Mets' shopping spree appears to be over . . . for now
Mets general manager Billy Eppler during a press conference at spring training camp on March 13. Credit: Newsday/Alejandra Villa Loarca
Following the flurry of transactional activity — which really became a bit of a blizzard — last week, the most eventful and exciting portion of the Mets’ offseason appears to be over.
So now general manager Billy Eppler and his front office will watch and listen, the pressure off and urgency lessened, to see if there are deals to be had. The biggest presents are wrapped and under the tree a week and a half before Christmas.
“A lot of the heavy lifting is done. It doesn’t stop us from being opportunistic,” Eppler said Wednesday. “If there are acquisitions we can make — whether it’s in the trade market or in free agency — we still want to explore those, always keeping our antennae up. When something presents itself and makes sense and is a worthwhile investment . . . I’m going to take that to Steve [Cohen] and gauge his thoughts on it.
“Remaining opportunistic is probably the best way to frame it and think about how we’re going to approach the next couple of months before we go to Florida.”
To be clear, more roster changes and additions are a virtual certainty before pitchers and catchers report to spring training in mid-February. The bullpen could use another established arm or two, and the Mets long have considered a lineup supplement, which now likely would take the form of a DH or fourth outfielder or both.
But the Mets’ thorough participation at the top of the market — re-signing the best centerfielder and best closer available, signing maybe the best starter and one of the best setup relievers — looks complete.
In a way, their burst of activity early this month felt familiar. Last offseason, Eppler’s first in this position, the Mets signed four players (Max Scherzer, Starling Marte, Mark Canha, Eduardo Escobar) in rapid succession before the deadline of the lockout-created freeze on transactions. This year, similarly, they brought in six players in as many days — but without any sort of deadline.
Eppler attributed that to forces outside of the Mets’ control.
“The market seemed to be really maturing — with different position demographics — around the same time,” he said.
So when Jacob deGrom signed with the Rangers and Justin Verlander’s free agency came to a head, the Mets had to decide what to bid, ultimately winning his services. Same with wanting to add a less-expensive starter (ending up with Jose Quintana) and a late-inning reliever (David Robertson) and trading for lefty reliever Brooks Raley from the Rays. Brandon Nimmo and Kodai Senga also agreed to contracts last week.
“Going through conversations with a lot of players, representatives, just trying to stay in tune and stay on pace, whether it’s texts or phone calls,” Eppler said. “As I’m getting signals that, hey, Jose is close to making a decision, or even with Erik Neander with the Rays, hey, we’re going to execute something probably in the next 24 hours . . . it just kind of creates that moment where you need to put your best foot forward or stand down. Obviously, in a couple of these cases, our best foot was good enough and we were able to add these three.”
Or as Raley put it: “It was a heck of a last week.”
They spoke during a video news conference introducing three of the Mets’ prizes: Robertson (one year, $10 million), Quintana (two years, $26 million) and Raley, all of whom should figure prominently into the Mets’ quest for a championship in 2023.
Eppler noted his personal experience with Robertson, having overlapped with him with the Yankees, but more notably highlighted his extensive late-inning and playoff experience. He called Quintana “one of the most dependable starting pitchers in the big leagues” over the past decade, describing having a full-time lefthanded starter as “a separator” but “not any kind of internal mandate.” And Raley is “another very valuable late-game option,” Eppler said, against righthanded hitters as well as lefthanded ones.
They will join Verlander and Senga, plus pretty much the whole lineup and the remnants of a pitching staff of a team that won 101 games last season.
“What a squad,” Robertson said. “I want to be on a team that wants to win.”
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.
