The Mets Are Closer To The Playoffs Than You May Realize

Gordon Donovan. Shutterstock Images.

Disclaimer Number One: I am a biased Mets fan. If you are expecting capital-J Journalism, you've come to the wrong blog. 

Disclaimer Number Two: I thought the Mets would go 101-61 last season. They went 75-87. Frank was right.

Now that's out of the way, I do sincerely think the Mets are not as far away from the playoffs as it may feel after the disaster that was last season. They have made a lot of minor moves since the season ended…but nothing anyone can call truly impactful. It's been a ton of depth pieces. 

Signing or trading for players like Luis Severino, Adrian Houser, Harrison Bader, Joey Wendle and Jorge Lopez won't get anyone excited. Neither will the biggest free agent signing they've made this off-season with Sean Manaea. If you are a casual baseball fan, you might not even recognize most of those names. But they do make the team better than they were when the season ended. 

I'm not completely insane. I know the Mets have no chance passing the Braves for the NL East this season. That leaves the Wild Card and you know what? They aren't going to get past the Phillies or Diamondbacks either. But that does leave one spot open and that race is pretty open.

The Marlins were a Wild Card team last year and they are clearly worse losing Sandy Alcantara due to injury and Jorge Soler is a free agent. The Cubs still haven't replaced Cody Bellinger. They are worse than they were last season too. The Brewers won their division and due to injury and trades will have trouble avoiding 90 losses next year. The Padres are worse too. The only team that has gotten better from this group is the Reds by adding pitching help along with Jeimer Candelario. But the point remains that the last NL Wild Card spot is maybe not as tough as it should be.

Gordon Donovan. Shutterstock Images.

The Mets still need a DH and a third baseman. I'd love to see them sign Jorge Soler and Gio Urshela. Soler instantly provides another power bat to help protect Pete Alonso in the lineup. It's wild that Soler hasn't gotten more attention this off-season. He hit 36 home runs last season for the Marlins and that's playing in a pitchers park. He hit 20 home runs on the road last year!

Urshela is not a flashy name so he'd fit in perfectly with the Mets seem to be doing this off-season. He's 32 years old but he's had strong seasons in 2019-20 and 2022. Even last year, he was a good contact hitter before he got hurt. You can't go into the season banking on Brett Baty at third base penciled in for 150 games. Marty Mush showed me more taking batting practice against the Savannah Bananas than I've ever seen out of Baty.

Before you think I'm too crazy, remember we are getting this guy back too. It sucked losing Edwin Diaz last year but at least it wasn't an arm injury. I have total confidence he'll come back the same guy we saw in 2022. Putting him at the end of the games will make this team and bullpen so much better.

I know Yankee toads like Tommy Smokes and Hubbs will read this and laugh. They'll chirp incorrectly about how Steve Cohen isn't spending money. He did spend money. Billy Eppler spent it on the wrong guys and because the Mets chose to get top shelf prospects back, they are also paying guys like Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander in 2024 as well. It's a shitty situation for sure but this isn't on Cohen. He still wanted to spend on Yamamoto. 

That's why I think the money is still there to add pieces like Soler and Urshela. This team isn't as far away as it may feel. The Mets still have Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo, Francisco Alverez and Kodai Senga. Mix in Edwin Diaz and the depth pieces they added and this could be a good team next year.  Add in a power hitter like Soler and it will be.

The Diamondbacks proved if you can just get to the playoffs, great things can happen. That should be the Mets focus.