Hello fellow Mets fans! Welcome to today’s edition of Almost A Met.

Across many different front offices, spanning different eras of Mets baseball, one thing became readily clear to me as I wrote this newsletter: The Mets really wanted OF Andrew McCutchen wearing orange and blue.

I recalled reports in 2023 about making him a fourth outfielder type, but I totally forgot about all of the different times McCutchen was linked to the team.

There’s a lot to unpack, so strap in.

Andrew

It’s kind of wild how many times Andrew McCutchen and the Mets were linked

As far back as the end of the 2016 season, there were reports that the Pittsburgh Pirates were looking into trading the face of their franchise: OF Andrew McCutchen.

From 2009 through 2016, McCutchen had hit 175 HRs, knocked in 637 RBIs, batted .292 and had an OPS+ of 138. He’d made the All-Star game five straight times and won the MVP award in 2013.

But after a down year in 2016, and his contract coming to an end after the 2017 season, the Pirates who had just finished 78-83, were at least considering moving on.

In December 2016, reports surfaced that the Mets had spoken with the Pirates about McCutchen’s availability. The fit made some sense. In fact, some media outlets said the Mets needed to “go all in” for the outfielder.

However, CBS News reported at the time that GM Sandy Alderson would likely have to trade away another player already on the roster who had a sizable contract — such as OF Jay Bruce or OF Curtis Granderson — to make the money work.

No deal ended up working out and McCutchen would bounce back during the 2017 season to hit .279 with 28 HRs and 88 RBIs.

But wait there’s more!

As I mentioned earlier, there’s been a flurry of rumors connecting the Mets and McCutchen for years.

In a tweet on January 4, 2018, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported that the two teams “discussed McCutchen, just as they did last off-season.” He also cautioned that no deal was close and that the Mets did appear more likely to try and sign a free agent outfielder rather than trade for someone like McCutchen because of their “lack of depth” in the minors.

Some more reporting was done on the potential swap, with MLB.com speculating that their top prospects might not be enough to get a deal done since they were so low in the minor leagues.

Rosenthal would report (after a trade we’ll get to in a second) that the Mets turned down a trade that would have sent then-young prospect OF Brandon Nimmo (Editor’s note: god, I felt old writing that) to the Pirates in exchange for the outfielder.

Sounds awfully familiar to last offseason —the two sides just couldn’t make it work, whether it’s because of money or prospects. But clearly, the Mets kept seeing opportunities to bring him to Queens.

Less than 10 days after Rosenthal’s initial tweet, McCutchen was traded to the San Francisco Giants for a package of prospects that included (now) Pirate mainstay OF Bryan Reynolds.

But that doesn’t mean McCutchen wouldn’t be heading to New York. Later that same season, the Giants traded him to the Yankees for a pair of prospects. He’d play in the Bronx before hitting free agency following the 2018 season.

And then — you guessed it — there was even more speculation about a Mets-McCutchen pairing.

Yet even more Mets-McCutchen pushes

Almost immediately, there was a push online for the Mets to pursue McCutchen once again. MetsMerizedOnline weighed the pros and cons of such a move, while also commending the team for not parting with Nimmo.

Other outlets also speculated about a signing. But ultimately, the outfielder would end up signing with the Philadelphia Phillies on a three-year $50 million contract.

While I couldn’t find much about any negotiations or concrete news connecting them, in an alternate universe, this probably would have happened. The 2019 season would be the first under new GM Brodie Van Wagenen, and as we have reported multiple times in this newsletter, the dude loved a big splashy move.

We’re nearing the end here. I promise. But this time there’s some added intrigue.

Flash forward to January 2023. McCutchen was on the Phillies from 2019 through 2021, where he accumulated 2.8 WAR over 260 games. He then signed with the Milwaukee Brewers for the 2022 season, where he only had a 1 WAR season. It was clear his best days were behind him, which is not all that shocking given his age.

And that’s where the Mets come back in.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported in early January 2023 that in their search for a fourth-outfielder type of player, the Mets were interested in McCutchen — but it wasn’t clear if that was the kind of role he saw himself in.

But, once again, nope.

McCutchen decided to go on a return tour with the Pirates. What makes this somewhat intriguing is the fact that one report suggested the outfielder was offered the same one-year $5 million deal he got from the Pirates by the Minnesota Twins and was offered even more money by the Mets.

So there we have it. Although, McCutchen was just released by Atlanta after he was signed to a minor league contract last month. That means there’s at least one more shot for a Mets-McCutchen signing. But given the state of the Mets at the moment, it seems unlikely.

[Another editor’s note: This newsletter won’t have the traditional “What happened next?” section because truly that’s the whole newsletter.]

❓ Would you have made this trade?

Let’s pick something concrete. Would you have traded Brandon Nimmo for Andrew McCutchen in 2018?

Next newsletter we’ll share the results of the poll! So stay tuned.

Last newsletter’s answers: It was unanimous! 100% of Almost A Met voters said they would have given Kevin Gausman a five-year $110 million deal.

🧢 Did you miss this newsletter?

⚾ Mets news you need to know

🔵 5 Mets whose play down the stretch could impact 2027 roster in a big way (Danny Abriano / SNY)

🟠 The Mets need to find out about Ronny Mauricio ( / )

🔵 Francisco Lindor deserves more respect than he’s gotten as a Met ( / )

🟠 Deep Dive on Mets prospect Sammy Stafura, who has the loudest tools in New York’s system (Joe DeMayo / SNY)

Hello fellow Mets fans! Welcome to today’s edition of Almost A Met.

Today’s Almost A Met is fairly recent, but man it is difficult not to dream about what could have been in 2022 if the Mets were able to have created a three-headed monster at the top of their rotation by signing Kevin Gausman.

I told you it was someone who was traded just a few days ago. Did any of you guess who it was?

Let’s get into it.

Andrew

Kevin Gausman was supposed to solve a starting pitching problem for the Mets

Man, the 2021-2022 offseason feels like a distant memory, doesn’t it? We’ve talked about it in this newsletter before, but there was a palpable excitement around the Mets.

By the time the dust settled before and after the lockout, the Mets had completely reshaped their team by signing the likes of SP Max Scherzer, OF Starling Marte, 3B Eduardo Escobar, and OF Mark Canha and trading for SP Chris Bassit. It was a dizzying amount of spending — and finally the Steve Cohen-led Mets felt like they were pushing all their chips into the middle of the table.

But it could have been even more wild. The Mets could have added SP Kevin Gausman to their list of acquisitions.

For much of his early career, Gausman wasn’t very good. After some decent years for the Baltimore Orioles from 2016-2017, where he’d have several multi-win seasons and make 30+ starts, he bounced around Atlanta’s baseball team and the Cincinnati Reds before eventually finding his way to the San Francisco Giants ahead of the 2020 season.

Then something seemed to click. In the shortened 2020 season, Gausman pitched in 12 games and had a 3.62 ERA. It was encouraging. But in 2021, Gausman showed that he was one of the game’s best pitchers.

At 30-years-old, he seemed to figure something out. Over 33 games, he pitched to a 2.81 ERA, struck out 227 batters over 192 innings, and finished with a 5.2 WAR. He finished sixth in the NL Cy Young Award voting. In short, he was approaching free agency, and he had his best season in the majors at just the right time.

Joel Sherman reported in November 2021 that the Mets were going to be “very involved” in the top of the starting pitching free agent market, and that included Gausman after his amazing season.

That made sense, considering the Mets rotation the season prior consisted of SP Marcus Stoman, SP Taijuan Walker, SP Tylor Megill, SP David Peterson, SP Rich Hill and (kind of) SP Jacob DeGrom.

The group had been pretty rough in 2021, with Stroman leading the way with a 3.02 ERA, but Walker, Megill and Peterson all having ERAs in the mid 4’s (or higher).

So it made sense that Gausman was among the many names they’d be considering. There was also another big name they’d end up “aggressively pursuing” at the same time: SP Max Scherzer.

Kevin Gausman was a ‘primary target’ for the Mets

The Mets interest in both pitchers seemed to be on parallel tracks during the offseason. In fact, it was reported by the New York post that the Mets were “focused on pitching.”

The team initially didn’t think Scherzer would sign with the Amazin’s, as the general consensus seemed to be that he’d want to stay out West. He’d just pitched very well with the Los Angeles Dodgers after being traded there, so it seemed logical that he would stay.

Meanwhile, they also were heavily in the mix for Gausman. Andy Martino, then of SNY, reportedly said the pitcher was a “major focus” for the Mets. Other teams vying for his services were the Giants, Toronto Blue Jays, Los Angeles Angels and Seattle Mariners.

One rival executive also reportedly told Joel Sherman of the New York Post that he would have been “shocked” if the Amazin’s didn’t land one of the major starters on the market, including both Gausman and Scherzer.

In late November 2021, the market for both pitchers quickly picked up. It was reported that Gausman was expected to get at least a 5-year deal and that the Mets were “among many teams in pursuit.” Martino reported that Gausman was a “primary target” for the Mets and two sources said the team was “in hard” on him trying to close a deal.

