Inside view of Mets’ transformation into free-agency behemoth
On the star-studded roster the Mets will trot out for Opening Day on March 30 in Miami, there is no one better suited to understand just how far things have come for this franchise than Brandon Nimmo.
Now the Mets’ longest-tenured player, Nimmo entered the organization in the summer of 2011. The next offseason, the Mets spent $17.8 million combined on free agents Frank Francisco, Jon Rauch, Ronny Cedeno and Scott Hairston, lost Jose Reyes to the Marlins and lowered their payroll by $50 million.
Five years later was the offseason after Nimmo made his big league debut and the Mets lost in the NL wild-card game. Their big splash was re-signing Yoenis Cespedes on a four-year, $110 million deal — the second-largest free-agent deal in franchise history at the time — while also bringing back Neil Walker, Jerry Blevins and Fernando Salas.
Now? The Mets are living in a completely different world.
Nimmo’s eight-year, $162 million deal is part of Steve Cohen’s offseason spending spree that has reached $807.16 million on 10 free agents, with Carlos Correa’s 12-year, $315 million agreement on Wednesday becoming just the latest nine-figure expenditure.
“It’s been eye-opening,” Nimmo said last week, and that was still when the Mets thought they had missed out on Correa to the Giants. ‘It’s been crazy and a little bit surreal to go through.”
Nimmo said the Cohen-led transformation has gone beyond just signing top free agents, also including improvements to the club’s sports science staff, analytics staff and plenty of resources elsewhere for players to lean on.
“It’s been really quite a change,” he said.
Of course, improving those often-underlooked departments also can help draw players to Queens. But at the end of the day, Cohen’s money talks. And prime free agents and their agents — such as Scott Boras, who represents Nimmo and Correa — are now talking back.
“It’s pretty easy to get somebody to answer a call from us,” manager Buck Showalter said. “It might not have been that way before.”
Take Boras, one of the most powerful influences in the game. The Mets made an 11th-hour push to sign Correa last week, but Boras was already far enough down the road with the Giants. Then, when the deal hit a snag on Tuesday because of a discrepancy with his physical exam, Boras — who recently referred to Cohen as “Steve Kong” — came back to Cohen, who was having dinner and a martini on vacation in Hawaii.
“Do you have three olives for a great third baseman?” Boras asked Cohen.
Hours later, they had reached an agreement.
And with it, the target on the Mets’ backs, the expectations surrounding them and their payroll all grew in one fell swoop.
To be sure, winning the offseason does not guarantee any success once the season rolls around. Was anybody hailing the Red Sox, Nationals, Dodgers, Braves and Astros for winning the past five offseasons, respectively? They all went on to win the World Series.
And in an ideal world, Cohen wouldn’t have to spend $800 million-plus in a single offseason. But the Mets had 13 free agents from last season’s 40-man roster, which meant either re-signing or replacing them at a time when the organization lacked talent at the top levels of its farm system while also trying to put another legitimate title-contending team on the field in 2023.
So Cohen spent. And spent again and spent a few times more, with his serious commitment to winning not going unnoticed by the players in his organization — especially those who have been around for a while.
“I’m very proud to be a part of this organization,” Nimmo said. “Steve and Alex [Cohen] have made it very clear that they’ll do whatever it takes in order for this organization to become a winning organization on a regular basis and ultimately to win the World Series.”
Lineup luxuries
Showalter’s job just got even more fun — he gets to write out a juggernaut of a lineup for 162 games next year.
When healthy in 2022, the Mets had a fairly consistent top four in their batting order of Nimmo, Starling Marte, Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso. The bottom of the order typically was filled out in the second half by some combination of Daniel Vogelbach, Jeff McNeil, Mark Canha, Eduardo Escobar and a catcher.
Now where does Correa fit in?
The last time Lindor and Correa played on the same team, for Puerto Rico in the 2017 World Baseball Classic, Lindor hit second and Correa hit third. That could be the right order again for the Mets in 2023, though Showalter could flip them to make sure the right-handed Correa and Alonso aren’t back-to-back and slot the switch-hitting Lindor in between them in the 3-hole. That would look like:
1. CF Nimmo (L)
2. 3B Correa (R)
3. SS Lindor (S)
4. 1B Alonso (R)
5. 2B McNeil (L)
6. RF Marte (R)
7. DH Vogelbach (L)
8. LF Canha (R)
9. C Narvaez (L)
That’s a strong and balanced lineup, with Eduardo Escobar (or another right-handed bat, if Escobar is traded) and Tomas Nido replacing Vogelbach and Narvaez, respectively, against left-handers.
FanGraphs projects the Mets’ lineup to accumulate 34.4 WAR, which trails only the Padres (35.9).
Where do Baty and Mauricio fit in?
The addition of Correa brings into question the Mets future of two promising infield prospects in Brett Baty and Ronny Mauricio.
Baty, 23, got a cup of coffee last season at third base and had his moments before tearing a ligament in his thumb, an injury that required surgery and ended his season early. Now his path to third base is set to be blocked by Correa for the next 12 years.
Over the past two seasons in the minors, Baty had started to play some left field, which could be an option for him moving forward as a way to get at-bats with the Mets (in addition to DH at-bats). But perhaps more likely is becoming trade bait.
The 21-year-old Mauricio is coming off winning MVP of the Dominican Winter League after hitting .287 with a .803 OPS, five home runs and 10 steals in 41 games for Tigres del Licey. After spending all of his 2022 regular season at shortstop for Double-A Binghamton — he has played exclusively at shortstop or DH while in the Mets organization — it was notable that Mauricio played nine games at third base this winter.
It has been presumed Mauricio would have to move off shortstop to play with the Mets because Francisco Lindor is entrenched there for the next nine years. But now third base would appear to be no longer an option either, putting Mauricio in a similar predicament as Baty.
There is no need for GM Billy Eppler to rush to trade either prospect. Injuries are inevitable, and having Baty and/or Mauricio as depth options is a luxury. Of course, they could also become more attractive trade chips by the 2023 trade deadline, especially if one Shohei Ohtani proves to be available.
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