just different, but perhaps not. There was the famous story sparking the 2024 turnaround. J.D. Martinez said the Mets needed to recall Jose Iglesias to change the vibes and get the Mets to turn their season around.
Usually, that’s just talk. Chemistry is a talking point. It’s something to talk about to explain why teams aren’t performing to their expectations. However, with the 2024 Mets, the chemistry change actually worked.
Something was off, and it seems David Stearns traded Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil to change the clubhouse. In the announced sake for run prevention, the Mets added Marcus Semien, who is a great defensive second baseball and a renown clubhouse leader.
Again, we can question the decision to trade Nimmo and McNeil. We just can’t know how necessary it was. Let’s take Stearns word for it that trading them was absolutely necessary.
The real problem here is Stearns hasn’t fixed the outfield, and he’s running out of options.
For a moment, let’s overlook how he has been pushing run prevention while also having aggressively pursued Tucker. Nimmo was a -1 OAA in left, and he is getting slower.
Tucker was a -2 OAA, and he’s slower than Nimmo. While Nimmo played nearly everyday, Tucker is becoming increasingly injury prone. Tucker is a much better hitter, and he is younger.
Tucker was not the great fit for a team who is harping on run prevention. However, when you get rid of a left fielder to fix team chemistry with no real plan in place, you offer $60 million per year for an imperfect to bad philosophical fit.
That’s also the result of few options on the free agent market. There were few options on thf trade market. The deeper we get into the offseason we see the plan was to change the chemistry without a definitive plan to actually address left field.
Nimmo was the left fielder. He is gone. With Semien aboard, McNeil moves to left where he has been good. He was an All-Star left fielder. He’s gone.
Right now, for the Mets, it’s Cody Bellinger or bust. Bellinger is younger and better than Nimmo. He’s arguably better than Tucker. He’s the most versatile. He might’ve been the best fit overall.
However, he wants a seven year deal. Stearns doesn’t like going to five years, and with the Mets, he’s proven sheepish to go to three years. Bellinger has a five year $150 million offer from the Yankees, who also need him desperately.
The Mets are in a bad place trying to replace Nimmo in left field. Things are worse when you consider they also need to solve center. Maybe they get Bellinger. Maybe there’s a trade candidate we haven’t heard be linked to the Mets.
Whatever the case, the Mets have two massive holes in the outfield. The options are dwindling, and the closer we get to spring training, the more it seems the Mets can’t fill both holes.
Stearns might’ve been right about needing to fix the clubhouse chemistry. The hope is he didn’t sacrifice 2026 to do it.
In case you haven’t been paying attention the last two years, the New York Mets have been signing former New York Yankees left-and-right. The latest example was the Mets signing Luke Weaver to a two year deal.
Weaver will be setting up for former Yankee Devin Williams. Certainly, they will pitch in relief of former Yankee Clay Holmes.
The pitching changes will be made by former Yankees bench coach Carlos Mendoza. Mendoza will fill out his lineup card with former Yankee Juan Soto.
You may see a pattern here. Certainly, Yankees fans are noticing and are trolling the Mets and their fans.
To hear Yankeee fans, this is a new development that only works one way. The irony is the Yankees helped build a dynasty off former Mets players.
The Yankees manager was Joe Torre. Torre finished his playing career and began his managerial career with the Mets.
Torre’s pitching coach was Mel Stottlemyre. Stottlemyre was a well known Yamkees pitcher, but he began his career as a pitching coach with the Mets.
Torre’s first base coach was Lee Mazzili. Mazzili was a beloved Mets player. He did play very briefly with the Yankees after a 1982 trade.
Another coach. Jose Cardenal played two years for the Mets. Interestingly enough, he actually played for Torre.
Aside from the coaching staff, the Yankees roster was full of Mets during those dynasty years.
One of the Yankees big game starters was former Met David Cone. Cone was joined in that Yankee rotation by Mets legend Dwight Gooden.
We’d see those Yankees teams use some former Mets relievers in the bullpen. Those pitchers included Wally Whitehurst, Paul Gibson, and Allen Watson.
The Yankees had Darryl Strawberry, who was a significant contributor and mentor. He should’ve been the 1996 ALCS MVP. He was great again in the 1999 postseason.
