A New York Mets insider recently offered some insight into how the team will go bargain shopping in free agency and the player that might be a top target this winter.
Over the last couple of years, the New York Mets have grown into a spending powerhouse in MLB due to the absurd wealth of owner Steve Cohen. While it seemed to work for them in 2022 as the team won 101 games, it was a massive failure in 2023 despite increasing the payroll to historic levels last winter.
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With the team well under .500 entering the trade deadline and highly unlikely to seriously compete for a playoff spot, the organization started to break down parts of its expensive roster over the last couple of weeks. That breakdown included shipping over their pair of $43 million apiece aces, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander.
However, to land a slew of top 100 prospects in their various trades the team had to agree to pick up large sums of remaining salaries for those two stars. From those deals and other moves the team made, the Mets owe more money to former players than their entire payroll for 2024.
That may explain why Cohen and general manager Billy Eppler reportedly informed both star pitchers that they don’t plan to make big moves to improve the team this winter and are looking toward 2025 to be contenders again. However, they still will need to fill several roles, including in the pitching staff, to try and be somewhat competitive since they still have All-Star caliber talent still on the roster.
Japanese ace could be New York Mets’ top target this winter
On Friday, The Athletic’s New York Mets senior reporter Tim Britton offered up the likely strategy the organization will have this winter in free agency and the one player they may splurge on if they become serious contenders to sign him.
“My overall expectation for the Mets in free agency is that while they’ll be constantly connected to larger names (because agents want the Mets as a bargaining chip), they’ll remain on the fringes for those big names. I would expect the Mets to be more interested in the José Quintana level of starter to fill out their rotation — players who could be had on shorter-term deals that could always be moved at the trade deadline should the team fall out of contention.
“The possible exception, in my mind, is right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto if he’s posted by the Orix Buffaloes of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. Yamamoto will only be 25 next season and pitchers that age never hit the open market.”
– Tim Britton
GM Billy Eppler reportedly has solid connections in Japan and it helped the team land Kodai Senga last year. Last month it was revealed that the organization is already heavily scouting the young Japanese star pitcher.