Outside an event he attended alongside manager Mickey Callaway this afternoon, team owner and COO Jeff Wilpon told reporters that the team expects to be aggressive on in improving their roster this offseason.
Wilpon did not give an explicit answer when asked about the possibility that the team take to the free agent market and pursue a $300M player such as Manny Machado, but instead said, “there’s room to do things,” and that newly-hired general manager Brodie Van Wagenen “knows what the parameters of what the payroll is and what we’re planning to do and he’s totally comfortable with that… He’s leaving no stone unturned.”
Regarding the last comment, Wilpon fielded a series of questions revolving around the futures of starting pitchers Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard. Despite giving no insight as to whether payroll is expected to increase or decrease, Wilpon told reporters he expects to be in contact with deGrom’s new agent soon, but had no comment as to whether or not extending the Cy Young winner was a priority. Syndergaard, meanwhile, remains a potential trade chip.
Boasting another three years of team control, Syndergaard would definitely bring back a substantial package of young talent, and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic has tabbed the San Diego Padres as a particularly interested group.
The Padres currently have 11 of MLB Pipeline‘s 100 best prospects, with Fernando Tatis Jr. (#2) leading the pack among position players and MacKenzie Gore (#13) headlining a sterling group of talented pitchers.
While such a discussion has caught fire among writers and insiders, Wilpon did concede that it would take something “lopsided” to force the Mets’ hand in a deal. This could, in fact, explain why despite some evidently stagnant to non-existent extension talks, Syndergaard’s hottest discussed destination is in San Diego, which has evolved into a prospect sanctuary across the last three years.