When the Yankees beat the Mets in the 2000 World Series, it was former Met Jose Vizcaino who had the 12th inning walk-off single to win Game 1. Cone had a big strikeout of Mike Piazza in Game 4.
Look at the current Yankees team. They just re-signed Amed Rosario. Last year, they also had former Mets Marcus Stroman, Paul Blackburn, Carlos Carrasco, Rico Garcia, Geoff Hartlieb, Pablo Reyes, and former Mets draft pick Allan Winans. The Yankees also had former Mets Adam Ottavino, but to be fair, Ottavino was a former Yankee when the Mets signed him.
Put another way, the Yankees love former Mets. They don’t seem to even care if that former Met was good or not. Ability comes second to a history with the orange and blue.
You can honestly say this has been a two way street. It has, but that’s also the point. The Mets aren’t doing anything different than the Yankees do.
They love each others former players and go out of the way for them. The Mets signing a few relievers this offseason only highlights this.
In reality, the Mets signings shouldn’t lead to mockery of the Mets for signing former Yankees. Rather, the Yankees should be mocked for losing so many quality pieces to the Mets.
Let’s start with two premises. The first is you can never have enough pitching. The second is the New York Mets starting pitching completely fell apart in 2025.
With that out of the way, we need to assess what the Mets have and act accordingly. Remember, just because things were bad last year, it doesn’t mean they’re automatically bad the next.
Right off the bat, Nolan McLean looked like a future ace. He burst onto the scene like Jacob deGrom did in 2014, and the hope is McLean improves in year two in the same way deGrom did (no one is saying McLean will be the Cy Young version of deGrom . . . yet).
Behind McLean is Kodai Senga. When healthy, he’s been untouchable. Before Pete Alonso’s throw, he was 7-3 with a 1.47 ERA while averaging nearly six innings per start.
He just wasn’t right after he returned from injury. We don’t know what happened, but the fair assumption is he can get back to the pitcher who has pitched at a near ace level in his career.
It was a tale of two halves for David Peterson. He went from an All-Star to a mess. Lost in last season was the fact he pitched far more innings than he ever had as a Major Leaguer.
In 2024, Peterson pitched 121.0 innings, which was a then career high. Through 127.0 innings in 2025, he was 7-4 with a 2.83 ERA. With him being so good, and the other pitchers either injured or unable to go deep into games, Carlos Mendoza pushed him during this stretch.
After that 127.0 mark, Peterson was 2-2 with an 8.42 ERA averaging under five innings per start. It’s fair to assume there was some fatigue involved. Certainly, we should expect him to be fresh to start the year, and with closer attention to his workload, he should be able to get through the year better.
Sean Manaea was injured to start 2025, and he never got fully healthy, and he never built up his stamina. After 25 pitches, his K/9 went from 10.00 to 5.25.
He didn’t have a spring training, and he rushed back to help the team. He pitched through pain, and he faltered. Fortunately, he’s feeling healthy now.
Whether he gets back to being the top of rotation pitcher who led the Mets to the 2024 NLCS remains to be seen. Still, he should be able to give you five quality innings at the back end of the rotation.
Then, there is Clay Holmes in his second year as a starter. He actually held up well through his first 17 starts going 8-4 with a 2.99 ERA even if his 4.42 FIP indicated a regression was coming, which did come.
After those 17 starts, Holmes was 4-4 with a 4.23 ERA. He does deserve credit for a big time start his last outing of the year. All told, we should see more stamina from him in 2026.
Right there, the Mets have a viable five man rotation.
- McLean
- Senga
- Peterson
- Manaea
- Holmes
That’s now where the pitching stops. Next up is Brandon Sproat. There were some positives in his four starts with a 2.80 FIP. His first two starts with the Mets were very good. He should start the year in Triple-A, and we will likely see a better version of him when needed.
The same can be said for Jonah Tong. He had some flashes but mostly struggled. Still, he has the stuff and the highest ceiling of any of the three Mets prospects called up at the end of last year.
Speaking of Mets young pitching, we all forgot about Christian Scott. He’s fully recovered from Tommy John, and he appears ready to go for spring training. He showed flashes in 2023 while dealing with a torn UCL, and we can hope he can take a step forward in 2026.
