Mets will be playing the name game this winter
Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal, throwing against the Yankees on April 8 in Detroit, could be a potential trade target for the Mets this offseason. Credit: AP/Paul Sancya
LAS VEGAS — David Stearns, a few floors up from the Cosmopolitan’s card tables, put on his best poker face for Tuesday’s media availability session.
Every offseason feels like make-or-break for the Mets, but this winter, the stakes are considerably higher. Billionaire owner Steve Cohen essentially flushed $340 million on an 83-win team that left Citi Field dark in October, then Carlos Mendoza had his entire coaching staff gutted, leaving the manager on thin ice as he heads into the final year of his contract.
Yet Stearns volleyed with reporters Tuesday as if this was just business as usual, with boxes to check and bullpens to fill over the next three months.
Nothing could be further from the truth, and as the president of baseball operations for this currently derailed franchise, Stearns certainly understands he has some heavy lifting to do. That time is just about here, and before too long, we have every expectation the Cohen Mets are going to show us the urgency is real.
It’s not so much about Pete Alonso, either. We get the sense both sides would be fine with an amicable split if the financial parameters don’t match up for the popular Polar Bear. Consider the club’s all-time home-run record a nice parting gift.
The Mets need to go big-name hunting, and that means an aggressive push for elite starters like Tarik Skubal (if the Tigers ultimately make him available), Japanese ace Tatsuya Imai (once he’s posted by the Seibu Lions) or stateside free agent Framber Valdez. And if Alonso bolts for Fenway, Cohen’s dollars should be directed at Cody Bellinger, Alex Bregman — or both.
There’s only one way to put the trauma of last season’s four-month, slow-motion car crash in the rear view, and that’s with another shock-and-awe winter, the encore to Juan Soto’s record 15-year, $765-million contract from last December. If Cohen can swipe Soto from the Yankees, he definitely can green-light selling the farm for Skubal, who likely will be announced the AL’s back-to-back Cy Young winner Wednesday, or making Imai an offer he can’t refuse (in order to coerce him away from a West Coast club).
“I think if a front-line pitcher, a top of the rotation pitcher, is available,” Stearns said, “we’re going to be involved in those discussions. There are limits to what we would do, as there would for any player. But we do have the depth and quality of farm system at this point that we can both have those players impact our major-league team in a real way and potentially trade some of them to get some really near-term help if that’s available.”
If there’s anyone untouchable from that group, it’s Nolan McLean, who did things over the last six weeks that hadn’t been seen in Flushing since 1985 Doc Gooden. Other than McLean, back up the truck for Skubal. Or have Cohen open his wallet for a handful of free-agent fixes, as Stearns reiterated Tuesday that the Mets aren’t facing any budgetary restrictions after finishing with the second-highest payroll in the majors last season.
We didn’t anticipate anything different. Not after the Mets set a single-season attendance record (3.18 million) at Citi Field this year, and went from No. 17 to fifth overall in the league rankings. It was Cohen who spurred the fans to show up, first by spending more than $800 million on Soto and Alonso, then issuing a spring-training challenge through the media. Now it’s back to the vault again, which remains the Mets’ greatest advantage, over everyone else but the Dodgers.
“Clearly, Steve is very committed to supporting our baseball team in any way possible,” Stearns said. “And as opportunities arise, he and I are in regular contact as to what makes most sense for the team.”
The Mets have a lot on that list. An ace-caliber starter, another mid-rotation arm, a centerfielder, upgrades at second and/or third, potentially a slugging first baseman, nearly an entire bullpen. Stearns is optimistic that some of those holes can be plugged with in-house solutions — he mentioned that Carson Benge, for example, will have a shot to win the centerfield gig in spring training.
But there are jobs on the line this season. The coaches already were axed. Mendoza needs a quick start (with a deep October finish). And dare we say that Stearns, the long-coveted boy genius by Cohen, has something to prove after his charmed rookie campaign in Flushing. When an owner feels compelled to apologize to his paying customers, as Cohen did at season’s end, no one in the organization should feel safe.
“Any time you go through the type of season — certainly the ending of the season — we went through, it provides a great opportunity for reflection, evaluation, post-mortems, all of that,” Stearns said. “I think we came out of that with some very distinct and notable lessons.”
Stearns declined to share those observations. But we’ll venture to guess that Lesson No. 1 was don’t let it happen again, which is why Mendoza’s staff was immediately erased and the Mets surely have no intention of running it back with the same cast of characters in 2026.
Nobody knows what that will look like quite yet. Not even Stearns, as baseball’s free agency tends to take a while. Targeting names like Skubal, Imai, Bellinger and Bregman is where the Mets have to start as the market begins to take shape. Cohen can’t buy everyone, but he’ll write enough checks for Stearns to build another contender. Or at least one that had better get to October next time.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
