While the focus of this week’s press conference was to officially show off Carlos Beltran as the New York Mets’ next manager, there’s always an opportunity to learn more about what else is going on in Mets Land. Based on what we saw, read, and heard from general manager Brodie Van Wagenen, that’s exactly what happened with regard to the offseason.

One of the many things BVW addressed was the current hole in the rotation thanks to Zack Wheeler becoming a free agent. While I’d like to remain optimistic and think New York could easily shell out the money necessary to retain an intriguing talent like Wheeler or acquire someone else at the top of the free-agent market, recent history tells us it’s unlikely. That’s especially the case when places like MLB Trade Rumors are projecting the right-hander to pull down a nine-figure guarantee.

The biggest issue in my eyes, though, is how it seems like the Mets are viewing next year’s bullpen:

Moving Seth Lugo or Robert Gsellman back to the rotation — a transition they’re both preparing for this winter — could indeed be an attractive option. However, it obviously opens up an even bigger hole in another part of the roster.

Upgrading the bullpen shouldn’t be an if-then statement. Even though New York’s relief corps did experience a step forward following the All-Star break (4.15 ERA and 1.7 fWAR in the second half), this is still a group that posted the fifth-worst ERA (4.99) and one of the worst fWARs (0.7) in baseball. But of course, the narrative we’ve already been hearing is that Edwin Diaz and Jeurys Familia will be much better next season.

In his first three big-league seasons, Diaz had never finished with an ERA higher than 3.27 or a home runs allowed per nine innings rate of 1.36 (those numbers were 5.59 and 2.33, respectively, in ’19). Meanwhile, Familia also posted a career-worst 5.70 ERA and -0.2 fWAR. Despite his past struggles with control, his 15.3% walk rate in 2019 was easily the highest it’s been since becoming a full-time reliever.

Is an improvement back toward their career norms within the range of outcomes for 2020? Well, sure it is, especially since both have put together a track record that suggests it’s not unrealistic. But this is not a matter of them just having a bad year. While some peripheral stats show they experienced some unfortunate luck, there are plenty of eye-popping numbers (in a bad way) that suggest they earned the struggles they were saddled with.

Would bounce-back campaigns from these two give the bullpen a huge boost, which Beltran suggested on his first official day as the team’s new skipper? Yes, absolutely. It’d be better if both Lugo and Gsellman also remain in the bullpen, but even if neither get plugged into the starting rotation, this area of the roster needs attention. Solely having confidence in players who disappointed the year prior performing up to expectation again isn’t the best strategy to have.

And yes, BVW likely isn’t trying to broadcast his entire winter plan for the media, but we’ve also seen this movie before, which is a stark difference to a team like the Philadelphia Phillies.

Philly went hard last offseason with regard to upgrading its roster and started somewhat strong before fading in the second half again and finishing with an 81-81 record. Even though we don’t know exactly what they plan on doing this winter, just about everyone is aware they’ll be aggressive in making acquisitions that’ll hopefully have a positive effect on their win-loss record in 2020.

As for the Mets, the talk we’re hearing from them (which could be a ploy, but I won’t believe that until I see differently) makes it sound like they believe the players needed to solve their roster issues are already within the organization. We’ve talked about the rotation and bullpen in detail, but this extends to Van Wagenen’s comments that side-stepped answering a question about going after guys like Anthony Rendon or Gerrit Cole.

Although the Phillies finished five games behind the Mets, they’re going to be aggressive because they feel their competitive window is open right now. While New York feels the same way, they’re acting as if just one or two small offseason moves will get them over the hump. But in reality, they finished seven games behind the Washington Nationals (who, you know, won the World Series) and 11 games behind the Atlanta Braves.

And sure, the Mets finished just three games back of the final NL wild-card spot, but that was really made possible by their out-of-this-world stretch in August. Plus, as we saw in 2016, the one-and-done nature of the play-in game is a tough pill to swallow after a 162-game season.

This is not to say that the front office needs to throw a bunch of money at every top free agent in advance of Opening Day. However, the roster as it’s currently constructed isn’t just a small tweak from shooting to the top of the division. There are spots that will need legitimate attention — and investment — in order to give themselves the best possible chance of competing next year.

Plenty of win-now moves were made last winter, but it felt as if New York didn’t finish the job prior to 2019 getting underway. Winning the offseason doesn’t guarantee winning during the season — that much we know. The worst thing the Mets could do, though, is follow a similar path this winter in advance of 2020.