At the moment, that puts the Mets Major League ready pitching depth at eight starters. That increases to nine with the team signing Carl Edwards Jr. to a minor league deal.
Edwards has had success in the majors out of the pen, and he’s recently transitioned to a starter. He did have some success as a starter in the Mexican Leagues last season making this an interesting gamble.
Top pitching prospect Will Watson will likely start the year with Double-A Binghamton. That puts him closer to making it to the majors. With a breakout season, he may very well force his way there.
Same goes for Jack Wenninger. He pitched better than Watson in Double-A and appears much closer to the majors. It’s very possible we see him in Queens next year.
We saw Jonathon Pintaro make his Major League debut next year, and he could be among the first called up next year. We could see a Zach Thornton or Jonathan Santucci pop in 2026.
Point is, there’s real pitching depth here without the Mets making one move to add a starter this offseason. It’s prudent and practical to add more pitching because as we saw in 2025, you can never have enough pitching.
That said, despite the narratives being pushed on Mets fans, they have starting pitching. They’re very well poised to be successful in 2026, and we should see the starting pitching be a driving force of the 2026 season.
The New York Mets made their first significant sogning of the offseason agreeing to a contract with former Seattle Mariner Jorge Polanco. This is a move met with derision from most, but it’s a move that makes sense for the Mets.
First and foremost, Polanco is a bat. Last year, he had a 132 wRC+. If you’re looking to replace Pete Alonso’s career 132 wRC+, the Mets have done that.
Yes, Alonso has historically been the more reliable bat, and he’s coming off a better year. That said, Polanco has been a 116 wRC+ or better in five of the last seven seasons while hitting in more difficult ballparks.
All told, Polanco can hit. This is a plus. Even better, Polanco can DH. That’s important for a Mets team who never adequately filled that role since the abomination of the universal DH.
There’s also been discussion of Polanco potentially learning to play first base. That’s led to many invoking Ron Washington’s famous line from Moneyball.
The irony here, of course, is Polanco is replacing the homegrown legend of Alonso like Scott Hatteberg was replacing Jason Giambi. The parallels continue as Alonso and Giambj were both truly terrible defensive first basemen.
However, when looking at the transition to first, Hatteberg isn’t the comp for Polanco. Hatteberg was a catcher, and Polanco was a middle infielder.
On that front, we have old friend Wilmer Flores. He was a poor middle infielder who has been good at first. He had a 7 OAA at the position.
There’s also Nomar Garciaparra. His injuries eventually forced him off shortstop and move to first. When healthy, Garciaparra proved to be quite a good first baseman.
Looking at players who need to move out of the middle infield, they do tend to be good first baseman. For Polanco, the floor is as low as it gets.
Alonso had a -9 OAA in consecutive seasons. His throws to first were comically bad and was a factor in Kodai Senga’s injury and second half collapse. Admittedly, the Mets will miss his scoop ability,l. Remember, at that, Alonso was the best in the game.
Taking everything into account, Polanco has a legitimate chance to be better than Alonso defensively. He could also be close offensively, which may result in Polanco being a better overall player.
This is not about replacing Alonso’s homers. It’s about replacing global production. There are many ways to get to a 132 wRC+.
And again, if he can’t play first, Polanco is the DH. Last season, the Mets DHs had a collective 102 wRC+. A position that was purely designed for offensive production was a league average bat. They ranked 20th in offensive production at the position.
No, Polanco was not the flashy name, but he might’ve just been the right name. Considering his offensive production and his reputation as a good clubhouse presence, he could be exactly what the Mets need.
Of all the absolute nonsense to emerge from Pete Alonso signing with the Baltimore Orioles, there’s a faction of fans saying the Wilpons never would’ve let this happen. I wish I was making this up, but sadly it’s true.
Alonso was a fan favorite. With fans emotionally attached to him, they’re going to lash out. It’s understandable.
That said the emerging narrative the Wilpons would’ve kept Alonso is utter nonsense. They had more of their fair share of decisions to get rid of fan favorites.
We can even do this position by position.
