Redoing the Mets’ 2023-24 offseason, while maintaining future payroll flexibility

Now that Grapefruit League games have started, it seems unlikely that the Mets will make a move to add to the 2024 Opening Day roster. Sure, J.D. Martinez is still out there and the loss of Kodai Senga might make a SP more attractive. But David Stearns doesn’t seem inclined to spend any more on [...]

Why we want Jeff McNeil to pull the ball in the air to the outfield

There were several articles written last year discussing Jeff McNeil's results when pulling the ball. If you don’t want to click on the links, the main takeaway is that the shift didn’t affect McNeil as much as conventional wisdom would have you believe, at least from a raw number of balls hit to the pull [...]

Liam Hendriks could make sense as an in-season target

There has been a lot of chatter recently about the prospect of Brandon Woodruff signing with a team this offseason for a two-year deal, with the aim of spending the 2024 season rehabbing from his anterior capsule injury and making his return to the mound in 2025. Why wouldn’t there be? He’s been a terrific [...]

Does the spring training won-loss record mean anything?

Spring training is upon us, and barring any last minute additions, the Mets 26 player roster is starting to take shape. Once again, we approach the upcoming season with high hopes and low expectations. No one would have predicted a 101 win season back in 2022 but the Mets got there on the backs of [...]

How playoff teams do in wins amassed by starters and relievers

In 1987, Nolan Ryan won two legs of the pitchers’ triple crown, as he led the NL in both ERA (2.76) and strikeouts (270) – which helped him to a 6.4 fWAR, the top mark in the league. Yet, Ryan posted a W-L record of 8-16, which seems unfathomable. But it’s just one of many [...]

Sound the trumpets: Edwin Diaz has returned

You may have heard about a football game coming up tomorrow, some minor affair involving teams from Kansas City and San Francisco. Besides the promised sideshow of the current hottest pop star on the planet cheering on her boyfriend and the attendant political theatre that has come along with it, this other-sport replay of the [...]

The Mets’ good and bad luck the past two years and how that needs to play out in 2024

It’s often been said that everything went right for the Mets in 2022 and that virtually nothing did in 2023. But everything going right just doesn’t happen in MLB, not even for a perennially lucky team like the Braves. As exasperating as it is to watch good fortune happen consistently for that franchise, no one [...]

Steve Cohen and his plan to rebuild in New York

At this point it should be obvious to everyone that the Mets are trying to thread the needle with their moves this offseason. They’re trying to assemble a team capable of making the playoffs this year, while maintaining payroll flexibility for the future. My opinion is that the flexibility is for 2026. With the additions [...]