Three takeaways from the Mets at the Winter Meetings and 'Juan Soto Week'

For the Mets, the annual main event of the offseason (the Winter Meetings) yielded an even bigger attraction immediately upon their return to New York (the introduction of Juan Soto). Even though it’s just one week amid a long, eventful winter, it provided plenty of insight into what the 2025 Mets will look like and how the front office plans to get there.

Here are three takeaways from what can comfortably be called Juan Soto Week:

1. The Mets should re-sign Pete Alonso.

In a relatively benign question-and-answer session Thursday, this quote from Soto stuck out: “My personal lineup is really nice. I think we have one of the best leadoff hitters in the game. I feel like we can even fill [out] a little bit more. But definitely feels really good so far."

He had been asked about whether he already knew any of his new teammates. His initial answer was basically, eh, not all that well, then he transitioned to lineup thoughts — including sliding in there that, in the opinion of the Mets’ new best hitter, the Mets need at least another top-notch hitter.

Enter Alonso, a fan favorite and premier slugger, the sort of bat (at a position of significant need) that would really lengthen the suddenly Soto-centric lineup. He is a free agent. The Mets are “still engaged,” a noncommittal Steve Cohen said, adding that they would like to have Alonso back but they’ll see what happens.

Imagine a top five of — in some order — Francisco Lindor, Soto, Mark Vientos, Pete Alonso and Brandon Nimmo.

“I'm not going to comment on any specific player pursuit, any specific player negotiation, other than what I've said previously, which is Pete is a great Met, and we'll see where the offseason goes,” president of baseball operations David Stearns said. “We continue to have resources. Steve and Alex continue to support us in very robust ways. Where we spend those resources remains to be seen, and how far we go remains to be seen.”

2. The Mets are going to add to their bullpen.

That’s good, because they need to.

The Mets’ best relievers behind closer Edwin Diaz are Reed Garrett, who had an up-and-down-but-mostly-up 2024, his first season as a regular major-leaguer; Dedniel Nunez, who was amazing for about two months but then got hurt; and Jose Butto, a bullpen savior at points who seemed to tire in the fall and might return to starting pitching next season.

Those guys are solid. They’re not exactly sure things. As much as Stearns & Co. like their chances of turning other unheralded arms into contributors over the course of the season, the Mets would benefit greatly from adding more proven late-inning relievers.

With a couple of exceptions, that market hasn’t heated up yet, so the Mets haven’t really missed out. But pencil in a couple of signings by early February.

“We'll add to our bullpen,” Stearns said. “We haven't determined yet at what level we're going to add. That will continue to play out over the course of the offseason.”

3. The Mets think Soto can get better . . .

. . . at defense in particular.

That is not Soto’s strength. He actually improved in 2024 relative to the prior couple of seasons, according to modern fielding metrics, but suffice to say the Mets didn’t sign him for his glove.

“He is probably about a league-average rightfielder, and we think he has the ability to get better,” Stearns said. “And that's something that we actually talked to Juan about during our meetings with him. He is very motivated to continue to improve, to improve his defense. He got better this past year, and we think he can take another step forward.”

With a 15-year contract that will take him through his age-40 season, Soto almost certainly will move to designated hitter (or first base?) at some point. But the Mets intend for that to be a ways away.

“We are talking about a 26-year-old player,” Stearns said. “And so we're talking about a player that in a normal baseball universe, he's maybe a year or two into his major-league career. So we are confident that there's a long period of time here that Juan is going to be in rightfield.”

By Tim Healey

timothy.healey@newsday.com@timbhealey

Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.