2025 started with nothing but optimism. The team had landed the biggest free agent on the market in Juan Soto. They were stocked with talent and even brought back fan favourite Pete Alonzo. The season opened with the Mets playing some of their best baseball in their history, storming out to a 45-25 in the first half of the season. But in the second half, they stumbled, scuffling through July and August but still holding second place on the back of their astonishing number of wins banked in the first half. As of Sept. 8, the Mets owned a four-game lead over the Reds with 19 games remaining for a playoff spot. They had a 92.2% chance to reach the postseason, according to FanGraphs. From there, the Mets went 7-11 to fall out of their chance at the final wildcard, becoming just the third team during the wildcard era to win 45 out of their first 70 games and still miss the playoffs.
The Mets went into the 2026 with plans to make changes and they have been active this year. I reached out to Chris McShane at Amazin’ Avenue to discuss the Mets offseason so far and how their fans view the moves of their Front Office up until now.
The Mets had a heck of an offseason, acquiring Bo Bichette, Devin Williams, Jorge Polanco, Luke Weaver, Marcus Semien, Luis Robert Jr., and Freddy Peralta but parted ways with Pete Alonso, Edwin Díaz, Jeff McNeil, Brandon Nimmo, Brandon Sproat and top prospect Jett Williams. What do fans think of this roller coaster?
The sequence of events over the course of this offseason certainly made it a roller coaster. While the most analytically-inclined Mets fans weren’t really sad to see any of the major departing players go, plenty of Mets fans were. And almost all of the significant additions were made after the four long-tenured major league players you’ve mentioned here were already gone. Surely there’s still a wide range of opinions among fans when it comes to expectations for the 2026 season, but people seem to generally think the team should be at least as good as it was going into the start of the 2025 season.
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Toronto is still smarting about losing Bo, but there’s also a lot of confusion about the Mets paying a premium to slot him into a position he’s never played. Is it purely to bolster the lineup or is there a strategy to switch him to the hot corner?
While I can’t say I’ve seen enough of Bichette at shortstop to have formed any opinions about his work there, the Mets definitely addressed a big need in their lineup by signing him. The transition from short to third base seems like a fairly natural one to make, but the worst case scenario with Bichette—or with Jorge Polanco at first base—is that he spends more time than currently anticipated as the Mets’ designated hitter. In Bichette’s case, if Marcus Semien were to hit the injured list at any point, he could slide over to second base to fill in with Brett Baty playing his natural position at third.
Which players really took the biggest steps forward this year for the club?
Nolan McLean started the 2025 season in Double-A Binghamton and ended it at the major league level looking like a legitimate ace. He might not get the Opening Day start now that Freddy Peralta is in the rotation, but he is the most exciting pitcher on the Mets’ staff heading into this season.
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The Mets have Canadian Jonah Tong knocking on the door for the majors, even if he did have a rough cup of coffee in 2025. Who is most likely to contribute from the farm in 2026 in a meaningful way?
While McLean is technically still a prospect because he threw few enough innings to retain that status, Carson Benge seems like the best answer to the spirit of this question. One of the best prospects in all of baseball, Benge had a fantastic season last year, and the fact that the Mets have thus far kept left field wide open is indicative of their confidence in his ability to win that job and run with it this year.
I’m still very high on Tong, and the struggles he had in his cup of coffee last year don’t really concern me much. Starting rotations rarely go according to plan over the course of a full season, and if an opportunity should arise, Tong will almost certainly get another shot. If that happens relatively early in the season, he could even make a bigger impact than Benge.
Of the remaining FAs, which would fit best for the Mets, even if it’s a bit of a stretch they’d land there?
I’d still love to see the Mets bring Chris Bassitt back, even if they already have a six-man rotation on paper. He’s been one of the best pitchers in the game when it comes to eating innings, and he’s done so pretty effectively over the past three seasons in Toronto. I’m not sure he’ll get back to a sub-3.50 ERA like the one that he had in 2022 with the Mets, but the durability combined with the way he dominated out of the bullpen in the playoffs last year would make me very happy if a reunion were to come about.
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Assuming you could put on the ‘accept all trades’ button, what would an ideal but still realistic target be for you before ST starts?
The cost would be steep, I’m sure, but if the Padres were to deal Mason Miller, it would be pretty great to add him to the Mets’ bullpen. Devin Williams, Luke Weaver, Brooks Raley, and eventually A.J. Minter should make the bullpen pretty good even if the other three or four spots aren’t great. But adding Miller to that mix would give them one of the better bullpens in the sport. Five of the pitchers in the Mets’ current six-man rotation had trouble going much longer than five innings per start last year. Even if that problem isn’t quite as bad this year, bolstering the bullpen with Miller would be a lot of fun.
Thanks Chris!