Just a few days later, Gausman agreed to a 5-year $110 million contract with the Blue Jays.

The Mets then pivoted, and surprisingly signed Scherzer to a historic contract at the end of November 2021. The 3-year $130 million deal would pay the superstar pitcher $43.33 million annually through his age 37 through 39 seasons. It was… a wild deal.

But it turns out things could have been even crazier. They reportedly wanted to turn their starting rotation into an absolute juggernaut.

The Mets wanted Scherzer AND Kevin Gausman

As the fallout continued, Martino reported an interesting tidbit of information. The Mets had offered Gausman more money than what he accepted from the Blue Jays.

As he said, it was clear Gausman was a primary target for the team. They wanted him to pitch in Queens.

But it seems they wanted to go even further. ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported that the Mets were trying to add both Scherzer and Gausman to their rotation.

The top of the Mets rotation would have then included Scherzer, DeGrom, and Gausman. It would have been among the best (if not the best) in the sport.

What happened next?

As I mentioned, Gausman signed with the Blue Jays — and he’s been a solid investment. Over his five seasons in Canada, he’s accumulated 12.5 WAR and has been a reliable arm in their rotation. From 2022 through 2025, he had ERAs of 3.35, 3.16, 3.83, and 3.59. He also started more than 30 games in each of those seasons. His 2026 has not gone according to plan, but you kind of expect that in the final year of a deal when a pitcher is 35 years old.

Sign me up for that.

He was just traded to the Chicago Cubs earlier this week.

Meanwhile, the Mets pivoted to trading for Bassitt, who had a very solid 2022 season for the Mets, finishing with a 3.42 ERA before (ironically) signing with the Blue Jays ahead of the 2023 season.

As we all know, the 2022 Mets were very good and very heartbreaking. They finished with 101 wins, but infamously lost the division at the very end of the season and ended up getting knocked out of the playoffs by the San Diego Padres in the NL Wild Card Series.

It’s hard not to dream what could have been with a rotation featuring a three-headed monster of Scherzer, DeGrom, and Gausman.

❓ Would you have signed Kevin Gausman?

Would you have signed him to a deal greated than 5-years and $110 million?

Next newsletter we’ll share the results of the poll! So stay tuned.

Last newsletter’s answers: 83% of Almost A Met readers said they would have made Kevin Long manager instead of Mickey Callaway, while 17% said they wouldn’t have.

🧢 Did you miss this newsletter?

⚾ Mets news you need to know

🔵Mets midseason top 30 prospects for 2026: Mets’ moves at trade deadline reshaped the system (Joe DeMayo/SNY)

🟠 The fun train has arrived with Jefry Yan ( / Just Mets)

🔵 Mets’ deadline reflections: Inside the talks that shaped their decisions (Will Sammon / The Athletic)

🟠 MMO Roundtable: Here’s what we grade the Mets trade deadline (Michelle Ioannou / MetsMerizedOnline)

Hello fellow Mets fans! Welcome to today’s edition of Almost A Met.

Yeah, I’m back! Sorry for the radio silence for the last few weeks. I’ll be honest, I started a new job as a newsletter editor and all of my newsletter creativity has been focused on that.

However, I spent last weekend getting re-energized and writing like a madman. I’ve got some fun “what-if” scenarios for you in the coming weeks. Plus, some other one-off newsletters. Seriously, Google loves my best Citi Field food post.

Plus, it’s the trade deadline. It’s my favorite day of the year.

Anyway, today I thought I’d give you my thoughts on the Mets trade deadline deals. It’s a bit different vibe than last year’s special edition trade deadline newsletter.

See you again on Friday!

Andrew

Grading the Mets 2026 Trade Deadline trades

AJ Minter traded to the Twins for 2 prospects

The Mets’ sell-off began in earnest on July 30. It’s fitting that Minter was the first one to get traded ahead of the deadline, as his departure felt like a foregone conclusion for months now.

What is something teams always want as they make a playoff push? Relief pitching. Specifically, left-handed relief pitching. What did the Mets have a surplus off? Left-handed relief pitching on expiring contracts.

As I said, it was all but certain Minter would be playing for another team before the deadline passed.

What did the Mets get in return? Nothing too crazy, but that didn’t shock me. Minter — while he has a proven track record — he hasn’t had the swing-and-miss stuff he used to have since returning from injury earlier this year.

The Mets got two of the Twins’ top 30 prospects in the deal, two infielders in Billy Amick and Bruin Agbayani (yes, he is Benny Agbayani’s kid. This makes me feel old, but it’s a fun side-story).

Amick has some pop, hitting 23 home runs this season with an .820 OPS in AA this season. While Agbayani is still just 19 years old and has been injured. He’s more of a wild-card.

Two solid, but not eye-popping, prospects for a reliever in a lost season? I’ll take it. Solid deal.

Grade: B

Freddy Peralta traded to the Rays for 3 prospects

This trade feels worse than it actually is.

When the Mets traded for Peralta, we were all pumped. Yes, giving up highly ranked prospects in Brandon Sproat and Jett Williams felt like a slight overpay, but he was supposed to be the anchor the Mets needed in their rotation.

It didn’t work out that way.

Instead, the Mets traded him to the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for SP Gary Gill Hill, IF Emilien Pitre, and OF Aidan Smith.

This feels like it was a “quantity over quality” kind of trade, but the more I look into it, the more I like it. Especially considering Peralta is more name value and a gamble than what you expected. He’s been pretty awful this year.

Also, when you consider what the Dodgers ended up giving up for SP Tarik Skubal — a pitcher in a whole other stratosphere than Peralta — I think David Stearns did a pretty good job with this haul. Another good piece of context is the pretty mid return the Toronto Blue Jays got for SP Kevin Gausman, another rental arm.

Also, it’s worth remembering: If you love rankings, and I’ve seen that as a main criticism of this trade, you need to consider that not every prospect list is equal. The Rays are known to have a deep farm system, so their lower ranked prospects would be higher in other organizations.

For what it’s worth, as of Monday morning, ESPN ranked Gill Hill and Pitre near the top of their rankings of prospects who were dealt at the trade deadline.

Gill Hill is a strike-thrower and is from New York, so that’s fun. Meanwhile, Pitre seems to have the most helium in the deal, and seems like someone who with some more development could be a solid player. Smith at one time seemed like a big time prospect, but has cooled since being involved in the deal that sent OF Randy Arozarena to the Seattle Mariners a few years ago.

Overall, I think this is a decent return for Peralta. The Athletic’s Keith Law said the Mets “ended up doing better than I would have guessed” given the season Peralta has had so far.

Also, just take a look at players who the Mets gave up to get Peralta. They were highly ranked prospects and both of them are having bad seasons. It’s always a gamble.

When I first saw it, I was disappointed, but when you factor in all of the context and look at the players a bit more, it starts to make more sense.

Grade: B-

Huascar Brazoban traded to the White Sox for 2 prospects

This trade was a little more surprising because Brazoban still has several years of control and nothing was forcing the Mets to trade him.

However, it’s also worth considering that Brazoban is 37 years old and relievers are fickle. So in the middle of a very good year, his value will likely never be higher.

The Mets shipped him to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for right-handed pitchers Gabe Davis and Zach Franklin. For what it’s worth, Davis was ranked as Chicago’s No. 18 prospect.

Davis has a good fastball and profiles as a reliever in the big leagues.

As (friend of the newsletter) Mike Mayer noted on Monday morning, Davis was also a college teammate of Nolan McLean and Carson Benge. All of these deals have some sort of charming side-story, huh?

Franklin is 27, and has been pitching in AAA for the White Sox this year. It seems likely we’ll see him pitching in the bullpen at some point before the end of the season.

Again, this feels worse than it probably is. But I can’t get too worked up over middle reliever trades. I just liked the return for Minter more, personally.

Grade: C

Brooks Raley traded to the Phillies for 2 prospects

O.K. Look. My immediate reaction to this was anger for trading with the Philadelphia Phillies. It’s irrational, but what can I say?

That being said, I just feel like they could have gotten a bit more for such a high-leverage reliever like Raley. He’s better than Minter, and I guess I’m more meh on the return they got.

That being said, the Mets got OF John Spikerman and SP Luke Gabrysh. Joe DeMayo, of SNY, seems to think that Spikerman profiles as a potential fourth outfielder with a good OBP. Meanwhile, with a mid-to-high 90s fastball, Gabrysh “might be the more interesting piece” in the deal, according to DeMayo. Mayer, of MetsMerized, noted today that Gabrysh has “been one of the best strikeout pitchers in the South Atlantic League.”

But at the end of the day, Raley is a 38-year-old middle reliever on an expiring contract. You can’t expect too much in return. At least this trade with the Phillies didn’t involve a favor to Jeff Wilpon. I guess that’s a plus.

