Three Gifts For New York Mets On Christmas Day

Here are three gifts the New York Mets could use on Christmas Day as they prepare for 2024.

The New York Mets have money. We know this because the Mets just spent $374 million in player salaries in 2023. It didn’t work out as they would have hoped.

When it comes to the holidays, owner Steve Cohen might have been better off sending some of that money to season-ticket holders. But, in lieu of that, the Mets need to make some moves as they prepare for 2024.

When the Mets open their gifts on Christmas Day, here are the three gifts they should get.

Clarity on Pete Alonso

The first baseman is entering his final year of arbitration. After the 2024 season he can hit the free agent market and find a new deal. Perhaps that’s what he wants. I would imagine that’s what his agent wants. By the way, he hired Scott Boras in October. That’s all you need to know.

Since the season ended, the Mets got a new president of baseball operations in David Stearns and a new manager in Carlos Mendoza. Chances are Stearns want to take the franchise in a new direction. How different that direction will be — and whether it includes Alonso or not — remains to be seen.

For Christmas, Mets fans would love to have some clarity — extend him, trade him or let him know this will be his last year in New York.

Sign Blake Snell

The Mets made as full a push as they could to sign Yoshinobu Yamamoto, including matching the Los Angeles Dodgers’ $325 million offer only to see him go to L.A. anyway.

But the Mets still have a bit of a starting pitching problem. They really don’t have a veteran pitcher to build around. Last season they had Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander. The Mets traded them away after they decided to focus on 2025.

Snell would fill that void. Unlike Yamamoto, Snell has pitched in the Majors, he’s won games and he’s won two Cy Young awards. In fact, he’s the reigning NL Cy Young winner after claiming the award with the San Diego Padres.

Signing Snell would solve that problem. And he certainly would cost less than Yamamoto right now.

Keep the Youngsters Moving Along

Edwin Diaz missed all of last season due to an injury to the patellar tendon in his right knee. If you’ve been watching social media this offseason you know that Diaz has continued making progress toward being ready to reassume the closer role in 2024.

Meanwhile, rookie catcher Francisco Alvarez has also show off some of his workouts on social media this offseason as he remakes his swing to improve his batting average for 2024.

The Mets are going to get better because their young players take getting better or getting healthy seriously. Diaz and Alvarez are setting examples this offseason. The Mets need more of that.