This story was excerpted from Anthony DiComo’s Mets Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
It has been, by any measure, a banner offseason for the Mets, who have done more to augment their roster than any club in baseball. Eight hundred million dollars of spending can accomplish a lot for a franchise, but it cannot guarantee a championship. So as the New Year dawns, it’s worth digging into three questions the Mets must answer if they wish to transform from big spenders into big winners:
1. Is age truly just a number?
On paper, the Mets possess one of baseball’s most formidable rotations. Only when considering the age of New York’s projected starting five — a combined 178 years old, with all five members on the wrong side of 30 — that things begin to seem a bit more tenuous.
The good news is that Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander have proven their ability to thrive at ages when many of their peers are considering retirement; Verlander did just win the Cy Young, after all. But injuries are more likely to happen to older pitchers — that’s a simple fact of life — and every member of the starting five has had his share. Can this group hold up over 162 games? If not, will the depth the Mets have assembled be enough to keep things humming?
2. Will New York’s rebuilt bullpen be elite?
The Mets didn’t have much choice but to re-sign Edwin Díaz to a record five-year, $102 million contract. Had alternatives existed, general manager Billy Eppler may have lingered longer on data that shows the checkered history of such deals. This is an expensive bullpen, with Díaz, David Robertson and Adam Ottavino alone set to make a combined $38.5 million next season — a bit less than the Orioles spent on their entire 2022 payroll. The Mets also brought in a lot of depth, but relievers are fickle.
It would be helpful if a few useful pieces could emerge from the Minors, considering the organization’s trouble producing impact relievers over the past decade. Last season, New York’s bullpen was consistently good. It will need to be so again to provide support for the aging rotation.
3. Are the Mets actually the class of the NL East?
Anecdotally, the club’s $315 million agreement with Carlos Correa (medicals still pending, per source) seemed to leapfrog it over Atlanta and Philadelphia in the minds of many. But the Braves remain the five-time defending NL East champions, and despite their quiet offseason, they haven’t gotten much worse; Ronald Acuña Jr., Austin Riley, Max Fried, Spencer Strider and many others will be back to stand in New York’s way whenever possible. Then there are the Phillies, brimming with confidence following their run to the World Series and the $300 million addition of Trea Turner.
On paper, the Mets are probably better than both of their closest NL East rivals. But they’re not so much better that they’re likely to run away with the division. This should be another fight until the final days of September.
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