Since the regular season ended and Terry Collins stepped down from the post he held for seven seasons, most of the rumors swirling around the New York Mets were all about potential successors to fill the managerial vacancy.
With Mickey Callaway landing the job as New York’s next skipper and a coaching staff ultimately being chosen soon, focus has shifted to the on-field product and what the front office needs to do to resuscitate a team that was ravaged by injuries, but also severely under-performed as well.
A new manager was the logical first step, but putting together a cohesive and productive team of players is what’s going to be the difference between being contenders or pretenders.
The Mets have several notable holes to fill, including bringing in an innings-eater type starter or maybe two, a proven backend bullpen arm, an infielder and possibly an outfielder as well, especially with the uncertainty surrounding Michael Conforto.
The writers here at MMO discuss what we believe are the biggest needs this offseason for the Mets.
John Jackson – Starting pitching: The Mets had a lot of problems in 2017 in all aspects of the game. Even though the team hit a franchise-best 224 home runs, they were only in the middle of the pack when it came to offense as they scored the 18th most runs in MLB. The worst aspect of their game was their pitching though. Their 5.01 team ERA was ranked 28th in the majors. That was partially due to the injuries in the starting rotation to pitchers like Steven Matz, Matt Harvey, Noah Syndergaard, Seth Lugo and Zack Wheeler among others. However, it was also due to poor pitching from some of those guys and others. The Mets could easily bounce back in 2018 with the pitchers they have now, but if they want to be serious about competing, they can’t play it safe. The most important need they have to address is the starting pitching. To fix the issue, they shouldn’t simply sign an over-the-hill, affordable ‘innings-eater.’ The Mets need a solid pitcher who will give them a great chance of winning every time they’re on the mound. Jake Arrieta fits this need, though a signing like that would be a long-shot.
Laney Ortiz – With David Wright’s ability to be a productive player on the Mets’ roster being a question mark, the need for an every day third baseman has grown. Going into the offseason the Mets need to add a few things to the team to make it a more successful machine. Finding a third baseman that can not only be good defensively, but produce offensively is extremely important. Wright has expressed his want to get back on the field, but logically we need to start to think about moving on. Free agent Mike Moustakas could be a contender for the spot, but there has not been much talk of the Mets reaching out to him or any other possible candidate. We could continue to use our utility infielders, but I think it’s time we find a real third baseman who can play almost every night.
Dilip Sridhar – The biggest need in my opinion is pitching, more importantly, the bullpen. I would not love it but the offense without any additions would likely “survive.” Brandon Nimmo, a healthy Michael Conforto and Yoenis Cespedes, and improvements from Amed Rosario and Dominic Smith could be somewhat tolerable. The bigger issue was the pitching. In 2015 and 2016, the Mets were one of the top teams in pitching fWAR. A healthy Noah Syndergaard can easily contend for a Cy Young Award and Jacob deGrom is a top 10 pitcher in the NL. Outside of that, Jeurys Familia, Matt Harvey, Steven Matz and Zack Wheeler are all question marks (Familia less so). The other arms do not have much of a ceiling. The Mets should invest this offseason in a starting pitcher and a legitimate bullpen arm or two. Bryan Shaw is intriguing and so is Brandon Morrow. a reunion with Addison Reed would also make sense for New York but alas, he will likely seek closer money on the market. I’m more comfortable banking on the hitters staying healthy and taking a step forward than the pitchers. A potential rotation of Noah Syndergaard, Jacob deGrom, free agent addition, Steven Matz, and Matt Harvey plus a bullpen of Zack Wheeler, Seth Lugo, Jeurys Familia, Brandon Morrow, AJ Ramos, Jerry Blevins, Bryan Shaw and Jamie Callahan is a group I would be happy going into battle with.
Logan Barer – Aside from filling positions on the staff, the biggest Mets need this offseason is a reliever. Not just any reliever, a very very good one. The back end of the bullpen currently consists of Jeurys Familia, AJ Ramos and Jerry Blevins but if the Mets want to really have a good bullpen, they should get at least one more big arm. Addison Reed, Greg Holland, Pat Neshek, Luke Gregerson, Wade Davis and Seung-hwan Oh are some free agents I would like to see the Mets pursue. You can never have enough strong bullpen arms, but having a good reliable arm along with Familia and Ramos can delegate Blevins to lefty-specialist duties, a role in which he thrives more than any other.
Josh Finkelstein – To me, the biggest need for this team in the off-season is to add a quality innings eater to the rotation. This team rides and dies on their pitching and they need someone they can count on every fifth day. If they can get someone of that caliber it will allow the Mets to fill out the final to spots in the rotation with two of Harvey, Matz, Gsellman, Lugo, and Wheeler. In all honesty, if two of those five are not healthy enough to start then we likely won’t be in contention anyways. Also, this could help improve the bullpen as Gsellman and Lugo specifically could make solid bullpen pieces
John Sheridan – Looking at the Mets roster, we can all bicker about which is the biggest of all the gaping holes. Personally, I’m not looking at a position. Rather, I’m looking at the bench coach. The Mets took a big risk hiring Mickey Callaway as their manager. If you’re going to take a gamble on a young manager with no managerial experience, you have to do everything you can do to make it work. In order to accomplish that, Callaway needs a mentor on the staff who has previously gone through this several times. They should select someone whose strengths match Callaway’s inexperience and weaknesses. If the Mets don’t, they risk this experiment failing thereby creating a dysfunctional situation. You can’t afford for that to happen with the potential for the Mets to contend next year if the pitching is healthy. More than that, you can’t afford for that to happen when your future is Amed Rosario and Dominic Smith. Overall, the Mets have invested in Callaway, Rosario and Smith for now and the future. They need to do what it takes to make that work. That begins with a great bench coach.
Rob Piersall – I think the Mets need a bonafide bat in their lineup more than anything. When you lose players like Jay Bruce, Lucas Duda and Curtis Granderson via trade and Michael Conforto to injury, your team next year is highly lacking in the offense department. Mike Moustakas makes sense in a lot of ways. He can play third and his bat would be a force in the middle of the lineup. However, I expect him to be a little rich for the Mets liking. I think Todd Frazier could be a nice piece for the Mets to snag this offseason if that’s the case. He has some pop in his bat and even more than that, he’s a great clubhouse presence. The Mets need some veteran leadership now that they have one of the youngest squads in baseball. Bringing in someone like Frazier fills a need at third, while also giving Dominic Smith some breathing room at first, where Frazier has spent time in the past. I would also love to see the Mets bring back Jay Bruce, but unfortunately, I don’t know if they drop the money on more than one big offensive player.