P – R.A. Dickey
Yes, trading Dickey made a ton of sense, and with Travis d’Arnaud and Noah Syndergaard, the trade helped propel the Mets to a pennant. Still, this was not a universally popular trade as Dickey was coming off consecutive good years winning the Cy Young in 2012. Fans started to envision a Dickey led Mets turnaround. Instead, he was traded.
C – Mike Piazza
Piazza is one of two Hall of Famers to wear a Mets cap. The Wilpons also dangled him in trade rumors, moved him to first without his knowledge, and they opted to part ways after the 2005 season. We can justify it with the way the 2006 season went, but as we also saw in 2006, Piazza gave the San Diego Padres one more good season.
1B – John Olerud
Olerud was a reclamation project that actually worked out. He was part of the famed best ever defensive infield and a beloved Met. Instead of coming up with the money to keep him, they justified low ball offers and tried to diminish his contributions on his way out the door.
2B – Daniel Murphy
Murphy was a fan favorite and All-Star second baseman coming off a historic record setting postseason. Offensively, he propelled the Mets to the pennant. So, naturally, the Mets let him walk to the Washington Nationals.
3B – Edgardo Alfonzo
There are as few beloved homegrown Mets as Alfonzo. He was one of the driving forces of those late 90s teams, and the Mets thanks him by pushing him aside. First, it was trading for Roberto Alomar pushing Alfonzo to third, and then, they wouldn’t come up with $2 million to keep him.
SS – Jose Reyes
Back in 2011, there was actually some debate over whether the Mets should keep Reyes or David Wright. Part of the debate was how much better suited to the original comical dimensions of Citi Field. With Madoff and the Wilpons desperately attempting to hold onto the team, they let the Miami Marlins sign Reyes without presenting him with an offer.
OF – Benny Agbayani
Agbayani always seemed to force his way onto the Major League roster. Between his underdog story and his big hits, he was a fan favorite. One season after he had the walk-off homer in the NLDS, he became arbitration eligible. Rather than try to pay him, the Mets traded him in the Jeromy Burnitz deal after attempts to sell his contract to Japan failed.
OF – Carlos Beltran
Admittedly, this may be a stretch as some will never forge Beltran for striking out against Adam Wainwright. That all said the Wilpons tried to deny him knee surgery, and when Beltran was at the end of his deal, they were eager to get rid of him. Ironically, he’d be traded for Zack Wheeler, a pitcher they derided when he left the Mets in free agency.
OF – Endy Chavez
To this day, Mets fans celebrate Endy’s catch in Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS. He was loved by Mets fans. That didn’t prevent the Mets from trading him after consecutive collapses as a part of the ill-fated J.J. Putz trade.
Manager – Bobby Valentine
Valentine is a top three manager in Mets history. Given how he got the most out of his flawed teams and his being the first Mets manager to go to the postseason in consecutive years, there’s an argument he’s the best. The fans loved him for that, his “mustache”, and his heroics after 9/11. He was hated by Steve Phillips and the Wilpons, and they got rid of him the moment the team didn’t make the postseason.
Analyst – Bobby Ojeda
Ojeda was a popular Met, who was a big reason for the team winning in 1986. He was brilliant in the SNY postgames capturing the zeitgeist of the Mets fans. When his contract was up, they didn’t pay him.
Seaver is the greatest Met of all-time. He had zero relationship with the Mets during the Wilpon ownership, and he died before Steve Cohen built him his statue.
This is who the Wilpons were. They got rid of everyone not named David Wright. Like with Wilmer Flores (an honorable mention to this list), they’d invent an injury to justify kicking a player out the door.
When that didn’t work, they’d smear the player through the press. They wouldn’t keep the legends letting them go finish their careers elsewhere.
Odds are the Wilpons would have never kept Alonso. Likely, he leaves after the 2024 NLCS run (just ask Murphy). That’s if he’s not traded well before that because he got really expensive quick.
Stop with this revisionist history nonsense. The Wilpons were awful owners who tried to actively ruin the experience of being a Mets fan. They burned bridges with many players. They wouldn’t have kept Alonso.
