Credit: Quinn Harris-USA TODAY Sports

It’s been a long time since we were this excited and interested in following the New York Mets throughout the winter. It’s also been a little frustrating and surprising that none of the biggest free agents (J.T. Realmuto, George Springer, or Trevor Bauer) actually landed in Flushing.

Both of these statements can be true. But from this (admittedly optimistic) writer’s perspective, this off-season has been a net positive.

The Mets have addressed a number of roster needs, they’re likely not done, and the improved depth in certain areas — like the starting rotation — will prove to be time and resources well spent. Plus, Francisco Lindor could easily end up being more valuable than any of the top free agents New York failed to sign if he sticks around. Of course, if you head over to the Twitter machine, there are plenty of takes out there saying these are the “same old Mets”. Some of the recent headlines regarding Jared Porter and Mickey Callaway notwithstanding, though, these are far from the same old Mets.

Setting the Expectation

Remember the first press conference once Steve Cohen officially became the new owner? What a glorious day that was. He and Sandy Alderson said all the right things, and I don’t know about you, but I was ready to run through a brick wall by the time it finished. Among the many memorable sound bites was this desire to become an iconic franchise, and how becoming one is a process that’ll take a number of years.

When asked about current franchises that are the model to aspire to, Cohen didn’t mince words in his answer:

Becoming an organization like the Los Angeles Dodgers is a good goal to have, especially since they’re a few months removed from winning the World Series. But it’s more than that — it’s everything they’ve done up to this point since new ownership took over in 2012.

Between 2000 and 2012, the Dodgers made the playoffs four times (2004, 2006, 2008, and 2009). In the first two instances, they were bounced from the NLDS twice and won a total of just one game. They reached the NLCS in the final two instances but won a total of just two games while being a step away from the World Series.

Since LA’s new ownership took over, they haven’t missed the playoffs since 2013. The Dodgers have won the NL West eight straight times, and while there’s been a bit of heartbreak along the way, they do have one title and two NL pennants because they’ve always given themselves a chance by consistently reaching October.

The Dodgers have had the money to do whatever they want, but they’ve typically been frugal via free agency while developing their own talent and making strategic trades. President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman has trusted his own process, and it’s worked. It took the organization a lot longer than they’d like to finally hoist that hunk of metal, but it finally happened.

What’s Important to Players

That kind of reputation is what players on the open market look at. Yes, the money is obviously nice, but money alone won’t always woo a top free agent to sign because most of the time, they’re also looking for a place to have a shot at winning in October.

There were other things in play with regard to the Bauer negotiations — mainly because he grew up in LA and went to college at UCLA — but it’d be hard to convince me that the reputation the Dodgers have built as an iconic franchise and a perennial contender had nothing to do with his decision, too.

Cohen said it himself on Twitter at some point — having the money to pay players top dollar is great, but it goes beyond that. After all, let’s not forget that ballplayers are humans just like us, and they’re motivated/persuaded to do certain things for a number of reasons.

Hopefully Looking Into the Mirror

I see these failed negotiations with Bauer as almost poetic because what the Dodgers just did is exactly the type of thing we’re hoping the Mets will do in the near future: throw some serious money around without feeling the need to outbid others because their reputation plays a role in negotiations, and doing so without even having to explain why.

Getting to that point takes time — the Mets aren’t going to get there within just a couple of months. This winter has been a step in the right direction, though. They’ve shown a willingness to seriously pursue the game’s top available players, with the idea of shelling out legitimate money in the process. That will help when looking forward to future winters and if they go ahead and extend some of their impact players currently on the roster, that’ll only make Queens an even more enviable destination moving forward.

Despite all this, there’s just one thing that’ll help New York start becoming that iconic franchise both Cohen and Alderson want to be: getting on the field and just winning, baby. That process starts in a couple of weeks, and the Mets have done a good job over the past few months with regard to putting the roster in a position where they have a shot at making that happen.

Get the job done and trust the process day-in and day-out, and eventually, the organization will reap the benefits in all areas.