Grade: C

Luke Weaver traded to the Pirates for 1 prospect

The Mets acquired SS Sammy Stafura, the Pirates No. 15 prospect according to MLB, for RP Luke Weaver.

Many folks seem to think Stafura is the best prospect the Mets acquired (as of Monday afternoon) this trade deadline. That makes sense, as Weaver was having a fantastic season and has an extra year on his contract next year. You’d expect the price to be higher since he wasn’t a rental.

Stafura was a second round pick for the Cincinnati Reds before being traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 2B Ke’Bryan Hayes trade.

Once again, the Mets trades had a narrative attached to it. Stafura is from New York and grew up as a Mets fan. Even the Mets got in on it. I mean…. come on. How is that not easy to root for?

Also, it’s hard not to like this: He told Michael Marino that “I’m ready to get after it, I am one of the biggest Mets fans ever and will give the Mets everything I have.”

I saw Stafura described as “high risk high reward,” which for a reliever seems like a good return.

Weaver was a bright spot in a down season, he’ll be missed.

Grade: B

Mets trade Clay Holmes and Tyrone Taylor to the Cubs for 1 prospect

Woah!

As the deadline got close to the wire, the Mets traded SP Clay Holmes and OF Tyrone Taylor for INF Jefferson Rojas, the Cubs No. 2 ranked prospect according to MLB.

The 21-year-old is a good get. He’s listed as a Top 100 prospect on many lists, and was the No. 63 on MLB’s list. For a rental starter and a fourth outfielder, that’s a very good return.

Rojas should slot among the best Mets prospects — if not their best prospect — on lists shortly.

I always thought the Mets would get more if they packaged players together, and this seemed to confirm that idea. This trade will turn the Mets into “winners” in several “winners and losers of the MLB Trade Deadline” lists that come out over the next several days.

Can the Mets get some kind of vengeance on the Cubs for trading Pete Crow Armstrong there?

Tall order, but one can dream.

Grade: A

Overall thoughts on the Mets trade deadline

I think (another friend of the newsletter) James Schiano summed it up best on the Mets’d Up Podcast:

“You don’t really get many literal Top 100 prospects traded at the deadline ever. What you are trying to is get guys who can be Top 100 prospects next year. That’s kind of the goal of the trade deadline.”

I know it feels like the Mets big sell-off should have resulted in more prospect capital, but I just don’t think that’s how the trade deadline works anymore. The days of sending your best prospect for a rental are over.

That being said, Jefferson Rojas is a get. There’s no doubt about it.

Also, it’s not like the Mets were working with a lot here. They were selling because almost everyone underperformed. One of their biggest trade chips, Peralta, was very bad this year. They got what they got because of his name recognition and track record, not his performance this year.

The Mets got some intriguing players who, at the very least, deepen their farm system. I think, overall, this was a pretty good showing by Stearns and the front office.

This is a lost season, it’s time to see what the younger parts of this team can do and prepare for next season (ya know, if there is one).

We’ll have our regularly scheduled Almost A Met on Friday. It will include someone who was actually traded during this year’s trade deadline? Can you guess who it is?

Hello fellow Mets fans! Welcome to this week’s edition of Almost A Met.

With talk about the Mets next manager in full swing, I thought it was a good time to do another Almost A Met (Manager) newsletter. Today we’re looking at the team’s former Hitting Coach Kevin Long, who many believed was a shoe-in to lead the team after Terry Collins stepped down.

As we all know, that never happened — and when it didn’t, he left the team.

Let’s get into it all.

Andrew

Kevin Long had supporters in the organization to be the next Mets manager

Terry Collins has become a fixture of Mets history by the time he decided to step down as manager at the end of the 2017 season. He managed the most games in the franchise’s history, and had led them on a magical run to the 2015 World Series. And of course, we can’t forget his exceptional viral moment arguing with umpires.

For a good portion of Collins’ career with the Mets, he had Kevin Long as his hitting coach. He’d been long respected for being a good coach, but specifically got credit for helping Mets 2B Daniel Murphy discover his power stroke during the 2015 playoffs.

So, when Collins decided to step aside after the 2017 season, it made some sense that someone with a long track record with the team could succeed him. His contract was also set to expire, an important note that we’ll get to more later in the newsletter. In fact, he was considered an “early favorite” to land the gig.

Long was among a laundry list of names who interviewed with the team. According to the New York Post, names “in the mix” to interview with GM Sandy Alderson included Long, Alex Cora, Brad Ausmus, Robin Ventura, Joe McEwing, Sandy Alomar Jr., Chip Hale, Bob Geren and Mickey Callaway.

While Long didn’t have any major league managerial experience, he did so at the minor league level.

As early as mid-October 2017 he was getting some buzz. Former Met OF Curtis Granderson told the Post that he believed Long would “be up for the challenge.” He added that his former hitting coach was “energetic” and communicated well, which was “the biggest thing a manager needs to have.”

Besides getting a vote of confidence from Granderson, Long also had “supporters in the organization who believe he is capable of holding a team together,” the New York Post reported at the time.

Kevin Long was a ‘top choice’ to get the Mets manager gig

In fact, the Bergen Record (my former employer) at the time called Long an “early favorite” and “top choice” to get the gig.

As October moved along, Alderson continued to interview candidates. Reports suggested at the time that then Mariners third base coach Manny Acta “lit up the room” during his interview.

Despite all that, Long was still thought to be the “front-runner,” sources told the New York Daily News, and intrigued Alderson and the front office as “out-side-the box hire.” In fact, Long went into the interview with binders full of ideas he had picked up during his career as a hitting coach.

In particular, the Mets seemed to like how Long could take analytics and translate it well for players during his time as the team’s hitting coach.

“No matter how much data you have, it does not mean anything if it cannot be explained to the players in a way that they can understand and use,” a Mets front office source told the Daily News. “Being able to take what we give them and make changes that results to improvement on the field, that’s a skill that we need a lot more of.”

The Mets were hoping to make a decision during the 2017 postseason, and as the Mets were “near the goal line” for a decision to replace Collins, Long was still “viewed as the favorite.” The other possibilities were Acta, McEwing, and Callaway.

What happened next?

Despite all indications to the contrary, the Mets decided to go in a different direction.

Marc Carig, then at Newsday, reported on Oct. 22 that the Mets began reaching out to the remaining candidates. Both Long and McEwing were told they were “out of the running” to be the next manager.

With his contract expiring as the Mets hitting coach, Long decided to move on after not landing the role. On November 1st, MLB.com reported that he wouldn’t return for the 2018 season.

He talked about his decision in Mike Puma’s (very good book) If These Walls Could Talk: Stories From The New York Mets Dugout, Locker Room, and Press Box.

“I was either going to get the job or I was going to move on. At that point I felt like I could really help and be a solution there and if I wasn’t going to be given the reigns, I didn’t want to watch somebody else do it,” Long said. “When I went for my interview I was prepared, I was ready, and I did a heck of a job in there, but it wasn’t obviously good enough.”

We all know the Mets instead chose Callaway to lead the team. His tenure with the Amazin’s was a disaster full of off-the-field miscues and bad on-the-field play and gaffes. It turned out they should have done some more background work on him. Bad dude.

Long, on the other hand, would become the hitting coach for the Washington Nationals, a team which he’d also interviewed for their managerial position.

“I got two runner-ups, which doesn’t do me a whole hell of a lot of good,” Long told Puma in his book. “But I am grateful for the experience, and at that point I was real gung ho on managing and once I didn’t get it, I kind of backed off. I really like my job as a hitting coach and really like what I do.”

He’d once again team up with Murphy, who signed with the team a few years earlier. He’d eventually become the hitting coach for the Philadelphia Phillies, where he still is currently.

It’s tough to say exactly how Long would have done as the Mets manager — the teams from 2018 - 2020 were pretty dismal — but if it came down to the choice between two first-time managers between him and Callaway, I’d make a bet that Long would have been a better choice.

❓ Would you have named Kevin Long manager?

Would have signed him to lead the Mets instead of Mickey Callaway?

Next newsletter we’ll share the results of the poll! So stay tuned.

Last newsletter’s answers: 63% of Almost A Met readers would have traded for Arenado ahead of the 2021 season, while 38% said they wouldn’t have.

🧢 Did you miss this newsletter?

⚾ Mets news you need to know

🔵 Here’s why the Mets should extend (not trade) Clay Holmes, who wants to stay (Will Sammon and Tim Britton / The Athletic)

🟠 Why Mets’ 2026 season seems more like an isolated nightmare than start of downturn (Danny Abriano / SNY)

🔵 Mets rookie of the year candidates? ( / Just Mets)

🟠 Building toward something ()

🔵 10 juicy trade deadline predictions ( / )

Hello fellow Mets fans! Today’s edition of Almost A Met is different. It’s all about food.

In my continued effort to give you all more personal thoughts about the team, I figured why not rate the food I’ve had at games I’ve went to this year.

I’d like to note: My ratings are based on stadium food. This is not a comparison to food you’d get at a restaurant. The ratings are how I’d rate them in a stadium environment.

