As the Mets continue to assemble a roster they hope will be able to compete for a World Series title in 2025, with the idea being to create a sustainable winner that can contend yearly, the Dodgers continue to put together a team that looks more like one that would play in an All-Star Game or the World Baseball Classic.
For the Mets and their fans (and the fans of any of the other teams trying to actually compete in the near-term), what Los Angeles is doing has to be some combination of demoralizing, maddening, and hard-to-believe.
Following their signing of ace left-hander Blake Snell to a five-year deal in November, the Dodgers — in order — signed outfielder Michael Conforto, re-signed reliever Blake Treinen, re-signed outfielder Teoscar Hernandez, signed KBO second baseman Hyeseong Kim, and had superstar Japanese right-hander Roki Sasaki agree to sign with them.
Los Angeles landing Sasaki, which came at the conclusion of what now seems like a pointless dog and pony show where Sasaki met with lots of other interested teams (including the Mets), felt like the exclamation point on an absurd offseason.
Nope.
The Dodgers agreed to a deal with Tanner Scott — the best reliever on the market — over the weekend.
Then on Tuesday came reports that they were close to signing Kirby Yates, an elite right-handed reliever whose addition is superfluous.
Meanwhile, it has been reported that both Hernandez and Scott took less money to go to Los Angeles than they were offered elsewhere.
The Dodgers, who will enter the season with a CBT payroll approaching $400 million (before luxury tax penalties are applied), are an absolute behemoth with five aces in their starting rotation, three MVPs in their starting lineup, a hilariously loaded bullpen, and roughly $200 million already committed to their payroll for 2028.
And while they’re playing by the rules, the Dodgers’ ridiculously deferred deal to Shohei Ohtani, their grip on the Japanese market, and their overall gluttony has to be driving other teams mad.
For the Mets specifically, what should the plan be?
The first thing, which I’m sure is not a concern with David Stearns in charge, is to not do anything rash.
While the juxtaposition of the Dodgers doing all of the above while the Mets hold the line on Pete Alonso is suboptimal optically, there is simply nothing the Mets (or any other team) can do this offseason to get anywhere close to the talent level of the Dodgers.
A historic spending spree won’t close the gap, even if that spree ran concurrent with the Mets trading tons of prospects for other big additions.
Can it be viewed as frustrating that the Mets are playing hardball with Alonso over $10 million or $20 million while the Dodgers act like they’re using Monopoly money? Of course.
At the same time, the Mets — who gave Juan Soto the biggest deal in sports history earlier this offseason — aren’t refusing to offer Alonso more right now because they don’t want to spend. They’re refusing to offer more because they’re done bidding against themselves and believe their offer is fair (spoiler alert: it is fair).
You don’t make a bad business deal just because you can easily absorb it, as Steve Cohen obviously can.
Is it understandably irksome to many Mets fans that the team never made a serious play for Snell, Corbin Burnes, or Max Fried, instead deciding to spend their rotation dollars on Sean Manaea, Clay Holmes, and Frankie Montas? Of course. But Stearns’ philosophy of not handing out megadeals to pitchers older than 30 is a sound one. And he deserves the benefit of the doubt after building the Mets’ strong 2024 rotation.
Here’s what it boils down to, though…
The Mets need serious reinforcements for their roster right now regardless of what the Dodgers have done.
Nothing the Mets do between now and Opening Day should be in response to Los Angeles, and they should absolutely not abandon their long-term plan by trying to go dollar-for-dollar with them. But New York’s roster is very much incomplete.
Specifically, while the Mets certainly could enter the season with Mark Vientos at first base and one of Brett Baty, Ronny Mauricio, or Luisangel Acuña at third base, that would arguably be a shortsighted move that leaves their lineup precariously thin.
Until that actually happens, though, I’ll believe it when I see it.
The Mets are clearly still star-hunting, as evidenced by their interest in Blue Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero, Jr., as SNY MLB Insider Andy Martino recently reported. And while Guerrero might not be obtainable via trade at the moment, he’s the kind of player (25 years old, pending free agent) who will very much interest New York if he hits the open market.
Meanwhile, the aforementioned Alonso — despite the Mets’ current position regarding negotiations — remains without a clear market as New York remains without a big bat to help protect Soto in their lineup. A reunion still makes tons of sense.
Beyond that, the Mets should be looking to add an established arm or two to their bullpen and should be exploring what it might take to pry someone like Dylan Cease from the Padres.
Their pivot while the Alonso negotiations are at the very least on hold can’t be just Jesse Winker and A.J. Minter. More is needed, whether Alonso is ultimately part of that or not.
It also needs to be noted that the Dodgers got to where they are — highly desirable destination, loaded farm system, elite roster — by, at first, building their team in a methodical and selectively aggressive way, which is exactly what the Mets are doing at the moment.
It should also be pointed out that the Dodgers aren’t unbeatable, especially in a playoff series. More often than not, it is not the most loaded team that wins it all. And the Mets don’t need to topple the Dodgers to reach the playoffs.
But the Mets are an unfinished product for 2025. Regardless of the Dodgers’ exploits, that has to be addressed — in a smart way.
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