It bears repeating that the MLB offseason is still in its early stages, the Mets are far from a finished product, and there are plenty of moves to be made by president of baseball operations David Stearns.
That was true after Edwin Diaz and Pete Alonso signed elsewhere this week, and it remains the case now.
But what’s less clear is where the Mets go from here in a market where many of the top available players aren’t exactly obvious fits.
“I’m very optimistic about where our offseason is headed,” Stearns said Tuesday, in between the exits of Diaz and Alonso. “We’ve got, certainly, work to do, but there are a lot of good players out there and I am confident that we’re really going to like where our team is once we get to Opening Day.”
As it stands now, the Mets have holes at first base, left field and center field.
They lack right-handed protection behind the lefty-swinging Juan Soto after the loss of Alonso, who signed a five-year, $155 million deal with the Baltimore Orioles.
And the Mets are still in search of the type of No. 1 starter that eluded them last season.
Stearns identified run prevention — the amalgam of pitching and defense — as the Mets’ priority. But they have more than 60 home runs and 200 RBI to account for without Alonso (38 homers, 126 RBI) and Brandon Nimmo (25 homers, 92 RBI), whom they traded to the Texas Rangers.
Behind deep-pocketed owner Steve Cohen, the Mets have the ability to spend on any free agent. And as evidenced by the Nimmo deal, which brought back Gold Glove second baseman Marcus Semien, Stearns is willing to trade players from the major-league roster to fill needs.
So who are the Mets’ options?
Kyle Tucker is the top free agent and perhaps the only one who could come close to replacing Alonso’s prodigious production.
But Tucker, a four-time All-Star, has played exclusively right field since 2022, and the Mets already have Soto there.
The lefty-hitting Tucker is expected to exceed a contract worth $400 million over 10+ years. Signing him would mean a $90+ million annual commitment to two corner outfielders in Soto and Tucker.
And Tucker, who turns 29 next month, has declined defensively in recent seasons. He, like Soto, is probably destined for DH duty at some point in the coming years.
Perhaps a better fit is San Diego Padres right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr., who is entering his age 27 season and athletic enough to move to left field.
In this market, Tatis is bargain with nine years, $268 million left on his contract, and he bats right-handed, which would complement Soto.
But Padres general manager A.J. Preller shot down trade speculation, saying San Diego intends to keep Tatis even as the Seidler family explores selling the team.
“If you want to say that’s untouchable, you can say that,” Preller said this week.
That leaves Cody Bellinger, whose stellar outfield defense and ability to play first base make him a fit for the Mets’ run-prevention mission.
But Bellinger has numerous suitors, including the incumbent Yankees, whose stadium is tailor-made for the 30-year-old’s left-handed swing.
Bellinger, who just hit 29 homers with 97 RBI, would be an upgrade over Nimmo. But the Mets would still need to add another right-handed bat, unless they plan to protect Soto with Marcus Semien, 35, who batted .230 with a .669 OPS last season in his second consecutive year of offensive decline.
The top remaining free-agent first baseman is Ryan O’Hearn, another lefty batter who graded above average defensively last season with the Orioles and Padres.
O’Hearn also hit .281 with 17 homers as a first-time All-Star, but he turns 33 in July.
Righty-swinging options include Paul Goldschmidt, 38, who is a free agent, and St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Willson Contreras, 33, who is a trade candidate.
While O’Hearn, Goldschmidt and Contreras would all be defensive upgrades and relatively cost-effective, none is close to the hitter that Alonso is – and all three are older than him.
There is likely no one-for-one replacement for Alonso’s bat. Upgrading multiple positions — be it on offense, defense or both — could make the Mets a more well-rounded club.
One area with plenty of room to improve is the rotation, as Mets starters averaged just 4.9 innings per start last season and pitched to a 5.27 ERA from June 13 on.
An innings-eating ace would take pressure off the rest of the rotation and the bullpen, too, but the Mets have been reluctant to make long-term commitments to starting pitchers since Stearns took over — a philosophy that followed him from Milwaukee.
Dylan Cease set the market with a seven-year, $210 million contract with the Toronto Blue Jays, and 32-year-old Framber Valdez appears poised for a lengthy contract, too.
The next tier of free-agent starters includes Michael King, who is brimming with upside but has dealt with injuries, including a thoracic nerve issue in his right shoulder in 2025.
While trading for back-to-back AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal — whom Detroit president of baseball operations Scott Harris indicated isn’t untouchable — would immediately transform the Mets, it would cost a tremendous prospect haul.
And Skubal, a Scott Boras client, is due for free agency next winter and should command a historic contract.
Then there’s the bullpen, where the Mets have replaced Diaz with Devin Williams at closer.
Williams, a two-time NL Reliever of the Year with Milwaukee, posted a career-high 4.79 ERA with the Yankees last season, but underlying metrics provide hope for a bounce-back.
But even if Williams returns to elite form, his signing would mark a lateral move, as Diaz was arguably baseball’s best closer in 2025.
The rest of the bullpen remains a work in progress, too, with left-handers A.J. Minter and Brooks Raley the only other clear contributors under contract.
The Mets missed out on All-Star right-hander Robert Suarez — who reached a three-year, $45 million contract with the Atlanta Braves — and may now need to shop in the Pete Fairbanks/Luke Weaver/Tyler Rogers range to fill out their bullpen.
Again, there are more than three months remaining before Opening Day, and the Mets will look much different by then.
But would an offseason in which they lost Alonso, Diaz and Nimmo but added Semien, Williams and, say, Bellinger, King, Contreras and Fairbanks give the Mets a better chance to compete in 2026 after this year’s 83-79 finish?
That’s up to Stearns to decide.
“Our resources that we have here are an enormous advantage,” Stearns said, referring to Cohen’s willingness to spend. “As long as we allocate those resources intelligently, they’re going to continue to be an enormous advantage.”
