The New York Mets have a lot of unanswered questions right now, but one of the biggest one is whether they can contend in the NL East. Anthony DiComo posed this question as part of a piece on MLB.com that asked the big question for every team in baseball, and his “then vs. now” thoughts are well worth exploring.
Start with where the Mets were at this time last year. The Mets were basically division co-favorites, according to DiComo, and of course they played like the best team in baseball into early June before collapsing in the second half. They've replaced the entire right side of their infield with second baseman Marcus Semien and Jorge Polanco, who will move over to first.
So where are they now? According to DiComo, the Mets are trying to thread the needle and stay in contention after losing outfielder Brandon Nimmo, closer Edwin Diaz and first baseman Pete Alonso to either trades or free agency.
The good news is that there’s no dominant team in the division right now. The Miami Marlins are “spunky,” to use DiComo’s descriptor, while the Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves are fielding competitive but aging rosters. Most of what caused the Mets to finish 13.5 games out was about their own issues and internal shortcomings, which is why GM David Stearns is currently cleaning house.
The real question here is about Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto. The Mets won’t have fan favorites like Nimmo and Alonso holding down the fort in their usual positions, which means they’re going to lean more on Lindor and Soto going forward, filling in the gaps with solid but less flamboyant players. The Mets have some serious chemistry questions to answer, which is what a lot of their current moves are all about.
The other major question here is about relying on multiple young starters at once. Pitchers Nolan McLean, Brandon Sproat and Jonah Tong showed a lot last year during their brief end-of-season cameos, but how much will the Mets lean into them this year? We know Stearns is probably going to trade off some veteran pitchers who are basically journeymen at this point in their careers, but we still don’t have a complete picture of what the spring starting roster will look like.
There’s still time left in the offseason, but Stearns has a lot left to do. He has holes in left and center field to fill, not to mention a rotation that has too many problematic veterans. The Mets look capable of contending in the NL East, but there are still plenty of puzzle pieces that need to fall into place to make them true contenders in 2026.