Photo: Corey Sipkin, NY Post

It’s really been 16 weeks of the offseason so far, and basically all of the action was packed into a four-week stretch. While we should be about three weeks away from pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training, that’s looking less and less likely. Yet, the ball rolls on for the Mets.

Coaching Staff Officially Announced

While we knew most of the Mets’ coaching staff this week, the team officially announced the hiring of the entire staff this week. Within the announcement, it was revealed Jeremy Barnes would be promoted to assistant hitting coach, and the team hired Craig Bjornsen as its bullpen coach.

As a recap, here is the rest of the coaching staff under Buck Showalter:

With the coaching staff rounded out, the Mets certainly will have their full attention back on free agency, whenever that starts again.

Prospect Rankings Galore

A couple notable prospect rankings came out this week from Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus, and a trio of the Mets’ top prospects made both rankings. The players and their rankings are:

With these rankings, it’s clear Baty and Álvarez will end the year as consensus Top 25 prospects in baseball, so long as they continue rounding out their games on the trajectory they have (particularly on defense). It’s been a while since the Mets have had that.

Mauricio, on the other hand, has slipped in rankings from pre-2021 spots. This likely comes from the potential he may no longer have a home at shortstop (thanks to a growth spurt), questions about his approach at the plate, and general fatigue of Mauricio not ascending at rates evaluators may have hoped. He’s been on most Top 100 prospects for three or four years now.

On top of these two rankings, MMO’s Mike Mayer released his own rankings of the Mets’ farm system. The trio mentioned above were Mayer’s top three, followed by Mark Vientos, Matthew Allan and J.T. Ginn. Khalil Lee and Nick Plummer, two outfielders who could see time in Queens in 2022, also made Mayer’s Top 15.

CBA Update

There was no response this week from the MLB Players’ Association to the MLB owners’ offer from the previous week, though ESPN’s Jeff Passan said that counter-offer is supposed to come Monday when the two sides meet.

MLB owners’ last proposal saw minor tweaks to compensation for players with two years of service, alterations to the MLB draft system and rewards for teams who didn’t participate in service time manipulation, but the MLBPA was underwhelmed by that offer. It wouldn’t be a surprise if the MLBPA’s next offer saw no real concession from its original offer, just as the owners did to them.

What’s Next

The Mets have now caught up to the rest of the majors, and their entire coaching staff is set. They waited until the lockout to focus on hiring a manager (and rightly so), but now they have a full staff and are really sitting with their hands under their butt until the collective bargaining agreement gets resolved.