But I’ve tried some new things this season. There was a influencer deluge of content about new items at Citi Field this season and I was intrigued by a few things.

Some things I won’t be trying: Chicken fingers at Amazin’ Chicken Co. (My wife hated them a few years ago and I agreed), the Cookies and Cream egg roll at Wok N’ Roll (way to sweet for me), and pizza (why would I get it at a stadium?)

What’s your favorite food at Citi Field? Let me know in the comments below!

Andrew

Citi Field Food Tour April 12: Loaded Cornbread (7.5/10)

For my first game of the year, I was torn on what to do. I even asked BlueSky about it. I’m a simple guy, and 9 times out of 10, I just go get a sausage and peppers at a game and call it a day. But I was feeling adventurous.

After seeing all of the influencer videos about new food at Citi Field, this was one of two things that made me perk up and really listen.

The Loaded Cornbread at Pig Beach was a good combo of salty/sweet. The pulled pork was salty and tangy with the sauce, and while I wish the cornbread was a bit firmer, it has the requisite sweetness.

Both me and my friend — and Almost A Met subscriber — Connor wished it had more of the cheddar cheese sauce on it. It also was a bit cold, but both of us blamed that on the fact that it was freezing at Citi Field. We ended up eating it on one of the outer walls on the Field Level just because it was thankfully in the sun.

I also got a side of mac-and-cheese, hoping it would be warm on a chilly day. It wasn’t, but I blame the weather, not the concession stand. I still ate all of it.

The Mets lost to the A’s 1-0, but both of us were happy with our food decision and decided on an 7.5/10.

Solid start to a stadium food journey in 2026.

Citi Field Food Tour April 21: Soft Pretzel (5/10)

Ok, so this was unexpected.

I got a new job in late April, and before I even started, my new colleagues emailed me and said “we’re going to a Mets game, you should come and meet folks!”

Clearly, I’ve got a reputation. You all know I was down.

I didn’t want to eat anything extravagant in front of new colleagues, and I certainly wasn’t going to go for ole’ faithful sausage and peppers in front of people I just met — so I opted for a soft pretzel.

It was fine.

One of my new colleagues said “you always know what you are going to get with a pretzel” and I couldn’t agree more. It was exactly what I expected: Safe, pretty bland, but it got the job done.

The Mets blew the game in the 9th inning against the Twins after a gem from Nolan McLean and I had to mask how annoyed I was. McLean had a perfect game for half of the game and they bungled it. For a moment, in my head I thought “am I going to see a perfect game for the first time with new colleagues? They’re about to see a very different side of me…”

The 12-game losing streak continued.

They all knew I was a huge Mets fan (hence the invite before starting the gig) but I left the game both annoyed at the outcome of the game and unsatisfied by the food. My new colleagues were extremely nice and welcoming, so that helped my mood.

Boo to the food. (Never to our own players).

Citi Field Food Tour April 26: NY Bulgogi Cheesesteak spring roll (6/10)

This game was the first one my nephew attended this year, so that was a lot of fun. To escape the cold weather, my wife and I took him to the Metro Market to get inside. I’d been wanting to try the bulgogi cheesesteak spring rolls anyway, so win-win.

They were… pretty good! This was the second thing I mentioned above that made me perk up among the dozens and dozens of influencer videos ahead of the season.

The three of us watched the Mets sleepwalk through the first game of the doubleheader with the Rockies for several innings while me and her ate these.

The flavor was there, but the the spicy gochujang sriracha mayo was the star of the show. I think my biggest complaint was that the spring rolls were very heavy, which I probably should have expected.

But honestly, for the price, it was pretty solid. I probably won’t get them again, but I’m not complaining here.

Oh, and the Mets lost 3-1. We did get to see Nolan McLean’s 100th career strikeout, so I guess that’s something. I was unable to snap a pic of that being shown on the jumbotron, but if you don’t believe me you can look it up. Regardless, I’m 0-3 so far this season.

The good news is my nephew joined the kids club with the Mets and part of his welcome package was a Lego home run apple, which I won’t lie, I was jealous of.

Citi Field Food Tour June 28: A classic ballgame day of peanuts (7.5/10), hot dogs (6/10), and ice cream in a mini-helmet (10/10)

After front-loading my games in April, I took May and most of June off. The team was terrible, so my drive to go to the game wasn’t exactly there.

However, my family was in town and we always try to catch a game when we can. So the seven of us hopped on the train and made our way out to Citi Field.

I was once again torn on what to eat. Originally, I was debating between a few things but I wasn’t extremely hungry because we had bagels before our commute to the game.

Eventually I decided to go old-school baseball game style: A hot dog, some peanuts, and some ice cream in a mini helmet.

Pure baseball, if I do say so myself.

For those who don’t know, I love hot dogs. Coming from New Jersey, however, I tend to enjoy rippers and everything else is inferior. But ya know what? The hot dog was pretty good. There’s just something to be said about an average hot dog at a baseball game. It just works.

But before that, I got a bag of peanuts to share with the family. Some people were dubious about how good they’d be, but for the last 2-3 years this has become a go-to snack for me.

There’s a reason peanuts are in the “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” song.

But the food that stole the show was actually my wife’s decision. She decided to get Mister Softee in a mini-helmet. Let me tell you: I haven’t had one of these in probably a decade, and I think it woke something up in my soul.

I’m not a sweets-person. Seriously, you could leave candy in my apartment for a year and it would never be touched.

However, this was amazing.

Maybe it was because it was a million degrees out. Maybe I just hadn’t had it in a while, but it was delicious.

Easily the best thing I’ve eaten at the stadium this year so far.

As for the game: The Mets lost 5-4 to the Phillies, making me 0-4 so far this year. I’d normally blame myself for being a jinx, but let’s face it — they are just bad this year.

On the plus side, I got to see my 4-year-old nephew run the bases after the game. He was a natural and took off before any of us had a second to tell him what to do. Later he told us all “it’s just like tee-ball.”

Which, I guess, is fair.

What is your favorite food at Citi Field? Tell me what to try in the comments below for another recap later this season!

Hello fellow Mets fans! Welcome to today’s edition of Almost A Met.

I’ll be honest, I’ve been a little checked out with the team this month. I haven’t been watching like I normally do, but still check on the highlights (or, let’s be real, mostly lowlights) every morning. That being said, I’ll be at Citi Field this weekend. Hit me up if you are there also. I’d love to say hi. You’ll see me in my Almost A Met hat.

Anyway, to take your attention away from how they are on the field, I’ll be discussing a “what-if” scenario of Nolan Arenado being on the Amazin’s.

I hope you enjoy! See ya next week!

Andrew

The Rockies wanted to ‘engage’ the Mets in a possible Nolan Arenado trade

As we’ve discussed before in this newsletter, the 2020-2021 offseason for the Mets was one that included big plans and a whole bunch of optimism.

Steve Cohen had bought the team, and fans felt that after the Wilpons finally were gone for good, anything was possible.

The Mets, now backed by Cohen’s large piles of money, clearly wanted to make some splashes. It was time to make it clear it was a new era, one where the Mets wouldn’t play second fiddle to anyone anymore.

Luckily, the free agent market offered many intriguing options: OF George Springer and C J.T. Realmuto were two obvious fits for the roster. (We’ve covered both of their free agent journeys that almost led them to the Amazin’s in this newsletter before. If you are new here, be sure to check them out).

But there were also names on the trade market. Cleveland’s SS Francisco Lindor seemed like the kind of statement move Cohen’s Mets could make. Luckily, as we all know, they did just that.

However, there was another name on the trade front that was also readily available: Colorado Rockies 3B Nolan Arenado.

As we’ll get to in a moment, the Rockies very much wanted to get Cohen’s big–spending Mets involved in their attempt to trade their star third baseman.

Entering the offseason before the 2021 season, there was no doubt that Arenado was a star. Over his eight years playing for the Rockies, he has accumulated 39.7 WAR, hit 235 HRs, knocked in 760 RBIs, and and OPS+ of 121 and was renowned across the league for his excellent defense.

At 29-years-old he’d already cemented himself as one of the franchise’s greatest players, along with 1B Todd Helton, OF Larry Walker, and SS Troy Tulowitzki.

However, despite his legendary status in the organization, Arenado’s relationship with the Rockies had deteriorated badly. Just two years after signing a massive 8-year $260 million extension with the club, the two sides seemed to agree that a trade was the best path forward.

Arenado reportedly was assured that the Rockies would be competitive during his extension. When that didn’t occur, he spoke about a “disconnect” between him and the club. There was even speculation in 2019 that the Mets should explore trading for him.

Suddenly, one of the best players in baseball was available on the trade market — albeit, one with a massive financial commitment tied to him. The Mets seemed like an obvious possible fit.

The Mets were a ‘sleeper club’ to acquire Arenado

There was a lot of speculation about the team acquiring Arenado.

MLB Trade Rumors noted in November 2020 that Arenado’s defense, specifically, would be welcomed for the Mets as the team’s “defense has been miserable for several years running.”

