David Stearns spoke with the media Monday at the Winter Meetings in Dallas, a day after his team reportedly signed Juan Soto to the largest contract in professional sports history. However, with the club not ready to confirm the contract, attention turned to what the Mets might do next.
The Polar Bear
Stearns was asked if there is room in the budget to bring back free agent first baseman Pete Alonso. The Mets’ president of baseball operations confirmed they would ‘love’ to have Pete back and made it clear there would be no financial restraints.
“I think our ownership has consistently demonstrated that there’s going to be resources when we need them,” Stearns said, “There is the ability for us to make baseball moves when we think that they are there to improve the team.”
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On Vientos and Baty
The conventional wisdom has been that if the Mets don’t bring back Alonso, Mark Vientos could shift to first base, and someone could replace Vientos at third base. However, Stearns said that his current outlook is the status quo.
“Mark did a tremendous job for us at third,” Stearns said, “We’re very comfortable with him there, and certainly, as of now, we see him as our third baseman.”
While Vientos certainly made strides at the hot corner, the 24-year-old still graded poorly, with a negative seven OAA in 2024 (the sixth percentile in fielding range). And with the long-term signing of Soto, there could be an eventual logjam at first if the team decides to move Soto there or keep him as a designated hitter.
When asked about Brett Baty, Stearns commented the former first round pick “did a great job creating some positional versatility for himself. We feel comfortable with him at second base. I think he has the ability to flex into the outfield if we need him to do that.”
Pitching, Pitching, Pitching
The Mets handed out major league deals to Frankie Montas and Clay Holmes earlier this offseason, needing to replace innings in the starting rotation pitched by Luis Severino, Sean Manaea and José Quintana. While the Mets may sign another major league free agent starting pitcher, that isn’t necessarily guaranteed.
“I think we have room for that. I don’t think it’s a necessity,” Stearns said, “We’re going to continue to evaluate the market, where we see an opportunity to bring in players that we think are going to make us better, we’re certainly going to pursue that.”
But whether it’s through free agency or trade, pitchers or position players, Stearns still acknowledges plenty of work remains.
“We’ve got a lot of conversations ongoing,” Stearns said, “I think this has the potential to be for the industry a pretty active Winter Meetings, and that’s a good thing.”
No matter what happens in the next three days, Juan Soto will still be the headline. However, it remains to be seen who will join the newest Met in Queens.
