Mack Carig of Newsday reports that the Mets have little left in budget to pursue free agents.
With little wiggle room, a person with knowledge of the team’s thinking said the Mets likely will follow last winter’s free-agent blueprint, when they passed on a major signing in favor of spreading their limited dollars with several low-cost signings.
What the Mets lack in dollars for free agency they hold in chips for trades — if they choose to put them in play. But if not, Alderson and the Mets must rummage for bargains.
The Mets enter the offseason with holes to fill at catcher, the outfield, the bullpen and perhaps the back end of the starting rotation. But with upward of 80 percent of their roughly $100-million payroll already earmarked for returning players, a splashy free agent likely won’t fall into the Mets’ price range.
Meanwhile on the David Wright front, a team source told Mike Puma of the New York Post says that while discussions are on-going between Wright and the Mets, negotiations are “stuck in neutral.” Andy McCullough of the Star Ledger hears the same thing from his team sources and adds that ” It kind of makes you wonder about And Martino’s report yesterday that negotiations were intensifying.
