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Mets owner Steve Cohen (Rob Cuni/AMNY)
After he was traded to the Texas Rangers, Max Scherzer said that Mets general manager Billy Eppler and owner Steve Cohen said that they were not going to go after “upper-echelon guys,” in free agency this winter — which prompted the future Hall-of-Famer to waive his no-trade clause.
Cohen himself confirmed that — at least most of it — when speaking down in Kansas City on Wednesday night.
“Max asked me straight: ‘Are you going to be all-in on free agency next year?’” Cohen recounted. “And I couldn’t give him that promise. It doesn’t mean we’re not going to bring in free agents. It may not be to the extent that we did in the past because I’m carrying a lot of dead money.”
As it currently stands, the Mets are slated to have roughly $204 million in contracts on the books and a $219 million competitive balance tax figure, per Roster Resource — and that’s before arbitration salaries are settled. Pete Alonso, the most glaring of those deals, is under team control for one more year through arbitration and will likely be making more than the $14.5 million that was settled on in 2023.
By Cohen’s comments, it certainly seems like a pursuit of Los Angeles Angels superstar Shohei Ohtani will be non-existent, but he and Eppler will have no other choice than to make significant moves in free agency.
Their starting rotation is remarkably thin after dealing way Scherzer and Verlander. By 2024, the only arms under team control with legitimate MLB experience are Kodai Senga, Jose Quintana, David Peterson, Tylor Megill, and Joey Lucchesi.
The free-agent market is teeming with arms to fill those gaps. Notable free agents that could add something to the top of the rotation include Blake Snell, Lucas Giolito, Julio Urias, Sonny Gray, and Aaron Nola. Perhaps they will make a run at one of…
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