In December 2020, it was reported by Jon Morosi on the MLB Network that the Rockies had specifically hoped to talk to the Mets about a deal.

“The team that I am watching very carefully — that I was told even this week is the team the Rockies want to engage with — is the New York Mets,” Morosi reportedly said.

Morosi speculated that a possible deal for the third baseman could include 2B Robinson Cano to help offset money in the deal, along with OF Brandon Nimmo and a prospect.

In an article for MLB.com, Morosi called the Mets a “sleeper club” that was “better positioned” than the Los Angeles Dodgers to swing a deal for Arenado, but were “focused for the moment” on signing Springer.

Around the same time, SNY called Arenado a “near perfect fit” for the Amazin’s, adding that the cost would have to be “some combination” of prospects including: 3B Brett Baty, SP Matt Allan, SS Ronny Mauricio, and C Franciso Alvarez.

Overall, the Mets community online seemed pretty intrigued by the idea of bringing Arenado to the team.

But despite all of the bluster, a potential deal between the two teams was deemed a “long shot,” according to a baseball executive talking with MLB.com’s Mike Lupica. But, he argued, it was a “long shot worth taking.”

“I believe that Arenado would come to New York and do what another ex-Rockie — LeMahieu — has done on the other side of town. That means show everybody, on the New York stage, what he can do. Long shot? Maybe. Worth a shot? Definitely,” Lupica wrote at the time.

Ultimately, the Mets and Rockies never made a deal — that’s why he’s an Almost A Met. The Mets seemed to have their focus elsewhere, and acquired Lindor and other players.

He eventually was dealt to the St. Louis Cardinals for a package of prospects that, looking back on it, was a disaster for the Rockies.

Even more Mets and Arenado rumors

Let’s fast forward a few years. After four years in St. Louis — where Arenado, now 33, had accumulated 17 WAR — the club was looking to potentially trade him after two years of finishing with 71 wins in 2023 and 83 in 2024.

Cardinals President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak said he intended “to try” and trade the gold glover.

What made this even more interesting was Arenado’s no-trade clause. However, he made it known he would be willing to be traded to six teams: The Mets, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the San Diego Padres, the Los Angeles Angels, the Philadelphia Phillies, and the Boston Red Sox.

This newfound acceptance of the Mets came just days after the team made its splashy move to sign OF Juan Soto, which totally had nothing to do with it, I’m sure.

At the time, several writers advocated for a deal to be made, with some outlets calling him the “missing piece for the Mets’ championship ambitions.”

Although there were a lot of rumors, Arenado was never traded that season. Instead, he’d have a 2024 season where he’d have 2.7 WAR, hit 16 HRs, knock in 71 RBIs, and have an OPS+ of 102.

But that led to yet another round of rumors that linked the third baseman and the Mets.

There were numerous articles — including as early as October 2025 — that linked the Cardinals and Mets as potential trade partners.

One mock trade from Anthony Castrovince at MLB.com had the Mets acquiring Arenado in a three-team trade with the Cardinals and Mariners.

Once again, however, nothing ever materialized between the teams.

What happened next?

Arenado would play out 2025 in St. Louis, but it was clear he was in decline. He had just a 1.3 WAR season, and hit just 12 HRs and drove in 52 RBIs with OPS+ of just 87.

This season, he’s hitting just .239, has hit 8 HRs and knocked in 31 RBIs. He’s no longer the feared slugger he once was.

There’s an argument to be made that the Mets could have used him in 2021 and 2022, but the second round of rumors and speculation never made much sense to me.

❓ Would you have made a trade for Nolan Arenado?

Would have traded for Arenado ahead of the 2021 season?

Next newsletter we’ll share the results of the poll! So stay tuned.

Last newsletter’s answers: 80% of Almost A Met readers said they wouldn’t have signed Michael Bourn, while 20% said they would have.

🧢 Did you miss this newsletter?

⚾ Mets news you need to know

🔵 Mets trade David Peterson to the Cubs ( / )

🟠 3 hidden reasons why the New York Mets are a New York Mess ()

🔵 No one is coming to save them ()

🟠 There’s a path, albeit a difficult one, for Mets to validate David Stearns’ patience (Chelsea Janes / SNY)

🔵 Baseball fans should be worried about this (The Windup / YouTube)

Hello fellow Mets fans and welcome to this week’s edition of Almost A Met.

It’s a fun one! I had a chat with MetsMerized Editor-in-Chief Mike Mayer about a very distinct “what-if” moment in Mets history.

I’ve been reading MetsMerized forever, and if for some reason you aren’t already go change that now. When I reached out to Mike about doing an interview, I sent him a long list of names as possibilities to talk about. But when he suggested OF Michael Bourn I was immediately down because I had forgotten just how much of a moment that really was.

I can’t believe this whole saga had slipped my mind.

But enough from me, let’s get into it all.

Andrew Wyrich

Many thought the ‘what outfield?’ Mets needed Michael Bourn

Mets GM Sandy Alderson kicked off the 2012-2013 offseason by cracking a joke about his team. Speaking with reporters at the GM Meetings in November 2012, Alderson was asked if acquiring an outfielder would be the team’s top priority. His response?

“Outfield? What outfield? We’re probably gonna have to bring the fences in another 150 feet!” Alderson said.

Alderson — known for his witty remarks — was acknowledging the fact that the team’s outfielders were… suboptimal. Here’s a list of names that played significantly in the outfield for the Mets during the 2012 season: Jason Bay, Andres Torres, Lucas Duda, Scott Hairston, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Mike Baxter, and Fred Lewis.

Given that group of players, it’s not shocking why there was an outcry from many Mets fans and pundits for the team to sign free agent OF Michael Bourn.

Bourn had accumulated 19.5 WAR over his seven year career up to that point. He was also fast, leading the league in stolen bases several times. He had just come off a 6 WAR season with Atlanta where he hit 9 HRs, knocked in 57 runs, and stole 42 bases.

So, as a free agent, it made some sense that the Mets would like to add someone like him to their outfield.

“I think the two biggest reasons were: Bourn stole bases and he was a gold glover in centerfield,” Mayer told me during a recent phone call. “Look, the Mets stole 79 bases in 2012, and Bourn in a slightly down year stole 42. Obviously that’s a massive difference… At that time, the Mets had only two gold glove winners in their entire franchise history. The fact he was a gold glover and played center field, and the Mets didn’t really have a ton of good centerfielders. That was something that they needed and something that was valued back then was to have a good defensive centerfielder. He did two things really well that the Mets had lacked recently, and honestly lacked in general when it came to the franchise.”

Alderson himself seemed to back this up: “Right now our specific need in the outfield is somebody who can cement that outfield defense. His defense becomes a little more important in our circumstance perhaps than it might be in some others … He’s also a leadoff guy and brings some speed to a club. Those are areas we’d like to improve as well.”

Besides the seemingly good fit defensively and speed-wise, Bourn also represented something else: A symbol.

The team had undergone a drawn out and expansive rebuild that came off the backs of gut wrenching collapses in 2007 and 2008. They’d barely spent money in free agency, and there was clearly an appetite among the fan base for the team to finally go out and do something.

So when it was reported that the Mets were interested in a legitimate free agent, there was palpable anticipation among the fanbase and press.

Ken Davidoff of the New York Post implored the Mets to use “creativity” to get a deal across the finish line by making the offer more enticing with backloading it, deferring money or offering opt-outs to Bourn.

Mayer summed up the feelings among Mets fans pretty well:

“You take it for granted now with the Steve Cohen Mets, but when the Mets were interested in a player of Michael Bourn’s caliber — what he was up until that point — that wasn’t something that came across every day,” Mayer told me.

He added: “The Mets weren’t interested in every single good free agent that offseason like the Mets are now in most of Steve Cohen’s off seasons. The fact that they were legitimately interested in this key free agent, that’s what everyone wanted to talk about. Then, for a very long time, everyone wanted to talk about why they didn’t sign him and how badly they screwed up, and obviously we’ll get to it, but I would say they didn’t really screw up.”

‘Secret’ meetings and the large obstacle between Michael Bourn and the Mets

However, there was a pretty big obstacle the Mets would stare down if they signed Bourn.

Early in the offseason, this kind of signing seemed to be a non-starter. Alderson reportedly said “we don’t want to lose our first-round draft pick” and noted that the lack of first round picks in recent years was “one of the ways we got into this predicament we’ve had over the past couple of years.”

In the background, Bourn’s agents were trying to sell the Mets on the idea that having him sign a contract would give the team “credibility when pursuing free agents” in the future, Mike Puma of the New York Post tweeted at the time. The team was at least interested, having a “secret” meeting with the free agent where Alderson and Assistant GM John Ricco had dinner with Bourn and Scott Boras.

But back to the big obstacle. Because Bourn had declined a $13.3 million qualifying offer from Atlanta, any team that signed him would have to forfeit their first round pick. That rule didn’t apply to the top 10 picks.

