Evaluating the Mets Offseason

After Steve Cohen proved for a fact that one cannot buy championships, the New York Mets had to clean house and start a soft rebuild this offseason. What was once a team headlined by future Hall of Famers Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander, along with a powerhouse offense, quickly began to struggle to stay out of fifth place in the NL East. Veteran manager Buck Showalter is gone, Scherzer and Verlander have moved to the state of Texas, and starting pitchers David Peterson and Kodai Senga will begin the season on the injured list, but the core of their offense is still in Queens. The most important acquisitions for New York this offseason revolved around fixing their pitching situation.

Outs

The Mets didn’t suffer any debilitating departures this offseason. Carlos Carrasco, who posted a 6.80 ERA and 1.700 WHIP with a 3-8 record, entered free agency and was scooped up by the Cleveland Guardians; his 1.8 HR/9, 3.8 BB/9, and 6.6 K/9 were far below average. Reliever Jeff Brigham, who now pitches for the Twins, had a 5.26 ERA and a 1.168 WHIP with a 1-3 record. While his HR/9 and BB/9 were below average, he struck out more batters than the average pitcher with a 10.0 K/9. Relief pitcher Trevor Gott has now been doomed to pitch for the worst team in baseball, the Oakland Athletics. Gott posted a 4.34 ERA and a 1.414 WHIP with an 0-2 record. Gott had an impressive 0.6 HR/9, a slightly below average 3.4 BB/9, and a whopping 9.3 K/9. This was the Mets’ biggest loss of the offseason, and the stats imply he just gave up a lot of base hits. But he kept the ball in the park, rarely walked, and struck out a lot of batters; that’s as good a pitcher as the Mets could’ve hoped for.

Position players who have moved on to other teams include left fielder Tim Locastro, who now plays for San Diego, and designated hitter Daniel Vogelbach, who now plays for Toronto. Locastro slashed .232/.338/.393 this year while Vogelbach slashed .233/.339/.404. None of these numbers are impressive, and other than Vogelbach’s love for the game and joyful persona, they probable won’t be missed.

Ins

The Mets acquired eight pitchers this offseason: three starters and five relievers. The starters brought to New York are Luis Severino, Adrian Houser, and Sean Manaea. Severino threw for a 6.65 ERA and a 1.646 for the Yankees, with a 4-8 record. His 2.3 HR/9 was nearly twice the league average, but his 3.4 BB/9 and 8.0 K/9 were right around the league averages. Former Brewers pitcher Adrian Houser, who came to New York through a trade for pitching prospect Coleman Crow, had an 8-5 record in 2023, with a 4.12 ERA and a 1.392 WHIP. His BB/9 is above average while his HR/9 and K/9 are right at the averages. Sean Manaea, whose contract with the Giants expired after last season, threw for a 4.44 ERA and 1.241 WHIP with a 7-6 record. Manaea and Houser will probably end up being the best starters in the rotation until Senga comes off the injured list.

New York’s five new relievers are Jorge Lopez, Yohan Ramirez, Jake Diekman, Shintaro Fujinami, and Michael Tonkin. Lopez had an impressive 6-2 record in 2023, but posted a 5.95 ERA and a 1.508 WHIP across three different teams. Ramirez had a 4.23 ERA with a 1.461 WHIP, but had a very impressive 0.7 HR/9. Diekman had the lowest ERA in the bunch, with a 3.34 ERA and a 1.324 WHIP. His 0.5 HR/9 shows an incredible ability to keep the ball in the park and his 10.2 K/9 shows that he can punch guys out. His only problem is his absurdly high walk rate with a 6.0 BB/9. If he can get the walks under control, he will most-likely excel with the Mets this year. Fujinami struggled on the mound this past season with a 7.18 ERA and a 1.494 WHIP. The high WHIP is coupled with a high BB/9 of 5.1, but the low 1.0 HR/9 and high 9.5 K/9 and ERA suggest he gives up a a lot of hits to go along with the walks. Tonkin produced for the Braves last year after spending five seasons playing in Japan. He came back to America to post a 4.28 ERA with an absurdly low 1.088 WHIP. He has a tendency to give up a long ball every now and then, but he will prove to be a very valuable part of the Mets’ bullpen.

The Mets’ offense was still pretty solid last year, so the list of notable changes in the lineup is only one name: center fielder Harrison Bader. Bader slashed .232/.274/.348 for both the Yankees and the Reds last season. His mediocrity at the plate overshadows his incredible defensive abilities, which was notably missing in the Mets outfield last season (Jeff McNeil is not an outfielder, clearly). When you’re on a team with Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil, and recent addition to the 30-30 club Francisco Lindor, a lack of hitting abilities doesn’t matter all too much.

Rating

The Mets had a good list of problems to fix, entirely on the defensive side. But President of Baseball Operations David Stearns went to work. He buffed their rotation with Adrian Houser and Sean Manaea. The bullpen is no longer just Adam Ottavino and Edwin Diaz now that Tonkin, Ramirez, and Diekman have been added. The defensive struggles in the outfield have been rectified by Alonso’s former University of Florida teammate Harrison Bader. They poached former Yankees bench coach Carlos Mendoza to become their new manager after Showalter’s failure of epic proportions.

The Mets are deserving of a C+/B-. The biggest problem spots were rectified, most of the pitching staff is still below average in a number of categories. It’s a great start, especially for David Stearns’s first offseason with the team. But going forward, they’ll have to keep these kinds of changes coming if they want to be in playoff contention again.