Mandatory Credit: D. Ross Cameron-USA TODAY Sports

The second week of the Mets’ offseason is in the books, and it was certainly the least eventful of the two so far. In fact, most of what occurred during this week with regards to the Mets stems from what happened to other teams in the playoffs when the Milwaukee Brewers, Tampa Bay Rays and San Francisco Giants were eliminated.

Even though it was less eventful than the first, let’s see what went down in week two of the offseason.

David Stearns Shuts Down Rumors, Beane Still Hovers

David Stearns, the vice president of baseball operations for the Brewers, was a long shot to even interview for the Mets top front office opening because the team’s owner likely wouldn’t allow him to interview. But whatever slim chance they Mets had to potentially interview Stearns disappeared when he addressed the Milwaukee media following the season.

“I’m happy here [in Milwaukee]; my family is happy here,” Stearns said. “And we’ve got work to do here.”

With regards to Billy Beane, John Harper reported that Billy Beane is “very much open to the idea” of running baseball operations for the Mets, but Andy Martino described Beane coming to the Mets as “unlikely.” MMO’s Mike Mayer has previous reported that Beane was unlikely to leave Oakland to come run the Mets.

Buster Olney reaffirmed the Mets’ interest in Josh Byrnes, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ senior vice president of baseball ops, which Mayer reported last week. The Mets will also be interest in Brandon Gomes once the Dodgers are eliminated or win the championship. They nearly were this week but instead beat the Giants in five games in the NLDS. That could free up Scott Harris, the Giants’ general manager, to interview for a job with the Mets. Both Jack Ramsey and Martino mentioned him as a name the Mets have kept tabs on.

Perhaps Just a GM… Again?

With the potential of missing out on their top three president of baseball operations targets (Theo Epstein, Beane, Stearns), Andy Martino reported the Mets could once again shift focus to simply hiring a general manager with the ultimate goal of promoting them to a POBO role down the road.

This is the route the team took last offseason when it couldn’t lock down any of its top targets and eventually hired Jared Porter and Zack Scott. That did not turn out well.

Arbitration Projections

Mets fans got a general sense of how much a bulk of the team’s players will be making in the 2022 season when MLB Trade Rumors released its salary projections for arbitration-eligible players. Some highlights include:

  • Pete Alonso – $7.3 million (first year of arbitration)
  • Edwin Diaz – $10.4 million (final year of arbitration)
  • Brandon Nimmo – $6 million (final year of arbitration)
  • Seth Lugo – $3.7 million (final year of arbitration)
  • Dominic Smith – $4 million (second year of arbitration — Super 2)
  • Jeff McNeil – $2.8 million (first year of arbitration)

The Mets likely have their own general in-house projections, and then there will be the actual process of arbitration if teams and players don’t agree on a salary for 2022. The deadline for settling is typically in January, but there’s no set date for 2022 because of the expiring collective bargaining agreement.

In some other salary news, the qualifying offer was set at $18.4 million, a bit lower than expected. Any player, like Noah Syndergaard and Michael Conforto (who the Mets are expected to at least offer the QO), who accepts the qualifying offer after the World Series will make $18.4 million for one year in 2022 then be a free agent. The player won’t be able to be offered the qualifying offer again whether they accept it or not.

Brett Baty Shines in AFL

The Arizona Fall League started this week, and four games in, No. 2 prospect Brett Baty is 7-for-14 with four walks. He’s hit missiles all over Arizona, and he’s start three of the four games at third base. (He was a designated hitter in the other.) He’s been the clear cut best offensive player on the Salt River Rafters so far on a team that also features Spencer Torkelson, the No. 4 overall prospect in baseball.

Seven other Mets prospects are on the Rafters, including utility man Carlos Cortes, infielder Wilmer Reyes and pitcher Connor Grey.

The Rafters have off days on Sundays, but the league will run through November 20, the day of the championship game.