The New York Mets finally have a general manager who is ready to engage with players on the free-agent market and potential trade partners. It only took about, what, 17 years for this to happen? Either way, the Mets’ offseason can finally begin, and not a moment too soon.

Every team in baseball is operating with an eye on the Collective Bargaining Agreement expiring on December 1st and a potential lockout taking place. But New York is in a different position because they were the only team left without a permanent point person in the front office ready to make moves to improve the roster.

That’s finally changed, as the organization officially introduced Billy Eppler to the media on Friday afternoon, with owner Steve Cohen and team president Sandy Alderson also in attendance. As one could expect, there were plenty of noteworthy soundbites to digest, both at the presser itself and during other media appearances throughout the day.

Here are a select few that we thought stood out from the rest:

The first one in the above graphic from Cohen is what everybody wants to hear, and he doubled down on that statement later in the day while on WFAN:

Cohen is a smart guy, and it’s a simple equation. The Mets have a number of intriguing prospects who are top-100 talents, but overall, the farm system is thin, which we saw throughout 2021. Continuing to subtract from the minor leagues to improve the big-league roster doesn’t make much sense, especially when the Mets are flush with cash. New York is starting to accumulate a meaningful number of draft picks for the 2022 MLB Draft, starting with two first-rounders and the two compensatory picks they’ll receive, assuming Michael Conforto will join Noah Syndergaard and sign elsewhere.

Either way, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither are top farm systems. Outside of getting these picks, the Mets will actually have to sign them all and then develop those players to the point where they’re ready to contribute at the major-league level. Cohen wants to win a World Series within the next four years and to make that happen, some drastic moves must be made after looking at the current state of the organization’s 40-man roster.

Of course, this all sounds great in theory, but it’ll look even better when it happens in real life. This is a classic “talk the talk, walk the walk” moment. Based on comments he said last winter, we know Cohen admires the Los Angeles Dodgers and would ideally want the Mets to become the east-coast version. If New York does break the bank this winter to put a playoff contender on the field next season, Cohen will be taking a page right out of Los Angeles’ most recent book.

The Dodgers were sold to their current ownership group, Guggenheim Partners, on the eve of Opening Day 2012, with the sale becoming final in May of that year. Once the end of August rolled around, the Dodgers were in the hunt for a playoff spot. They were in the midst of a wild-card race and also just three games behind the San Francisco Giants for first in the National League West.

With the waiver trade deadline approaching, they swung an epic nine-player trade with the Boston Red Sox that included more than $250 million in salary commitments getting transferred to them. L.A. ended up acquiring Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett, and Nick Punto in this deal. They eventually finished with an 86-76 record and missed the playoffs, but it’s what happened after 2012 that really tells the story. The Dodgers have made the playoffs every year since, which includes eight NL West titles, nine seasons of 90-plus wins (three 100-plus win seasons), three trips to the World Series, and one title.

More importantly, the Dodgers used their greatest asset — lots of cash — to help get the job done. They’ve consistently been at the top of the league in the payroll department with a number north of $200 million. This number even topped $300 million in 2015 (with nearly one-third of it paying players not on the team), and in 2021, L.A.’s $271 million payroll was easily baseball’s highest. The next-closest team was the New York Yankees at $205 million.

It’s not as simple as just spending a bunch of money, but we can clearly see the benefit of having an owner who’s hungry to field a winning team with the means and willingness to do so.

The 2021 season was a learning experience for the new regime, and it included some harsh lessons along the way. The upcoming winter and season are already looking different with Eppler in charge. Was he the first, second, or third choice? No, but he’s at least been in this seat before, is familiar with New York, and is comfortable working with big contracts. While it remains to be seen who Eppler will bring in to manage the ball club, there’s a decent chance it’ll be someone with prior managing experience.

Those are two big steps in the right direction. The next one will be to back up those words with lots of action, and lots of money being spent. New York will be doing it slightly different than the Dodgers, but L.A. showed the benefits of having deep pockets. It’s time for the Mets to experience that, as well.