The Mets were scheduled to pick 11th. (Of course). But they had a (fairly interesting) argument against having to give up their pick to sign Bourn.

The team appealed to MLB to avoid the draft pick compensation, arguing that they had the 10th worst record in the majors and were only picking 11th because the Pirates didn’t sign their 2012 first round pick, and therefore were getting a compensatory spot in the draft (9th) where they picked prior.

“There must have been some degree of possibility if the Mets were even thinking of doing it and putting it out there that they’re doing it. They were very public about the fact that they were going to do that. Sandy Alderson talked about it on record,” Mayer said during our chat. “To think about that now, just seems completely wild, but at the same time the argument does make a little bit of sense, too … Major League Baseball probably would have heard it. Who knows what would have happened, but I certainly think there wasn’t a zero percent chance they would have won.”

As this dragged on through the offseason, MLB reportedly had “held firm in its stance” that the Mets would lose their draft pick if they signed Bourn.

With all of this going on, there was still optimism something would be able to get done.

Alderson said the Mets were “still in the mix” to sign Bourn, CBS News reported in early February 2013, during a video chat with fans on MLB’s website.

“I certainly understand why fans are interested in our position vis-a-vis Michael, and we’d like to get it resolved one way or the other,” Alderson reportedly said. “I think we’re still in the mix, but I couldn’t really predict anything at this point.”

There was some talk of a “pillow-type contract” and as of early February 2013, the Mets “still very motivated” and were “still hopeful” they’d be able to sign Bourn, despite the draft pick issue, according to MLB Trade Rumors.

What happened next?

The Mets offered Bourn a 4-year $48 million deal, but instead he chose a similar deal with the Cleveland baseball team.

New York media responded as you’d expect: Apparently all going with “Bourn Loser” as their backpage headlines. Other sites called them the “bargain-basement Mets.”

Instead, the Mets intended to roll into the 2013 season with quite an eclectic group of outfielders. Their Opening Day lineup would have Collin Gowgill in CF, Marlon Byrd in RF, and Lucas Duda in LF.

But, as Mayer pointed out during our conversation, things almost immediately seemed to work out for the Mets. Just a few weeks into the start of the season, the team brought up CF Juan Lagares from AAA. Also Byrd had a great season, which they later parlayed into a deal for prospects.

“[Lagares] was actually a better player than Michael Bourn in 2013. Lagares was a little over a 3 WAR player and Bourn was a little over a 2,” Mayer told me. “So it almost immediately looked like the Mets had made the right decision not to sign Bourn because he started to deteriorate already and they had their centerfielder of the future in Lagares.”

Lagares would follow up his rookie season with the Mets by having a 5.2 WAR season in 2014 and winning a Gold Glove. He’d struggle to achieve those kind of heights again, but did have a 2.1 WAR season in 2017 over 94 games. His last meaningful games with the Mets came in 2019, where he struggled mightily.

Meanwhile, Bourn quickly lost his value. After his 2.3 WAR season in 2013, he’d drop down to just 0.9 in 2014. From there, he’d bounce around a few teams including Atlanta, Arizona, and Baltimore. He played his last big league game in 2016.

If he’d played like that for the Mets, on teams that were not quite ready to break out of their rebuilding slump, he’d likely be remembered as one of their worst signings. (Though I’d say it’s unlikely the New York media would have admitted they were wrong also).

“Bourn is a prime example of … one of those big ones you can point to ‘wow the Mets really did the right thing by not signing a guy,’” Mayer told me. “And it feels like that’s typically not the Mets way, right? It’s typically the guy the Mets don’t sign that goes on to become a superstar.”

Follow Mike!

I can’t thank Mike enough for chatting with me. If you don’t follow Mike and MetsMerized, what have you been doing since 2005? I’ve followed Mike for a long time and it was a blast to be able to chat with him.

X: @mikemayer22

MetsMerizedOnline

❓ Would you have signed Michael Bourn?

Would have signed him to a 4-year $48 million deal?

Next newsletter we’ll share the results of the poll! So stay tuned.

Last newsletter’s answers: 86% of Almost A Met readers said they would have tried to sign Magglio Ordonez, while 14% said they wouldn’t have.

🧢 Did you miss this newsletter?

⚾ Mets news you need to know

🔵 New York Mets mailbag: feat. Shea Hello Newsletter ( / )

🟠 Kodai Senga being in Mets’ rotation a symbol of what’s gone wrong -- and of tough road ahead (Danny Abriano / SNY)

🔵 Has Sean Manaea turned a corner? (Robert Colonna / MetsMerizedOnline)

🟠 Justin Dunn was named one of the biggest misses from the 2016 MLB Draft (Keith Law / The Athletic)

🔵 Who’s MOST to blame for the Mets season? (Mets’d Up Podcast / YouTube)

Hello fellow Mets fans! Andrew here. Welcome to today’s (different) edition of Almost A Met.

So, I recently read (friend of the newsletter) Greg Prince’s amazing book Faith and Fear In Flushing, where he noted that so many moments of his life were intertwined with the Mets. That resonated with me. I think I sent my family like 10 pictures of text from the book and was like “same.”

Then it dawned on me that I have been lucky enough to have been at a lot of monumental Mets games. Y’all said in the survey I did a while back that you wanted more personal Mets thoughts from me. So I figured why not share them with you?

I won’t be as eloquent as Greg, that would be quite difficult. (Seriously, go read the book if you haven’t). And it’s not that I need to prove my Mets fandom: I think my obsessive Mets knowledge is clearly evident with me writing about the likes of Jhonny Peralta, Brian Fuentes, and Gerardo Parra every week.

I’ve just covered them professionally, but also been a rabid fan clicking refresh to buy tickets. The result is the same: My fandom has led me to being at a lot of great Mets moments.

These are in no particular order, so I’m not ranking experiences, just sharing them with you. Some of the games are huge Mets moments, others are just important to me personally.

As I was writing, I hit the limit for the email clipping, so I realized that I needed to break this out into multiple emails. So, expect at least a part two in the future.

Were you at any of these games? Let me know in the comments. Maybe we unknowingly sat next to each other!

Andrew

🔵 Every single Mets 2015 home playoff and World Series game

For those of you who don’t know, I used to work at a daily newspaper in New Jersey. I covered local news, but also broke some major MLB news later in my career there.

When the Mets made their magical run to the playoffs in 2015, my editors asked me to cover the “fan” side of things for every home game. So while the beat reporters were doing their normal work we all love to read, I was mingling with fans every day.

I spoke to people in the parking lot, those who were tailgating, and folks who took the 7 train before the games. Before the first pitch, my press pass allowed me to wander (almost) anywhere in the stadium, so I spoke to fans on the various concourses. I wrote so many fun stories, and I’ll never forget just being able to revel in the passion everyone had during every game.

When giving me this assignment, one of my editors — knowing I was a Mets fan — said “get there early and just take a moment and let it all sink in.” I did just that. I walked through the tunnels below Citi Field and to the field. I just took it all in. I’ll never forget it.

Anyway, while I was working like crazy during the hours before every game, I was able to relax after I went to the press box and filed my story. (Early in the postseason it was the actual press box, which was obviously a thrill for me. During the World Series they put me and other media in an overflow press box in Left Field where the Metro Market is today). But after the first pitch, I just got to be a fan. I’d throw a sweatshirt over my button down shirt and tie and get to watch the Mets be in the playoffs. It ruled.

I watched so many of the iconic moments of that postseason unfold. I was tweeting like a madman, and generally having the time of my life.

I was still pretty new in my journalism career and one of my best friends texted me and said something along the lines of “Andrew, whatever happens in your journalism career, at least you got to do this and cover the Mets.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

🟠 Lindor’s NLCS grand slam

OMG.

This was probably the most fun I had at a game. The mood at the stadium before the game was joyful. How could it not be? Every Mets fan (including me) was coming off the high of the Gay-Grimace-OMG-Mets ride that the 2024 season was. We were facing the hated Phillies. We had a chance to eliminate them on our home field and continue this wild season.

I went with my friend Connor and spent an absurd amount of money on an OMG sweatshirt at the team shop before we settled in. I was able to snag tickets in the 500s directly behind home plate.

It's funny, the vibes were great before the game. But for the first few innings, the crowd was kind of muted. The Mets kept being unable to capitalize on having runners in scoring position. They kept missing chances.

But there seemed to be an unspoken deal with everyone at Citi Field. When the Mets break through — and we all expected them to, given their season — this place is going to explode.

And then it happened. Lindor hit that grand slam. And we were loud. Really, really, really loud. (Seriously, watch this, it’s wild).

You couldn’t hear “OMG” play over the stadium speakers. Everyone was yelling. A stranger hugged me. I got beer spilled on me. I didn’t care. It was insane seeing 50,000 people all just experiencing pure joy. I’ll never forget it.

Apparently my wife was on a phone call with my mom when this happened and both of them freaked out and were saying how crazy it was that I was there. They probably feared that I’d drop dead.

