New York Mets Proprietor Steve Cohen saved his promise.
Shortly after buying the membership in August 2020, the hedge fund billionaire made a number of pledges to the Flushing fanbase he’d inherited. They included a want to win above all else, the target of profitable a World Sequence early on in his tenure, and an aspiration to imitate the success of the Los Angeles Dodgers. That second aim earned the Queens-centered membership the “East Coast Dodgers,” nickname.
Cohen talked massive. He talked loud. And whereas he’s but to win a World Sequence and even beat the Dodgers at their very own recreation, he’s performed the subsequent smartest thing: He’s signed Juan Soto to a history-making, 15-year, $765 million contract that’ll lure the Latin legend away from the Bronx and throughout the Throgs Neck Bridge to Queens.
Signing Soto, a four-time All-Star, five-time Silver Slugger, and participant worthy of comparability to Ted Williams, is a monumental second in Mets’ historical past — One which alerts Cohen meant what he mentioned. He isn’t on this for kicks. He’s not exhibiting off the membership to his billionaire buddies whereas doing the naked minimal.
No. Cohen loves the New York Mets. He grew up a fan, born and raised in Nice Neck, New York, and bathed within the glow of the franchise’s first heroes like Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Casey Stengel, and Cleon Jones. And now, as an grownup, he’s lastly delivering a long-held dream not simply to himself however to the tens of millions of Mets followers from across the globe.
However signing Soto doesn’t assure Cohen or the Mets a lot of something. There’s an offseason to complete, a season to begin, and at the least 4 extra earlier than Soto can decide out of this contract. And every comes with zero guarantees that destiny will award Cohen what he seeks. To face alone on the mountaintop, the Mets should do extra — Should spend extra, commerce extra, draft extra. And that’s as a result of this isn’t an entire workforce.
This offseason, the Mets have 12 free brokers. These embody relievers Alex Younger, Adam Ottavino, and Drew Smith. Small fish that may be attended to or left alone now that the bass is aboard. Others, nonetheless, are walleyes. First baseman and franchise pillar Pete Alonso is the most important identify of the bunch, but the opposite additionally command respect. Starters Sean Manaea and Jose Quintana had been two of their greatest starters. Doubtlessly shedding each may go away a pointy exit wound. Even Jose Iglesias deserves the comparability to a mackerel for creating the “OMG” anthem, delivering late-game heroics, and serving to remodel the Mets’ right into a membership worthy of Soto’s skills.
Soto is a star — Among the many brightest in baseball. However he alone can’t band-aid over these holes. Cohen and Mets President of Baseball Operations David Stearns is aware of that. So don’t be stunned after they make extra strikes. Work’s already begun on that entrance due to the signings of different former Yankees pitchers, Frankie Montas Jr. and Clay Holmes. But it will possibly’t finish there.
For some groups, it might. They’d have too little cash and never sufficient drive. The Mets, although, nonetheless have wiggle room after shedding the salaries of their free brokers and the leftover cash from Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, James McCann, and Omar Narváez’s contracts. For perspective, the Mets’ Opening Day payroll in 2024 was $328 million. Based on BP’s Cot’s Baseball Contracts, their projected Opening Day payroll for 2025 is $235 million. For the Mets to match final season’s quantity, they’d must spend $93 million this offseason.
The underside line is that this: As a minimum, the Mets are solely getting began. Baseball may very well be Cohen and Stearns’ sandbox over the approaching years, one through which they try and sculpt the Mets into the picture of what the previous envisioned 4 years in the past.
Not each resolution might be straightforward transferring ahead. One of many parts the Mets must maneuver round transferring ahead is what to do with their minor leaguers. Fangraphs at the moment grades the membership’s farm system as seventh-best in baseball. MLB Pipeline felt in another way, rating them thirteenth, however additionally they acknowledge the membership has 4 of what they think about baseball’s Prime 100 prospects. They embody Brandon Sproat, shortstop/outfielder Jett Williams, outfielder Drew Gilbert, and outfielder/first baseman Ryan Clifford.
No matter your web site of selection, the Mets have a robust prospect pipeline. It’s arguably a part of what set the Mets aside in negotiations over their crosstown rivals. They’ve youth, flexibility, and future choices that the Yankees don’t. The one query is what number of — if any — of those gamers will make their massive league debut within the blue and orange.
This query is twofold: If the Mets need to higher their roster now with out 10 different forays into free company, the commerce market makes loads of sense. Their variety of place gamers aligns with the White Sox’s reported wishlist for All-Star Garrett Crochet. There may very well be a match there or elsewhere.
The opposite a part of this equation is that if these gamers — the place gamers, to be extra particular — have any room within the group. Williams, one of many membership’s highest-regarded prospects, is a shortstop by commerce. That place, nonetheless, is occupied by Francisco Lindor and might be occupied by him till 2031. Williams can’t simply transfer to the outfield, both. Soto will presumably play in proper, and Brandon Nimmo, who has a long-term contract of his personal, will in all probability man left as he did final season. Starling Marte can even rotate across the nook outfield now that his days as a middle fielder appear over.
Heart discipline is the one place left for Williams, however he’s not with out his challengers. Gilbert has patrolled heart for many of his profession, taking part in 93 video games there all through three minor league seasons. Then, on the MLB facet, the Mets already tout heart fielders like Tyrone Taylor and Jose Siri. Taylor and Siri received’t be free brokers till 2027. Neither Taylor nor Siri are world-beaters, however Taylor posted 1.2 fWAR with a 99 OPS+, and Siri was simply traded for on November 19. The Mets received’t simply simply discard both participant.
Williams’ recourse may very well be to maneuver elsewhere within the infield, but that additionally comes with problems. Second base may belong to a mix of Luisangel Acuña, Jeff McNeil, and Ronny Mauricio. Third is house to Vientos, and even when he had been to maneuver to first ought to Alonso go away, Brett Baty, a former highly-regarded prospect in his personal proper, will function competitors for the recent nook. And that’s earlier than the potential return of Iglesias, who was invaluable. The Mets are in such a logjam that if Williams needed to turn out to be a catcher for some cause, he’d be blocked by Francisco Alvarez.
The purpose right here is the Mets are low on room for Williams, Gilbert, Clifford, and each different position-playing prospect. Sooner or later, the group will attain an inflection level. Do they ship off these we don’t deem essential to their future to bolster the workforce now? Or do they strip again a few of these veterans quickly in pursuit of a extra malleable payroll?
There’s no straightforward reply. As a result of razing a farm system is the precise factor a workforce aspiring to be just like the Dodgers shouldn’t do. But, to compete with the Boys in Blue and their band of superstars, doing so may be vital. It’s a tough judgment name to make for Cohen and Stearns. Nevertheless it, and all the pieces else, is the least of their worries proper now.
The exhausting half is completed: Juan Soto is a New York Met. Take a second. Cease and take into consideration that.
New York nonetheless has far more to do: A rotation to rebuild, a bullpen to transform, and a lineup to finish. However Soto is a Met, and Cohen saved his promise. Cohen dreamt of this as a toddler — Of turning his boyhood workforce into baseball’s terror.
Now, due to Soto, he may see it turn out to be a actuality.
