Stability at GM Will Help Mets Prepare for Offseason

Amidst reports the Mets may seek out a president of baseball operations this offseason, they can rest their laurels on the fact they at least have someone leading baseball decisions as the offseason starts.

Billy Eppler, hired last November, will lead the team in their most crucial offseason in years. The 101-win squad finished their 2022 campaign on as disappointing of a note as any Mets team since 2007. But it’s not like 2023 is without some guarantees.

Francisco Lindor, Jeff McNeil and Pete Alonso, three of the team’s top four position players, will lead the lineup. Starling Marte, Mark Canha and Eduardo Escobar, seasoned 34-year-olds come 2023, will continue to provide the Mets with a level of professionalism, consistency and above-average offense. Max Scherzer will still have one green eye and one blue eye, and he’ll have a healed oblique/lat as he heads into his age-39 season.

The team will have plenty of holes now, too, though. Brandon Nimmo, one of the best center fielders in baseball, is a free agent, as is Jacob deGrom, firmly the second-best pitcher the Mets have ever employed. Chris Bassitt and Taijuan Walker, who combined for 239 innings this season, both have options but are likely to become free agents.

The Mets spent valuable weeks of the last two offseasons searching for a leader of baseball decisions. They fell short of nabbing their top choices in 2020, leading Sandy Alderson to kick-start moves that year. He gave James McCann $42 million. Once he passed the responsibilities to Jared Porter, the team traded for Francisco Lindor and signed Taijuan Walker. Porter and his successor, Zack Scott, were both fired for various offenses by the end of the season.

In 2021, Alderson was once again in charge until he settled on Billy Eppler, whose first call went to Scott Boras to ask about Max Scherzer‘s interest in joining the team. Eppler had a whirlwind first couple of weeks until the owners implemented a lockout.

But it’s vital to have a system in place as the offseason starts, not six weeks into it. It’s been three years since the Mets ended a season knowing who their general manager would be for the offseason. Now, they’ll have some level of consistency.

Consistency should get you a jump start on contract negotiations with your own free agents. While these talks could’ve happened during the season, Eppler & Co. can use most of the next four weeks before they can talk to other free agents to start talking about deals with their own. DeGrom and Nimmo have both talked openly about testing the free-agent waters, but they’ve also expressed interest in returning to the Mets. You can still get a feel for what kind of deals they’re looking for.

Players like Trevor May, Walker, Trevor Williams, Seth Lugo and Adam Ottavino are all free agents. The Mets could use them next year, and they–combined–might not cost what one Edwin Díaz might. Will the Mets keep every player from their 2022 squad? No. But a settled front office should take the lead in negotiations with players they want to keep.

Consistency also gets you familiarity with the farm system. This offseason, a new front office executive won’t come in and trade Top 5 prospects in the first six months for aging veterans and rentals. There will at least be some familiarity with what’s being dealt, should there be a move. (If there is any exception this offseason, it’d be perfectly reasonable to trade the farm for Shohei Ohtani.)

And, probably most importantly here, consistency allows you to plan. Who on the free agent market are you going to call the second you’re allowed? Who do you think you can scoop up on a cheap MLB deal before the rest of the market takes notice? What general managers are you going to call to lay seeds for trades? You can do this when you’re not spending the first month of the offseason trying to find someone who will develop that plan.

Whether the Mets hire a president of baseball ops or not, there are a couple of no-brainers the Mets need to do before league-wide free agency begins. Lay out a first offer to deGrom’s agent. Does he want four guaranteed years? Does he want another option to opt-out after a couple of years? Assuming Chris Bassitt will decline his $19 million mutual option, call his agent again and see if you can work out another agreement. Make sure Scott Boras knows you’ll need a final offer on whatever contract Nimmo is offered. Get your Ohtani package ready. They’ll be able to do this with Eppler at the helm on Day 1 of the offseason.

The end of the 2022 season was wildly disappointing. But the reason it was so exciting to start with was the moves they made once they established a front office last year. They need to build on that over the next six months.

This offseason, Lord willing, won’t be filled with up-and-coming executives declining to interview with the Mets. All the focus will be on making improvements for 2023. That needs to start yesterday.