Mets Enter 2023 Offseason With Unprecedented Roster Flexibility

The Mets are entering the 2023 offseason with an absurd amount of flexibility. After the non-tender deadline, in which the Mets let go of five players, the Mets’ 40-man roster now sits at an minuscule 28 players, of which includes starting pitcher David Peterson, who is expected to miss the start of the 2024 season. With that, the Mets have just 27 healthy players on their 40-man roster, just enough to field a regular season team.

Officially, the Mets have the following pitchers on their 40-man roster:

• Starters: Kodai Senga, Jose Quintana, Joey Lucchesi, Tylor Megill, David Peterson, José Butto.
• Relievers: Edwin Díaz, Brooks Raley, Drew Smith, Phil Bickford, Josh Walker, Grant Hartwig, Reed Garrett.

As for the offensive side, the Mets carry: Francisco Álvarez, Omar Narváez, Pete Alonso, Mark Vientos, Jeff McNeil, Ronny Mauricio, Brett Baty, Francisco Lindor, DJ Stewart, Brandon Nimmo, Zack Short, Luisangel Acuña, and Alex Ramírez.

Of their 28, the Mets have 14 pitchers (13 healthy) and 14 position players. Of their pitchers, the Mets have some legitimate pieces. Those being starters such as Senga and Quintana, an all-world closer in Díaz, and one of the better left-handed relievers in baseball in Raley. On the offensive side, the Mets’ core remains in tact, accompanied by the “Baby Mets,” and 2023 folk-hero DJ Stewart.

However, the Mets do have a decent amount of holes they will need to address. They only have two legitimate major-league starters, three relievers, and, as currently slated, are lined up to give major roles to young bats who struggled in 2023 (Mauricio, Baty, and Vientos).

With the flexibility that the Mets have with their 40-man roster, comes one downside; the Mets have a ton of heavy lifting to do. Let’s take a look at where the Mets need to improve their 40-man roster.

Pitching, Pitching, Pitching

The Mets lack pitching. As previously stated, they have just five arms who figure to be a part of the major-league roster no matter what: Senga, Quintana, Díaz, Raley, and Smith. It is no secret, the Mets need pitching badly.

Coincidentally enough, Will Samon of The Athletic has reported that the Metes are interested in, and plan to meet with, former Yankee starter Luis Severino.

Sevorino would figure to slot into the back-half of the Mets’ rotation, with the ability to play above that level. The 29 year-old has missed considerable time in every season since 2019, with just two seasons with more than 50 innings pitched in that same time. He amassed just 18 innings between 2019 and 2021, but has pitched 191 1/3 innings in the last two seasons combined.

Beyond the potential for an addition of Severino (or another external starter), the Mets likely need to add two more major-league, and somewhere between three-and-five relievers, depending how New York plans to attack their roster.

The Mets can take the route of heading into Port St. Lucie with a few spots on, including a rotation spot. If the Mets do that, you could also expect to see the duo of Christian Scott and/or Mike Vasil get a shot at the rotation. As for the bullpen, non-40 man arms such as Nate Lavender, Trey McLoughlin, and the rehabbing Bryce Montes de Oca could have a shot at the Opening Day bullpen as well.

The Mets do have some arms in their minor league system who figure to grab a 40-man spot at some point during the 2024 season, including the names that were just mentioned. However, New York will need to add to this group multiple times externally during the offseason.

Offensive Depth

The Mets enter 2024 with a strong offensive core: Pete Alonso is the most prolific power bat in the National League, Jeff McNeil returned to form down the stretch, Brandon Nimmo turned in a career year, Francisco Álvarez hit 25 home runs in his rookie year, and Francisco Lindor brought him his first Silver Slugger award as a Met. Along with their core, the Mets have three top-prospects who have struggled in their small MLB sample sizes, but need consistent playing time for the team to get a good read on what their future roles are, those being Brett Baty, Mark Vientos, and Ronny Mauricio.

However, outside that, the Mets’ depth on the offensive side leaves a lot to be desired. The Mets have eight infielders on their 40-man, but Luisangel Acuña figures to start the year in Triple-A. Beyond the core and the “Baby Mets” is just Zack Short, a fringe-major league bench piece.

The Mets need to attack one of the deeper markets in this free agency class: offensive depth. As currently set up, only Álvarez, McNeil, Nimmo, Alonso, and Lindor figure to be locks to be starters come Opening Day. The Mets have holes at designated hitter and third base. Further, the future of Starling Marte remains uncertain after an injury plagued 2023, so we’ll call it two open outfield spots as the winter nears.

Offensive Identity

One of the points of emphasis for the Mets heading into 2024 should be adding more power to their lineup. The Mets have multiple bats capable of hitting over 20 long balls in a year. Specifically, they had four do so last year, but lack power-depth in their lineup. The Mets have some depth-power options already on their roster in the likes of Ronny Mauricio and Mark Vientos, but neither played well enough down the stretch to pencil themselves in as an everyday starter in 2024.

Off the bench, the Mets do have a power threat in DJ Stewart. In his 58 games for the Mets in 2023, Stewart cranked 11 homers and posted a .506 SLG, two notches above Pete Alonso’s mark. Stewart might not put up the same level of power next year, and it is probably fair to expect that he won’t, but double-digit homers off the bench would be a huge lift to the team.

Luckily for the Mets, power might not be too hard to find on the open market and the trade market. Beyond the obvious top-of-the-market bats like Shohei Ohtani, bats such as Justin Turner, Joc Pederson, Teoscar Hernandez, Matt Chapman, Jorge Soler, Rhys Hoskins, Joey Gallo, and J.D. Martinez could all be possible solutions for the Mets to help fix their power outage.