With Pete Alonso signing with the Baltimore Orioles, the New York Mets now have to figure out who will be their Opening Day first baseman. With the team giving all indications they were interested in moving on from Alonso, it would appear the team can now set those plans in motion.
The suggestion of Paul Goldschmidt was just bad. Goldschmidt was barely a league average hitter with a 104 OPS+. That was his second straight season at that mark.
Defensively, he dropped to a -2 OAA. That’s far better than Alonso, but it’s still below average. You can’t be a below average first baseman and not hit.
There was the Willson Contreras suggestion. This is an interesting one, and it is one that could potentially be a fit.
Now, Wilson was a surprise defensively with a 4 OAA at first. That does marry with David Stearns’ run prevention mantra. He’s still at a 123 OPS+ marking the fourth straight season he was at that mark or better.
Contreras has only two years remaining on his deal, and that would seem to marry the Mets vision of not having deals larger than three years added to the payroll this offseason.
Contreras would make the Mets better. Certainly more that they are at the moment. However, it is the trade aspect that is a problem.
The Mets are looking to eventually have a youth movement. Nolan McLean is already the staff ace. Carson Benge is already in discussions to be the Opening Day center fielder. They are looking for the when and where with Jett Williams.
They are also bracing for a potential salary cap after this season, and/or more stringent constraints on their ability to flex their financial muscle. Certainly, it cannot be a coincidence the Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers are focused on three year deals this offseason.
If that is the case, why not give Mark Vientos a shot at first base. Why waste prospect capital? Why not hand the reigns to someone who has hit 27 homers for you and has had a great postseason. Moreover, the Mets were ready to give him the job last year if Alonso did not take the job.
We can all admit 2025 was a bad season for Vientos. It was for the 2025 Mets, but one bad year is a dumb way to form judgments on players. Players have ups and downs, and we should not judge a player off one bad season. If that was the case, Alonso would have been gone after the COVID year.
In 2025, Vientos still had strong exit velocity numbers, and he had the same launch angle. He has also admitted his approach entering the 2025 season led to some of his struggles. There were also the injuries.
Defensively, the Mets have moved on from him at third, and that is understandable. That said, he was always best suited for first base. That was never quite a discussion because he was blocked by Alonso. Not anymore.
We can’t really look at the 0 OAA at first last year because he had all of six attempts. Instead, we need to look at his skill set. The best thing about Vientos has always been his soft hands. That will play very well at first.
Vientos has the skill set to be good at first, and he has the bat. This is a Mets team in transition, and when you are in transition, you let players like Vientos step up and prove themselves.
If he steps up like he did in 2024, you have a potential All-Star at first base. You have first base figured out for the long term without having to waste any prospect capital.
If you’re wrong, well, you still have players like Ryan Clifford forcing their way to the majors. You can sign a 1B/DH for insurance. You can insulate yourselves.
However, in the end, if you are building more for 2026, Vientos getting a chance is the best option. We know what a game changer he can be, and he can be the one to put the Mets over the top.
If this was 2024, the New York Mets should have given everything they had to get Tarik Skubal. He is the best pitcher in the game, and when the best pitcher in the game potentially becomes available, you do all you can to go out and get him.
Short of Nolan McLean, there should not be one untouchable for the Mets in a pursuit of Skubal. He could be what Mike Hampton and Johan Santana were. He’s the left-handed ace that puts the Mets in position to make the postseason (yes, I know the 2008 Mets collapsed, but Santana was brilliant in Game 161).
That all said, the way the Mets have operated this offseason, there is no way this team should pursue Skubal. It would be a massive mistake.
Since taking over as the President of Baseball Operations, David Stearns has been restrained in handing out long-term deals. So far, the longest contract he has handed out to a pitcher has been the three year deal given to Sean Manaea.
Take Juan Soto out of the equation. He was a once in a generation free agent, and he was someone whose contract was handled at the ownership level in conjunction with Stearns. Soto was an outlier and should be treated as such.
Taking Soto out of the equation, Stearns has not handed out one contract longer than three years. Most of the deals have been two years with a player option.
