Sounds like Pete and Boras are trying to play trump cards they don't actually have in their hand. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/43559666/pete-alonso-negotiations-exhausting
$15.5 million more spent by Toronto, this time for Max Scherzer. Seems like a waste of money to me, but more to the point, that's less money around for Pete, especially if they have any intention of trying to keep Vlad Jr. after this season. It really looks like he's not going to get any offer for more a year (or multiyear with a team option after one year, which is basically the same thing). Toronto is also rumored to be seriously looking at Quintana for around the same amount of money, leaving even less for Pete. It's funny how no one is apparently interested in Jose Iglesias (he of the .829 OPS). It seems like Severino is the only Mets free agent who has left for a significant contract.
Agreed. It's pretty meh. I'd take the black jerseys back over that. They just look like cheap knockoffs.
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/43711708/sources-pete-alonso-returning-mets-2-year-54m-deal Pending a physical, Pete will be back on a two-year deal with a player opt-out after the first year. He'll make $30 million in 2025, so the Mets are risking $24 million for 2026 if he has a terrible 2025. That strikes me as a nice perk for being a good soldier for six years, since it seems a realistic possibility. Have to think he's going to dump Boras as his agent after this disastrous off-season. Anyway, I'm glad that he's coming back, since I didn't see an alternative scenario that would be any better. He should break the team career home run record during the season.
It's surprising to me that no one has signed Quintana or Iglesias. I would think that Stearns could get Quintana to fill Montas' spot pretty cheaply at this point. I can understand wanting to keep room for Acuna, but I have to wonder why no one has signed Iglesias.
Mendoza is leaning towards batting Lindor 1st and Soto 2nd. I think I disagree a little on that. I think I would have Lindor, Vientos, Soto, Pete, Nimmo, and reassess if Vientos shows regression. Where do you guys stand?
The data support your position, at least regarding Soto. This table: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.fcgi?id=sotoju01&year=Career&t=b#lineu shows that he has batted either second, third, fourth, or fifth in virtually all of his major league starts. His splits are .268/.407/.483 batting second, 288/.438/.548 batting third, .296/.416/.591 batting fourth, and .326/.423/.586 batting fifth, second clearly being his worst spot in the order. This is actually a remarkably consistent pattern - in every season from 2018 through 2023, he did better in another spot (usually third or fourth) than he did batting second. The Yankees batted him second in the order last year because no one other than Aaron Judge was going to bat third, but Soto really seems to be an ideal #3 hitter. Vientos batting second is a different matter. It's only one season, but his OBP wasn't anything special last year. I would put Nimmo there, and hope that he bounces back to his usual .270 BA / .380 OBP level; if he did, a top five of Lindor / Nimmo / Soto / Alonso / Vientos would be very formidable.
