The Mets no longer view 2024 as a transition season.
Even though David Stearns has continued to preach the organizational mantra of sustained success, the Mets, who signed former Yankee Luis Severino to a one-year, $13 million contract and agreed to terms with utility infielder Joey Wendle both on Wednesday, are actively pursuing both Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shota Imanaga, the two Japanese star free agent pitchers, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post.
“(The Mets) are not messing around,” one baseball executive said on Wednesday, per Sherman. “I don’t think they have the stomach for a year or two to get the ship turned around.”
Following the trade deadline deals of Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander last season, it was widely reported in the national and local media that the Mets would refrain from spending significantly during the 2024 offseason with the intent of building strong playoff-caliber teams for the 2025 season and beyond.
Max Scherzer confirmed that theory in an early-August interview, which he based on a conversation he had with former Mets general manager Billy Eppler prior to his trade to Texas.
But the Mets, with Stearns now in charge, have since modified their plan.
“The priority explained to us was they are going to try to win as many games as possible [in 2024] without impacting the long-term goal of being a sustained championship contender,” said an agent who has communicated with the Mets recently.
Will having a payroll that, conceivably, may reach $400 million this off-season empower Stearns or negate his strength of building teams that achieve sustained annual success with a modest payroll?
“David will adapt to having more choices,” a source close to Stearns said.
The first choice the Mets have made this offseason is not viewing 2024 merely as a transition.