Stearns holding to three years has been impacting the Mets this offseason. Pete Alonso left for a five year deal when the Mets wouldn’t go past three. The Mets unwillingness to go to four years was a reason Edwin Diaz went to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
If the Mets are stuck in that mindset trading for Skubal is a non-starter. He is going to have a prospect cost that will require you to sign Skubal to an extension. That is just not going to happen.
First and foremost, Skubal is represented by Scott Boras. Boras does not typically allow his free agents to sign an extension prior to hitting free agency. If you are going to convince Boras and his players to sign an extension, you are going to have to blow them out of the water.
Certainly, we saw with Francisco Lindor and Soto that Steve Cohen is willing to do that. However, we have also seen with Cohen he is willing to mostly sit back and let Stearns do what he wants.
That is not a criticism of Cohen. It is a strength. We see all the years other New York teams have been encumbered by ownership interference. Cohen’s willingness to open his checkbook and listen to the advice of those he employs is why we are lucky to have him running the Mets.
However, with Stearns, there are limitations. That limitation is signing marquee free agents who are not in their early prime. Looking at his entire history as a GM or president of baseball operations, Stearns is not going to give Skubal, a soon to be 29 year old pitcher who has had Tommy John and flexor tendon surgery, the 10 year deal Skubal is going to demand.
If you are not going to go all out to sign Skubal, why drain the farm system you’ve worked so hard to build? It simply doesn’t make sense.
Stearns has been inflexible not giving out more than three years. It’s at the point where they trade away five years of Brandon Nimmo for three years of Marcus Semien even if Nimmo will be the same age Semien will be when their contracts are over.
We an have the discussion over how prudent Stearns’ position has been. We can talk about how it helps or hinders the Mets. At the moment, we just have to acknowledge how that position should mean the Mets cannot pursue Skubal. ‘
Hopefully, with McLean, the Mets have the ace they need. We can envision a rotation led by McLean and buttressed by Brandon Sproat and Jonah Tong. With any luck, they can do what Jacob deGrom, Matt Harvey, and Noah Syndergaard did in 2015.
Just like in 2015, that group will need a veteran leader to lead the staff. They most likely won’t have a Skubal or other pitcher of that ilk as they would command too many years.
It’s time to abandon that pipe dream . . . at least until Stearns is ready to show some flexibility in his approach in dealing with giving out contracts.
New York Mets fans are devastated Pete Alonso has left the New York Mets for the Baltimore Orioles. It’s an especially tough hit after Edwin Díaz left to sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
There are some differences and similarities. In reality, who cares what they are when the end result is Alonso is a former Met.
With Alonso, he’s a forever fan favorite with some truly great moments. He was the Rookie of the Year breaking the rookie home run record. That would also be the first of back-to-back Home Run Derby titles.
He’s the Mets all-time single season and career home run leader. We can tick off all of our favorite memories, but we should all be able to agree his best moment as a Met was in Game Three of the 2024 Wild Card Series:
Imagine telling a Mets fan on October 3, 2024 that come 2026 Alonso would be gone, and Devin Williams would be a Met.
From a Mets perspective, it’s hard to argue with them not re-signing Alonso. There are plenty of slugging first basemen that fell apart at this point in their careers.
Fred McGriff had 262 homers through his age 30 season. He hung around for another 10 years and never got to 500 homers. For reference, Alonso is at 264.
Ryan Howard had 253 through his age 30 season. As we know, his career fell apart after that, and he’d only hit 129 homers over the next six years.
Yes, there are other examples for guys who were successful past 30. We don’t have to look far with the Mets bidding for Kyle Schwarber before Schwarber returned to the Phillies on a five year deal.
Whatever the case, we can look to last offseason as to the big reason Alonso likely left.
Alonso was looking for a massive payday, and no one was willing to give it to him. The negotiations irritated Steve Cohen with Cohen remarking, “I’m being brutally honest. I don’t like the negotiations. I don’t like what’s been presented to us.”
Both sides were angry and hurt with the bitterness apparently still lingering. After all, Alonso didn’t even wait to get out of his full uniform before announcing he was opting out of his deal.
For their part, the Mets never made a formal offer. That was on the heels of their pursuit of Schwarber.
Let’s be honest. Both sides were ready to go separate ways. The Mets didn’t want to give him a massive deal that will likely age badly, and Alonso wanted to go somewhere that would pay him like a superstar.
