Shohei Ohtani, a two-way superstar in free agency, makes sense for the Mets because he is set to become baseball’s highest-paid player and the Mets have an owner willing to pay whatever it takes to get him. That’s just what Ohtani should get, by the way.
A better fit has to exist elsewhere today, and not just because he’d be joining a team with essentially the same record as the one he’d be leaving, even if Ohtani may explore the East Coast (and he may, according to some in the know). This is why:
There are two main reasons why the Mets shouldn’t trade for Ohtani: 1) the team needs pitching immediately, and Ohtani won’t be ready to pitch until at least 2024, and possibly even 2025; and 2) the team has multiple holes to fill after its summer fire sale (they might not like that term, but anytime you trade two Hall of Famers, it fits my definition).
Considering Ohtani is perhaps the best player of all time and would turn Mets games into a phenomenon, that short list makes sense. Even though he has ended his season due to an oblique ιnjury, locals believe that Angels fans are still showing up. All his fans want is to catch a glimpse of him.
Ohtani is the man to get the spotlight for the Mets. But if they sign him, how do we know there’s enough money in the budget to address yet another problem? The Angels East would be getting him if they sign him and are unable to sign any other players.
We found out at the last minute that even Steve Cohen had a salary cap. Even we would feel uncomfortable with a multibillionaire losing $300 million annually. He seems content with two hundred million dollars. That’s a relief, for sure.
Cohen is impacted more by on-field defeats. If Cohen’s only goal is to win (which I think it is), then they would be better off sharing the wealth with more people.
Max Scherzer is so confident that the 2024 Mets won’t contend for the World Series that he has agreed to move to Texas (and to spend spring training in dusty Surprise, Arizona, the last place a native of picturesque Jupiter, Florida would want to be). Obviously, I can see why Max made that decision. He picked the one that was a strong competitor this year and appeared to be a safer chance for next year as well.
No one is suggesting I look for a new career or relocate, but I disagree with Scherzer that the Mets have written off 2024. Cohen and Billy Eppler have both said repeatedly that the team plans to be “competitive” in 2019, and while new baseball president David Stearns hasn’t made any public statements or announcements, I have no reason to believe he plans to spend his first year in his dream job for his hometown team tanking, biding time, or anything in between.
They didn’t ask, and I’m not quite comfortable giving orders to someone like Stearns, who produced reliable winners on a shoestring budget. But here’s how I propose to divvy up the cash:
1. Recruit two new starting pitchers
The current rotation includes Kodai Senga, Jose Quintana, and a few more possible starters. Even though the Mets have struggled recently, I haven’t given up on David Peterson, and Tylor Megill has shown flashes of promise.
Fortunately, starting pitching is one area where this market excels. Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Aaron Nola, Jordan Montgomery, Michael Lorenzen, and Eduardo Rodriguez are all possible defections.
The team should hire a large number of relief pitchers.
The Mets need to make some changes to their bullpen. If Edwin Diaz’s knee had held up in the World Baseball Classic, the Mets could have had a better tandem this year (with David Robertson) than they do now (with Josh Hader). They need another lefty at the very least.
Get one star player on board.
TrutҺ be told, they didn’t score enough runs this season. We hammered the pitchers all season long, but they couldn’t Һit for much of the year either. The two options are rather straightforward. Cody Bellinger has more оffensive potential and utility than Matt Chapman, therefore I’d pick him. Bellinger could replace Pete Alonso at first base and play largely in center field, while Brandon Nimmo would excel in left. This leads us to the major point.
Four, re-up with Alonso
This one ought to be self-evident. He was born and raised in the area, gets along well with his teammates (despite what that one guy on TV thinks), and, most importantly, is baseball’s most reliable home run hitter. The arrival of Brewers guru Stearns has further fueled rumors that the team is interested in trading for the slugger, who will be a free agency after 2024. However, a Mets insider vouched, “Pete is a priority.”
How are they going to replace Alonso’s 40 home run production when they couldn’t even identify a true No. 5 hitter to bat behind him? Ohtani is the only player in the league capable of doing that, and we’ve previously covered the reasons they should seek elsewhere.