Credit: Michael McLoone-USA TODAY Sports

Baseball is the quintessential “What have you done for me lately?” business. While none of us will forget how long it took the New York Mets to hire a general manager, or how Noah Syndergaard, Aaron Loup, and Steven Matz all signed elsewhere, it’s a little easier to deal with after this past weekend.

In the span of about eight hours on Friday, the Mets’ roster got much better by signing Eduardo Escobar, Mark Canha, and Starling Marte to multi-year deals. They’re also still sincerely interested in re-signing Javier Báez, as well as hanging out at the top of the free-agent market for starting pitchers.

It seems like it’s happening, folks.

After committing a combined eight years and $124.5 million to Escobar, Canha, and Marte, here are three observations as New York continues to remain active in free agency.

Positional Flexibility

If there’s anything the Mets learned after 2021, it’s they don’t just need significant roster depth to get through a season. They’ll also need some dudes who are comfortable playing multiple positions, if necessary.

New York has accomplished that when talking about its most recent position player acquisitions.

It seems as if Escobar will slot into third base at Citi Field, but that’s not the only place he occupied for a significant period of time last season. He also played 200-plus innings at second base and has appeared in left field and shortstop at times throughout his career.

Canha has racked up significant experience in all three outfield spots, as he’s logged at least 1,000 innings each in left field and center field, with another 761 2/3 in right field.

Marte is primarily a center fielder, playing at least 1,000 innings there four times since 2018, but he also has experience in left field. And then there’s Brandon Nimmo, who gets to slide to a corner outfield spot with Marte joining the party, but showed improvement in center last year and could fill in if needed.

Even if the Mets don’t re-sign Báez, their significant interest in him is just another example of how important versatility is to them right now. None of the three new additions are likely to light defensive metrics on fire during their respective tenures in Queens, but they’re far from being a liability with the glove.

Major Offensive Weaknesses Addressed

In looking at overall 2021 production, New York added 11.1 fWAR to its everyday lineup. However, two glaring areas of weakness in which they needed major help were also addressed.

One constant need the Mets haven’t really been able to figure out in recent years is their collective lack of speed on the bases. Marte gives the squad a major boost in that category on multiple fronts.

Marte posted a 12.3 BsR last season (FanGraphs’ baserunning metric), which was the best in baseball. As a team, the Mets ranked fourth-worst in the league with a -13.5 mark.

There was also a power outage throughout most of the Mets’ lineup last year. They hit 176 homers as a club, which was sixth-worst in baseball. On an individual player basis, only Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor hit 20-plus dingers for New York.

Here’s how Escobar has produced in his last three full seasons:

Canha has eclipsed the 20-homer plateau just once so far in his career (26 in 2019) but has also hit 17 dingers twice in recent years (2018 and 2021).

One thing they all have in common? They don’t strike out a ton. Escobar’s career strikeout rate is sitting at 19.6%, Marte is at 20.0%, and Canha is at 22.0%. The Mets’ team strikeout rate of 23.8% was the league’s 11th-highest mark in 2021.

Placing Premium on Starting Pitching

We know the Mets can spend a lot of money. We also know that team owner Steve Cohen would like to do that, too. These recent signings — and the club’s legitimate interest in bringing Báez back — show that the Mets are placing a premium on starting pitching.

By showing legitimate interest in Max Scherzer, Kevin Gausman, Robbie Ray, and Marcus Stroman (although that last one doesn’t seem like it’ll happen at this point), the Mets have signaled that they’re prepared to spend a pretty penny on multiple starters. And in some cases, also surrender a draft pick as part of getting any potential deal done.

This is not just smoke and mirrors, either. Reports recently surfaced that the Mets were making a strong push for Scherzer over the weekend, and MMO’s Mike Mayer reported that New York was viewed as a finalist for Gausman before he agreed to a five-year deal with the Toronto Blue Jays.

After feeling frustrated and watching the Mets get denied left and right — by both players and executives — to start the offseason, it’s great to see them wheel and deal before the current Collective Bargaining Agreement expires this week. While it’s not an ideal situation, it looks like free agents aren’t shying away from New York because the organization hasn’t hired a manager yet.

They should probably get on that soon, though.