Alonso wanted to go, and he found a home. Unlike Díaz, he didn’t go somewhere to win a World Series. He went and got paid. There is nothing wrong with that.
All this means is that LFGM is dead like OMG died when Jose Iglesias left. A future Hall of Famer left the door with the Mets searching for ways to replace him.
Pete Alonso is an Oriole, and the Mets are in transition. That’s for the best for everyone. Best of luck to him, thanks for the memories, and for one last time:
https://x.com/we_are_met_fans/status/1955449841515155954?s=46&t=C-cAjvMjkzGA7iCb6Xr6ng
LFGM
Perhaps New York Mets fans should’ve expected it, but we were all shocked and disappointed Edwin Díaz signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The fans immediately directed their ire towards David Stearns, and correctly so.
Spin the story any which way you want. In all iterations, Stearns completely and utterly failed.
There were reports the Mets were “shocked” Díaz left without giving them a chance to match. They expected him to return. Put another way, Stearns completely misread the situation.
There were reports Díaz was upset the Mets fired Jeremy Hefner. Remember, Hefner fixed Díaz’s stride and helped him become the best closer in baseball.
Hefner was fired partially as an overreaction to the Mets pitching staff collapsing. Remember, that was because of the pitchers Stearns obtained and not anything Hefner did.
As an example, Stearns let Luis Severino walk (when he wanted to return) to sign Frankie Montas. Somehow, Hefner was to blame for Stearns signing broken starters and relievers.
There’s Stearns no fifth year rule. Remember, Diaz said he’d return to the Mets if he got the same deal he got last time. If the Mets gave him that offer, he’s back for a lower AAV they were offering him.
Instead they opted to gamble they could outbid everyone. They weren’t even given the chance with them now looking at Robert Suarez amongst others.
By the way, if Suarez gets a two year deal, he wlll be signed to his age 36 season. If the Mets wrapped up Díaz by giving him five years, he’s would’ve been signed through his age 36 season. But hey, it’s length of deal and not age.
The Mets said their three year $66 million deal had “wiggle room.” That’s just about the dumbest way to negotiate. Hey, we’re offering this, but we have more money for you but only after someone else engages you in contract talks.
Please, come back to us after someone offers you more, so you can hear our best offer. Why let Díaz actively seek out better offers to get a better one out of you? You run the risk of letting him: (1) get an offer you won’t match; (2) be blown away by another team; or (3) never give you a chance to match or counter.
The Mets let Díaz shop their offer. The Dodgers bettered it, and they were impressive enough (or Díaz was upset enough) Díaz opted just to leave.
Díaz was also apparently upset the Mets signed Devin Williams without talking to him. Certainly, it must’ve been a shock to see the Mets sign another closer when they’re telling you they want you back.
Now, the Mets tried to make it clear to everyone they wanted Williams as a bridge to Díaz. That’s good and all, but why not just tell Díaz?
It goes to a growing criticism of Stearns. He’s a poor communicator with the players. That’s a very bad quality for someone entasked with building relationships to entice people to either stay or come to your team.
There are some accusing Díaz of ring chasing. Guess what? The Mets haven’t exactly put together a roster to convince Díaz they can compete with the Dodgers now. Again, that’s on Stearns.
The Mets expecting and hoping for some loyalty from Díaz is also a little thick. Stearns forced Brandon Nimmo out the door. Remember, Nimmo was a homegrown Met who loved being a Met and never wanted to waive or be asked to waive his no-trade clause.
Nimmo was partially persuaded to accept the trade to the Texas Rangers by Jacob deGrom. Stearns had partially opted to not retain the homegrown Met because he wanted more years. Again, years are standing in the way of signing impactful free agents.
At the end of the day, the Mets offer was to come back to a team who fired his pitching coach. They asked him to return to a team showing no loyalty to anyone. There’s rumors of a toxic clubhouse.
The Mets didn’t want to give him what he wanted. They don’t have the best roster amongst the teams who were vying for his services. They didn’t have the best offer, nor did they make their best offer.
Overall, the Mets not only misjudge the situation, but they also misjudged their relationship with Díaz. That doesn’t happen to a competent GM who is supposed to have good working relationships with his players and their agents.
