Bob Nightengale of USA Today Sports reported on Tuesday that the Philadelphia Phillies are focusing on a trio of elite players to add to their roster before the end of the offseason — outfielder Bryce Harper, left-handed starter Dallas Keuchel, and righty closer Craig Kimbrel.

Earlier in the day, Jon Heyman of FanCred Sports hinted at Philadelphia being in “excellent position” to sign either Harper or Manny Machado, who they have seemed to turn their attention away from in recent days.

After signing one of the two, Heyman notes the Phillies would then take a “closer look at other top free agents” naming Keuchel, Kimbrel, and A.J. Pollock as potential targets.

Team owner John Middleton infamously began the hot stove declaring, again to Nightengale, that the Phils were “going into this expecting to spend money and maybe even be a little stupid about it”. Those three would certainly check off those boxes.

What this would mean for the rest of the National League is abundantly clear — the Phillies are dead-set on returning to the pinnacle of the sport and will make no qualms about spending boatloads of cash to get there.

What this would mean for the New York Mets — specifically general manager Brodie Van Wagenen, his revamped front office, and the current ownership group — is that despite a large handful of smart, roster-strengthening moves, their NL East rivals may leapfrog them as the true movers-and-shakers of the offseason if they don’t keep up.

After overhauling a fairly large portion of their roster with additions like Robinson Cano, Edwin Diaz, Wilson Ramos, Jeurys Familia, Jed Lowrie, Keon Broxton, as well as a number of depth pieces, the Mets are undoubtedly a better team than they were just a few months ago.

Steady inclines from budding positional cornerstones Michael Conforto, Brandon Nimmo, Amed Rosario, and Jeff McNeil, as well as the good-and-only-getting-better Metsies’ starting rotation should really keep this team in the wild card mix, at the very least, through the summer.

But if the Atlanta Braves and their incredibly talented young core continues to develop at the rate they have, and the Phillies really do head into the 2019 season with Harper, Keuchel, and Kimbrel littered along the chalk line on Opening Day, Van Wagenen should by no means be done bringing this roster up to snuff.

Another starting outfielder — in the corners or up the middle — would do wonders for the Mets lineup. A.J. Pollock in center field would be ideal, and the longer he remains on the market, presumably, the lower his price will drop.

Nick Markakis, who mainly plays right field, hasn’t had much buzz surrounding him despite slashing .297/.366/.440 in 162 games last year. His sub-par second half (.258/.332/.369), plus the fact that he’s 35, should keep his price reasonably low. Which, of course, is music to this current ownership group’s collective ears.

Adding another top-tier reliever in, say, Adam Ottavino, would certainly not hurt the Mets’ chances to succeed either, but, in all honesty, this writer would be totally content with Diaz, Familia, Seth Lugo, Robert Gsellman, Kyle Dowdy, Daniel Zamora, and Drew Smith making up the bulk of the relief corps.

Now,  if Brodie and Co. truly want to keep up with the Phillies, Van Wagenen must go all-out-mega-agent on his superiors and sell them on the idea of swooping in and nabbing free-agent superstar infielder Manny Machado while his market seems to be at a standstill.

Want to win now and win later? Machado and his slowly-being-paved road to Cooperstown will surely help that cause. Not too often do two, 26-year-old game-changers hit the open market simultaneously. If (one of) your main rivals are lining themselves up to grab one of them, the only logical move is to go out and grab the other.

Now that would be a win-now move.