After the game, no one wanted to leave the stadium. We all did the obligatory “Let’s Go Mets!” and “Phillies suck!” chants down the Citi Field staircases, but when we got outside, no one wanted to go home.

Crowds of people were celebrating outside of the stadium. Some went to the stage the Mets had set up, but most people were just basking in the moment. Random groups of people started dancing next to folks who brought speakers. I saw a group of like 50 people dancing to “Don’t Stop Believing.” We were just reveling in the happiness. Pure baseball joy.

The magic of 2024 will be hard to beat.

Howie Rose said it best in his final call of that season: “Once the immediate disappointment … wears off you’ll realize what an incredible ride this team took you for this year… People watch baseball for a lot of years and never see the run that the Mets went on during this postseason.”

I’m grateful to have been able to witness one of those incredible moments.

🔵 David Wright’s last game

Being an extremely online Mets fan helped me here.

I remember reading Twitter rumblings that Wright was going to announce something big. We all knew his injuries had taken a toll, I had a gut feeling he would announce some final farewell. I knew that if he was going to announce a final game, I needed to be there.

Mike Piazza was my favorite player when I was young, but Wright quickly became my next favorite player. He was the face of a franchise that I loved despite them being mostly bad during so much of my life. In some ways, he resembled so many Mets fans — sticking with them despite all evidence that you shouldn’t. That meant a lot to me.

So as I watched the press conference that was announced, I had my fingers ready to secure tickets to whatever games I needed to. After refreshing a million times, I was able to snag three tickets, and two of my friends tagged along for the game.

We tailgated beforehand, obviously booed 1B Peter O’Brien after he made that catch in foul territory, and chanted “Win for David!” as the game dragged on into extra (extra) innings.

Luckily, it was capped off with a win and Wright’s speech was great.

It felt like a bookend for a certain era of my fandom. My childhood Mets fandom was over, it would form into something else in the future. (You’re reading it).

🟠 Mets 2015 NLDS Game 3 (First Citi Field playoff game, I went as a fan)

I know I opened this newsletter with the 2015 playoff run. But I guess technically I covered every Mets home game during that time expect for one.

There was a lottery system to get tickets, so naturally I asked everyone I knew who would be even remotely interested in attending to sign up so I had a better chance of going to the game. My wife (still masquerading as a Yankees fan) was actually the one who won tickets in the lottery system to snag seats. I told my editors at the time I’d be happy to cover everything except for this one game. I needed to be there as a fan.

The Mets hadn’t been to the playoffs in forever. Citi Field’s first-ever playoff game would have been enough for me to want to be there. But we all know the entire story surrounding it: Chase Utley’s dirty slide into Ruben Tejada.

If I was pumped to see playoff baseball in Citi Field for the first time ever, I was equally as pumped to see what would happen next as the drama between the two teams unfolded.

Before the Lindor 2024 grand slam, the boos raining down on Utley were the loudest thing I’d ever heard in a ballpark.

I think Hank Azaria said it best when he described this game and the feelings among Mets fans perfectly: “It was Roman in there. It was like the Coliseum.”

As the Mets went on to pummel the Dodgers, chanting “We want Utley!” became common place. But the best part was: If there was ever a lull in the crowd, you’d hear someone somewhere just scream “Fuck you Utley!”

It was an amazing experience, and I left that stadium truly feeling like the Mets were the team of destiny that season. Unfortunately, as well all know, they weren’t.

🔵 Jacob DeGrom’s last game as a Met

O.K., I didn’t know this would be DeGrom’s last game as a Met, but I think I knew in my heart.

Even after the incredibly disappointing way 2022 ended, I needed to get back in the stadium for playoff baseball. I was able to get tickets for Game 2 of the Wild Card Series against the Padres. I knew I might see an elimination game, which would have been heartbreaking, but I also knew it might be the last time DeGrom pitched for the team.

DeGrom was certainly going to opt-out, and while it seemed like the Mets would try and keep the best pitcher in baseball, it was no sure thing. In fact, I expected him to get more money elsewhere.

Regardless, if this was going to be it, I wanted to watch DeGrom degrominate for one last time.

Somewhat surreally to me, as I was waiting in line to get a beer, me and another fan watched the game on the screens. He said something along the lines of “DeGrom is dealing. Can’t wait to watch more of it next year.” And I responded: “I hope so, but I wouldn’t count on it.” His response was: “Wait, what?” It was one of those moments where I was like not everyone is as crazy invested in this team as you are.

Anyway, DeGrom wasn’t his usual dominant self, but he still was awesome. Six innings, two earned runs, and eight strikeouts.

The Mets won 7-3, and it felt like maybe just maybe they would be able to turn their end-of-season disappointment around and sneak themselves further into the playoffs in the third game of the series the following night.

We all know they didn’t, but at least I got to cheer DeGrom off the mound for the last time.

🟠 First Subway Series with my (now wife)

On September 19, 2015 my (now) wife and I went to our first Subway Series game together. She knew I was an obsessive Mets fan. We worked on the college newspaper together and she watched me for over a year stay up until 3 a.m. every Wednesday night to write my Mets column so it made it into the paper the next morning. She grew up in a Yankees household, but I was willing to overlook it because she was (and is) the best person I’ve ever met.

I promise you she’s basically a Mets fan now. To be fair, I think it would be hard not to be living with me. The Mets even made it into her wedding vows. At the very least, she recognizes that the Mets play a very large role in my mental health.

(I know this is unhealthy. Logically, I know this. But if I wasn’t this way, we wouldn’t have Almost A Met, so consider my ridiculous obsession with the Mets a win, alright?)

The result of the game? A 5-0 Mets loss, including a three-run home run from old friend Carlos Beltran in the first inning. Weirdly it didn’t matter though. I was too happy to be at a baseball game with someone I loved. What can I say, I’m a simple guy.

To be honest, I think her Mets fandom began to develop just a few weeks later as the Mets went on their magical run to the World Series that I was covering. She would be texting me throughout every game.

Fast forward around than a decade later: The two of us running around our apartment screaming after Pete Alonso hit his home run in the 2024 NL Wild Card Series would become a foundational memory in my brain.

🔵 Weirdly Todd Zeile’s last game

Some back story into my Mets fandom: My dad and I went to a lot of Mets games when I was growing up. We split a season ticket package with our neighbors where me and him would essentially get to go to every Sunday home game throughout the season. (Kind of like Max Kranick).

I’ve got so many memories of walking into Shea Stadium on sunny summer days. Our seats were on the first base side in the green seats. I don’t recall the exact section, unfortunately. My dad would always buy me some merch (sorry, I can only imagine how much that cost).

I’d eagerly get the latest edition of the Mets Magazine if there was a new one and score the game, and we got to be friendly with the people sitting around us. One person — I can’t remember their name — would always be there in a puffy jacket, scoring the game, and listening to the Mets on the radio. Another regular in the section spilled beer on me one time and offered to buy me whatever I wanted. (We declined the offer). A vivid memory I have is just after the Mets traded for John Thompson in 2001 (If you are reading this far down, you are welcome for an awesome Immaculate Grid pull), they were like “he’s no different than the last guy.” I don’t know why this stuck in my head, but it did.

Anyway, one of the games we ended up at was Todd Zeile’s last game. It’s random, but hey, he had a very memorable final MLB game.

Stay tuned for a Part 2 of this series in the future! There are number retirements, HOF ceremonies, funny anecdotes and so much more to come.

Hello fellow Mets fans! Andrew here. Welcome to today’s edition of Almost A Met.

Today, I wrote about a player who was dubbed “most underrated hitter of the 2000s” who made it clear very early in the offseason when he became a free agent that he was interested in playing for the Amazin’s.

We know that never happened. So let’s get into how OF Magglio Ordonez was Almost A Met.

One last thing: New here? Consider subscribing! I made it easy, just hit the button below.

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Let’s get into it.

Andrew

Could Magglio Ordonez, the ‘most underrated hitter of the 2000s,’ have joined the Mets?

The 2004 Mets were a catastrophe.

While marginally better than they were the year before, the team was still climbing itself out of the hole GM Steve Phillips made when assembling the 2002 dream team of 2B Roberto Alomar, 1B Mo Vaughn, RF Jeromy Burnitz etc. Manager Art Hmets hire minaya

owe said his team “battled” a lot.

But the upcoming 2005 season offered hope. Howe was fired and interim GM Jim Duquette was reassigned in the organization. The Mets cleaned house when they made Omar Minaya their new general manager, who chose Willie Randolph to skipper the team. They were the “New Mets.” They were making offers to huge free agents. They were relevant again. Something felt different.

For the first time since their 2000 World Series run, there was hope in Queens. There was excitement. There was a reason to believe things would get better. Soon.

Over the course of the offseason the Mets would shock the baseball world and sign SP Pedro Martinez, and then of course they’d make an even bigger splash when they signed OF Carlos Beltran. They were also rumored to be interested in several more high–profile names—including the main focus of this newsletter.

There was a chance that the “most underrated hitter of the 2000s” (as Jolly Olive dubbed him) could have also been a part of that transformation.