Stearns botched the Díaz situation from every single angle. That led to Díaz signing with the Dodgers, and the Mets being left in shock and an already bad bullpen losing their only reliable arm.
Stearns has work to do here not only in terms of fixing this Mets roster, but also in ensuring something like this never happens again.
In a shock to the sports world, NBA Hall of Famer and Portland Trail Blazers head coach was arrested due to his alleged involvement with the mafia in rigging underground poker games. He was one of three NBA figures arrested by the FBI as part of a federal gambling investigation.
This is an issue that is not only facing the NBA. It is something impacting all professional sports. The NBA, NFL, and MLB have all had their own issues over the past few seasons.
This is not going to be a diatribe about the legality of sports gambling in America. This is not going to be a sophomoric analysis of the correlation of professional sports accepting gambling money and seeing coaches and players involved in gambling scandals.
There was no legalized sports gambling in 1919 when the Black Sox scandal rocked Major League Baseball and America. Billups wasn’t involved with Fan Duel, and unless we are all mistaken, the mafia isn’t running Bet MGM.
That doesn’t mean all betting taking place was placed through non-legal means. Look at the problems MLB has recently had. Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz were placing otherwise legally placed prop bets through legal US channels. Of course, placing those bets and putting your thumb on the scale is illegal, which led to the Ohio Casino Control Commission getting involved.
If allegations are proven true, Clase and Ortiz broke the law. They also broke baseball’s most sacred rule. Actually, it may no longer be their most sacred law.
For reasons that still cannot be comprehended, Commissioner Rob Manfred broke a century of precedent to lift the bans on Shoeless Joe Jackson and the Black Sox as well as Pete Rose.
That was less than a year after the crisis with Shohei Ohtani. The finally official story was Ohtani was the victim of fraud, but it took an awful long time for the story to be crafted that way.
Initially, it was Ohtani giving his interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, money to cover Mizuhara’s gambling losses. More than that, Ohtani initially claimed because he didn’t trust Mizuhara, he personally wired the money to the gamblers.
Then, it was Ohtani didn’t pay the money, and it was Mizuhara who defrauded banks into paying the money from Ohtani’s account. The story was ever changing, but in the end, Ohtani was cleared of any wrongdoing.
There is a lot that still does not smell right with the Ohtani case, but the results are the results. As we know, that could change in the future, but for now, Ohtani is cleared in a way Clase and Ortiz won’t be.
Keep in mind, this is not a new phenomena no matter how much people want to pretend it is. If you saw Goodfellas, they omitted the part where Henry Hill and Maury were tied to the NCAA point shaving scandal. Again, there was no legalized betting in the 1970s and 1980s.
Betting exists, and for teams it is a stream of revenue. Nearly all the laws, both legal and within their own sports, prevents players from participating in sports betting on any level. That is factually true.
However, just like Shoeless Joe and Pete Rose, that does not mean a player won’t get caught up in fixing games and/or results in any way. In fact, in many ways, there may be more players implicated because there is more attention to it. There are more investigative bodies, which then lead to more suspicious activity getting caught.
No, this is not a pro sports betting rant. It’s just stating the facts. This is the environment in which professional sports are now played. There may be more opportunities to gamble, but there are more ways for players to get caught. ‘
It is highly doubtful the legalized gambling in the USA leads to more player betting. That is going to come with more controversy and problems. To some extent, catching it and eliminating those who are betting is a great thing.
That all said, this also means it is a problem leading to everyone justifiably questioning the integrity of the sports. That is why Manfred made a major misstep with Shoeless Joe and Rose. MLB needed to be at it firmest at a time when more and more issues were going to arise.
Now, players know if they are banned that they can still get their accolades, even if it means they receive them after they have passed. That is why those players should have been forever banned, especially at a time where we see more and more gambling issues.
Manfred miscalculated, and baseball may very well suffer as a result. The NBA will likely overcome the Billups issue like they did with Tom Donaghy. Who knows if baseball can?
With baseball’s questionable leadership, one that is likely driving the sport towards a lengthy lockout after the CBA expires, we should not be hopeful.