Bill Madden: Other than Juan Soto, Mets have done little to improve roster

Bill Madden, New York Daily News on Jan 26, 2025

Published in Baseball

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NEW YORK — The deep freeze enveloping New York is symbolic of what’s going on between the Mets and Scott Boras over Pete Alonso, and it really is quite amazing how the euphoria over their$765 million Juan Soto deal has dissipated so much in just six weeks: Boras is scrambling mightily to find deals remotely close to his initial asking prices for Alonso — and his other high profile client Alex Bregman — and the Mets do not appear to be noticeably improved over last year despite the addition of Soto.

By now you have to wonder if Alonso is having serious misgivings about hiring Boras as his agent back in October 2023. He should’ve known even then that, come the end of the 2024 season, Boras’ top priority was going to be Soto and reaping the highest contract in baseball history. But in the case of Soto, Boras had the perfect storm for any agent — a 25-year-old talent with four of the richest teams in baseball all bidding for him right to the end. The key to getting a multi-year megabucks deal for an agent is to have two or more suitors engaging in a bidding war, and in the case of the 30-year-old Alonso — who Boras originally opined was a worthy first base comp to Freddie Freeman’s six-years, $162 million with the Dodgers — that hasn’t happened.

The Mets’ three-year offer in the $70 million range to Alonso has been out there for a couple of weeks now and nobody has stepped up to top it — or at least certainly not significantly enough to Alonso’s satisfaction. Alonso has made it pretty clear he wants to remain a Met but by steadfastly holding firm on their three-year offer, Mets GM David Stearns has likewise made it clear they are ready to move on without him. Boras may be riding high on his Soto deal, but he has so far failed Alonso and Bregman, who he promised a $200 million deal and rejected a seemingly very fair six-year, $156 million offer from the Astros, who don’t usually engage in the high stakes free agent market to retain their players.

Recently, Boras floated to his media acolytes the Blue Jays as a late entry for Alonso. A high placed source with the Blue Jays confirmed to me there is interest there in Alonso but that their top priority remains locking up Vlad Guerrero Jr. long term, which they hope will happen before the start of spring training. The source was also skeptical about the Blue Jays going beyond three years for Alonso.

What’s somewhat perplexing in all this is that after signing Soto, the Mets have done little to improve the roster around him — especially if they part ways with Alonso. With the Yankees, Soto enjoyed one of his best seasons last year, but also had Aaron Judge hitting behind him. If not Alonso, who’s going to hit behind him with the Mets? Was that subject brought up by him with Steve Cohen?

Apparently, the plan is to move Mark Vientos to first base, opening another hole at third base to be filled with any combination of Brett Baty, Ronny Mauricio or Luisangel Acuna. But what about Jose Iglesias, who was arguably one of the three most valuable players on the Mets last year along with Francisco Lindor and Brandon Nimmo, both for his versatility and clubhouse leadership?

Somewhat surprisingly the Mets seem content to also part ways with the popular 35-year-old Iglesias who, despite hitting .337 during the regular season, wore down in the playoffs, prompting the Mets brain trust to conclude he doesn’t have much left. Still, there’s no underestimating the value of clubhouse chemistry, which he was a big part of last year.

Meanwhile, after the 15-year, $765 million spurge on Soto, Stearns has been content to dole out only short term contracts to fill the Mets needs: Jose Quintana and Luis Severino have been replaced in the starting rotation by Clay Holmes and Frankie Montas — on the surface hardly an upgrade. Harrison Bader was replaced in center field with the trade for Jose Siri from Tampa Bay and while Siri has more power (43 homers in the last two years), it was accompanied by 170 strikeouts last season and 130 the season before. There are also questions about Siri’s makeup, which was a factor in the Rays unloading him.

Stearns also has taken a very conservative approach to upgrading the Mets bullpen — taking a pass or being out-bid for all the top flight free agent relievers — Jeff Hoffman, Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates — despite their major need being a high leverage set-up man for Edwin Diaz. He did fill a long-time Mets void for a top quality lefty reliever with the signing of A.J. Minter, who’s coming off hip surgery, for two years, $22 million last week, but as of now it’s looking like any real upgrades to the Mets bullpen may have to be a surprise from within.

For a team that last month was taking bows for landing the premier free agent of the offseason, the Mets still look to be the third best team in their own division.

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