Let’s review what the Mets need between now and the beginning of the 2025 season.
Free agency begins at 5 PM EST today, and the Mets figure to be one of the busier teams in baseball this offseason. With a bunch of payroll having come off the books at the conclusion of the 2024 season and an NLCS appearance under their belts, the team should absolutely be looking to contend again in 2025.
There are all sorts of ways to try to accomplish that, which we’ll get into in the coming days and weeks—and keep an eye out for the launch of our Amazin’ Avenue Offseason Plan (AAOP) contest soon.
For now, though, let’s review what the team’s most glaring needs are as free agency gets underway. The Mets can make trades to address these issues, too, but you have to figure that acquiring players only for money has a lot of appeal to an organization that has good prospects but might not have one of the deeper farm systems in the sport just yet.
The rotation
David Peterson and Kodai Senga figure to be regulars in the team’s rotation next year. Peterson certainly earned it with his 2024 season, and Senga is nominally the team’s ace if he’s able to return to the mound and stay healthy after throwing just a handful of major league innings this year.
Assuming both of them take two rotation spots, the Mets’ in-house options to fill out the rotation right now—assuming no non-tenders—consist of Paul Blackburn, Tylor Megill, and Joey Lucchesi.
Perhaps top prospect Brandon Sproat gets a shot at cracking the big league rotation to start the year, and the team will be looking for improvement from Blade Tidwell, Dom Hamel, and Mike Vasil after all three struggled in Triple-A Syracuse. Maybe Nolan McLean and Jonah Tong make their way up to the big leagues at some point next year, but there are no guarantees that any of the prospects will make it and stick at the major league level.
Christian Scott could return later in the year if all goes well with his Tommy John with internal brace surgery, but again, that’s far from guaranteed.
Simply put, the Mets probably need to bring in a minimum of two starting pitchers. And it wouldn’t hurt to bring in three or four, even if one or two of them are on minor league deals with invitations to spring training.
The bullpen
Things are a bit more stable in the bullpen, as Edwin Díaz remains the team’s closer, and a bunch of familiar names from the 2024 season are under team control. José Buttó, Reed Garrett, Dedniel Núñez, Danny Young, Sean Reid-Foley, and Alex Young can be retained if the Mets so choose. Phil Maton could have been retained on a team option for $7.75 million, but the Mets declined the option.
The Mets already signed a reliever in Dylan Covey, and they figure to make a bunch of similar moves to that one. Maybe they bring in better-known reliever or two, one of whom could be playoff stalwart Ryne Stanek, and there won’t be any complaints here if they do more than that to really bolster that part of the roster behind Díaz.
The infield and catcher
With Pete Alonso officially becoming a free agent this evening, the Mets don’t have either a first baseman or a third baseman, depending on where they see Mark Vientos playing moving forward. Neither Brett Baty nor Ronny Mauricio has shown enough at the major league level to go into a competitive season with either of them penciled in at third base—assuming Mauricio is even back on the field and competing for a spot in spring training.
Obviously, the cornerstone of the Mets’ infield is shortstop Francisco Lindor. There are two years left on Jeff McNeil’s contract, and everyone will be hoping that his second-half production this year is indicative of a potential return to form. That’s a tough sell coming off 1,120 plate appearances with a 99 wRC+ since the start of the 2023 season, but it’s not impossible.
And while Francisco Alvarez is clearly the team’s everyday catcher, it will have to decide whether or not to bring in any other catchers to compete for the backup role aside from Luis Torrens, who did very well in the role in 2024.
The outfield
Harrison Bader is a free agent, which leaves the trio of Brandon Nimmo in left field, Tyrone Taylor in center, and Starling Marte in right. That’s neither awful nor great, as Nimmo had a bit of a down year but only again played over 150 games this year, while Taylor proved a capable player in center. Marte’s overall game has certainly been in decline, and the biggest free agent on the market happens to play right field at the moment. Whether or not the Mets land Juan Soto remains to be seen, but pushing one or both of Taylor and Marte to fourth outfielder or part-time DH duties could be beneficial.