The New York Mets had a busy offseason, and it didn’t start well. In fact, the beginning of the offseason was downright tumultuous, with first baseman Pete Alonso leaving as a free agent within weeks and flamboyant closer Edwin Diaz quickly following him out the doorby signgin with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Owner Steve Cohen doesn’t understand the latter move, and he expressed as much in an article written by Tim Britton of The Athletic that was based largely on an interview by radio broadcaster Howie Rose.
“I did find that one perplexing. (I’m) not sure exactly how Edwin arrived at that decision,” Cohen said. “Obviously it’s a personal decision on his part, and I thought we made a pretty respectable bid.”
That may or may not be true. There were reports that the Mets initial bid was low. The big sticking point, however, was duration. The Mets closer defined his new contract in terms of what he called “Diaz money,” which was a four-year, $100 million deal as the starting point for the negotations.
That flew like a lead balloon. GM David Stearns made it clear that he was doing short-term deals, and he backed up his clarity by signing new closer Devin Williams to a three-year deal with a reported AAV of about $18 million.
That probably didn’t go over well. Cohen didn’t quite come out and say that, but he certainly hinted at it in his comments about the Williams signing.
“When it was getting pretty hot and heavy, when this was coming down, I felt pretty good about the fact that we had signed Devin Williams,” Cohen said. “I described it to David, that was pretty clever, because it was a really good hedge, in case there was an unfavorable outcome with Edwin.”
The Mets owner also discussed the transition from chasing outfielder Kyle Tucker to signing infielder Bo Bichette. The Los Angeles Dodgers swooped in and signed Tucker despite the Mets’ high AAV offer, and signing Bichette felt like an angry reaction to losing Tucker, especially since the Mets want Bichette to play third base, which he’s never done before.
“Frankly, once it was all done, and we got Bo to come to the Mets, (I) actually feel Bo might be a better fit for the team,” said Cohen. “So I think things worked out for the best.”
That one’s a lot tougher to buy, especially since the Mets still have a giant outfield hole that’s shifted from left to right with the announcement this week that outfielder Juan Soto will be moving from right field to left. The Mets are making a heavy bet that prospect Carson Benge will stick and land a starting position, despite the fact that he barely played at Triple A last season.
Cohen also expressed excitement about the team, which is certainly justified given the number of new players coming on board. The Mets are conducting an intriguing chemistry experiment to remedy the issues behind last year’s second half collapse, and it will be interesting to see how it plays out on the field.