Your Sunday morning dose of New York Mets and MLB news, notes, and links.
Meet the Mets
When the Yankees didn’t land Juan Soto, they instead spread the money around to many different players. The Mets are doing the same thing after pivoting from Pete Alonso, writes Joel Sherman of the New York Post.
In the aftermath of losing out on Roki Sasaki, the Blue Jays remain engaged with Anthony Santander and Pete Alonso, operating in a similar space in the market as the Mets. Toronto still wants to add “significant starters and relievers” as well.
Meanwhile, the Mets are confident that Mark Vientos can handle first base if they don’t sign another first baseman, be it Pete Alonso or someone else.
Former Met Kevin Plawecki announced his retirement from baseball yesterday on his Instagram.
Around the National League East
The Braves signed catcher Curt Casali to a minor league deal.
The Phillies have signed former NPB pitcher Koyo Aoyagi to a minor league contract with a non-roster invitation to MLB camp, the team announced on Friday.
The Marlins announced Friday that radio announcer Kyle Sielaff will be the new play-by-play announcer on FanDuel Sports Network Florida, making the shift from radio to television broadcasts.
Around Major League Baseball
“Even if you hate them for being good and getting better, it’s good for the sport to have a villain superpower,” argued Newsday’s Tim Healey on Twitter in the aftermath of the Dodgers’ (seemingly inevitable) victory in the Roki Sasaki sweepstakes.
In contrast, Jon Heyman of the New York Post dubbed the Dodgers “too good for the game” and argued that their assembly of a superteam was bad for baseball.
Speaking of the Dodgers, they inked Joseph Deng yesterday—the first player ever signed from South Sudan.
“They think somehow we have all these dollars that the Dodgers have or the Mets have or the Yankees have and we just keep it. Which isn’t true at all. What happens is we try to break even every year, and that’s about it,” said Cubs owner Tom Ricketts on 670 The Score in response to fans’ cries for the Cubs to spend more.
Jacob deGrom is having a normal offseason and is looking forward to pitching—and hopefully staying healthy—in 2025.
Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said that trading Nolan Arenado is still the Cardinals’ top priority this offseason and admits that their inability to do so up until this point has held up some of their other plans.
This Date in Mets History
Yogi Berra was elected to the Hall of Fame on this date in 1972.