Here’s how OF Magglio Ordonez was Almost A Met.

Ordonez said he was ‘open’ to the Mets signing him

Ordonez certainly was great. From 1997-2004 with the Chicago White Sox, he amassed 25.2 WAR, hit 187 HRs, drove in 703 RBIs and had an OPS+ of 127. He’d been to 4 All Star games and finished high in the MVP voting several times. He was one of the best sluggers of his era.

The idea of adding him to a 2005 Mets lineup that would eventually include Beltran, Mike Piazza, Jose Reyes, Cliff Floyd and David Wright definitely was intriguing. (Especially considering Victor “Minny Manny” Diaz would end up playing a large chunk of games in the outfield that year).

But there was a hiccup: The 31-year-old Ordonez hurt himself while chasing a fly ball in May 2004 and collided with then-White Sox 2B Willie Harris. He’d have surgery on his left knee right before he was set to be a free agent. Injury concerns would greatly impact his market.

Shortly after the 2004 season ended, Ordonez made it clear: The Mets were on his radar.

In an exclusive interview with the New York Post, the free agent outfielder said “The door is open for New York.”

But it was still early in the offseason and the Mets had their sights set on multiple players. Besides Beltran and Martinez, the Amazin’s were also reportedly very interested in bringing 1B Carlos Delgado into the fold. They also had some interest in OF Sammy Sosa, as we’ve covered in this newsletter before.

The Mets were “shopping for some sticks” that offseason, as the New York Post wrote, which included looking into Delgado, OF Mosies Alou, OF J.D. Drew, Beltran, and Ordonez.

However, the Mets were “leery” of the knee issue with Ordonez, according to the Daily News, but were still expected to meet with the outfielder during the GM Meetings in November 2004. The team was in a similar spot to when they pursued OF Vladimir Guerrero the offseason prior, not wanting to commit many years to players coming off of an injury.

Despite this, in January 2005, the Post reported that the Mets could “get in the mix” for Ordonez, who was scheduled to work out for teams in Florida to prove that he was getting healthy in preparation for 2005.

But first, they wanted to try and land Delgado. The team was aggressive, reportedly visiting the slugging first baseman twice, but ultimately he decided to sign with the Florida Marlins, accepting a 4-year $52 million deal, even though the Mets offered (slightly) more money.

That left the Mets looking at other options. They wanted to “move aggressively” to get 1B Doug Mientkiewicz from the Boston Red Sox, according to the Daily News but also were looking again at Ordonez.

“The Mets have concerns about Ordonez’s knee, but have long coveted his big bat,” the paper reported at the time.

After acquiring Mientkiewicz, Minaya spoke about the possibility of bringing in the outfielder, who would theoretically provide the power that Delgado had and Mientkiewicz did not have.

“We have talked about him,” Minaya said of Ordonez, according to the New York Times. “We’ll probably just explore it. All I can tell you is, I feel very comfortable with what we have now. If we have to go with what we have, I am O.K. with that.”

What happened next?

Despite the door being “open,” Ordonez never signed with the Mets.

In a somewhat surprising move, the Detroit Tigers announced in early February 2005 that they signed Ordonez to a 5-year $75 million contract. The deal had some provisions: It could be worth up to $105 over 7-years but also gave Detroit the right to void the contract after the 2005 season if he had a recurrence of the knee injury that spooked so many teams (including the Mets).

The Mets were in it until the end though, according to ESPN, which reported that the team spoke with Boras about Ordonez up until days before he signed the contract with Detroit but “were not prepared to move quickly and would first want to examine the player.”

As for the 2005 Mets, they’d have a pretty good year (especially considering their recent history) and finish 83-79. They had a lineup carried by Floyd and Wright, with Beltran infamously having a first year in Queens that wasn’t up to fans’ expectations. (He was still a 2.9 WAR player, folks).

Ordonez would also have a 2005 season that was not up to his standards, with another (different) injury limiting him to just 82 games (though he still hit .302 with a 114 OPS+).

But after 2005, Ordonez would once again find his slugging form. As a 32-year old in 2006, he’d smack 24 HRs, drive in 104 RBIs, hit .298, and have an OPS+ of 112. He’d follow that up in 2007 by having a .363 batting average, hitting 28 HRs, knocking in 139 RBIs, and leading the league with 54 doubles and finished the season with 7.3 WAR. He’d have another great year in 2008 before eventually falling off from those highs.

Ordonez would also have some magical postseason moments in Detroit.

Meanwhile, the Mets would circle back and acquire Delgado in a trade with the Marlins before the 2006 season, and there were no complaints there. He’d have three great years in the orange and blue, accumulating 4.3 WAR over that time, hitting 100 HRs and knocking in 316 RBIs from 2006-2008. He was limited by injuries in 2009 and eventually retired.

If this is a question of “Ordonez vs Delgado” it’s kind of a wash. Both were great. But in a reality where the Mets could have had both of them, it’s tough not to dream about how differently that magical 2006 season could have played out.

❓ Would you have signed Magglio Ordonez?

Would have tried to sign Magglio Ordonez?

Next newsletter we’ll share the results of the poll! So stay tuned.

Last newsletter’s answers: 60% of Almost A Met readers said they wouldn’t have signed SP Derek Lowe, while 40% said they wouldn’t have.

🧢 Did you miss this newsletter?

⚾ Mets news you need to know

🔵 Juan Soto, the Mets’ $765 million man, reacts to MLB’s salary cap proposal (Will Sammon / The Athletic)

🟠 Why use a multi-inning reliever as an opener? ()

🔵 Carson Benge looks great, but the Mets remain frustrating ( / )

🟠Assessing the Mets with one-third of season over: the bad, the good, and what’s to come (Danny Abriano / SNY)

🔵 Turning the tide ()

🟠 It’s time for the Mets to move on from Mark Vientos (Lukas Vlahos / Amazin Avenue)

Hello fellow Mets fans, and welcome to this week’s edition of Almost A Met!

I know this season has been… a pretty major bummer. But I’ll be honest, yesterday morning I had a random urge to go to a game soon. I’m eying some cheap seats this weekend. We’ll see what happens. What can I say, I just wanna spend time at the ballpark (especially with the lockout very much looming).

Speaking of the obviously impending lockout, do we have any Halo fans out there? I realized that this joke works for what I’m assuming is a small subset of fans like me who both love Halo games and the Mets.

Anyway, enough from me. Let’s take a look at how the Mets tried to “Lowe ball” SP Derek Lowe.

Andrew Wyrich

The Mets and Derek Lowe seemed like a perfect match… so of course they tried to pinch pennies

The 2007 Mets really could have used another starting pitcher. The team finished the season with a 88-74 record, and infamously collapsed at the end of the regular season to miss the playoffs. We all know what happened, I won’t belabor the point.

However, when 26-year-old John Maine is your best starter with a 2.6 WAR and 41-year-old Tom Glavine is your ace, it feels pretty obvious that you need to fortify the rest of the rotation.

To GM Omar Minaya’s credit, he went out and got the best pitcher he could. In January 2008, he orchestrated a trade with the Minnesota Twins that sent four prospects — including OF Carlos Gomez — to the Minnesota Twins to acquire ace SP Johan Santana.

Santana was great. But the work wasn’t done. The 2008 Mets suffered the same problem. They let Glavine return to Atlanta (good riddance) but relied on a rotation that was headed by Santana and filled out by the likes of SP Mike Pelfrey, SP Oliver Perez, Maine, and the ghost of SP Pedro Martinez.

After two years, it was clear they needed another pitcher to anchor the rotation. Luckily, one with a pretty intriguing track record was hitting the free agent market.

SP Derek Lowe, a 35-year-old with a history of very solid seasons and postseason success, was available. From 1997 through 2008, he’d accumulated a 31.8 WAR, won 126 games, and had an ERA of 3.75. He’d made 30+ starts for 7 years in a row, and had just wrapped up a 2008 season where he had 4.5 WAR, won 14 games, and had a 3.24 ERA.

On paper, he was exactly what the Mets needed: A reliable, durable, No. 2 starter to help the team’s rotation.

Inside the Mets negotiations with Derek Lowe

The Mets seemed to agree. Lowe was the right fit in the market. Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported in October 2008 that the Mets planned on “targeting” Lowe in free agency (along with RP Brian Fuentes, as we’ve covered in this newsletter).

However, just because he seemed like the right fit didn’t mean it would be a done deal.

In late November 2008, the Mets were looking at Lowe to replace Perez in their rotation. However, his market seemed to be bigger than they initially anticipated.

John Harper of the New York Daily News reported that the rest of the league’s interest in the pitcher was “forcing them to rethink” their plan of signing him. Lowe’s agent, Scott Boras, was saying the pitcher was looking for a five-year deal for around $15-16 million annually.

Instead, Harper reported, the team was considering looking at cheaper options like SP Jon Garland or SP Javier Vazquez.

“Eventually we might have to move on to the next level,” one Mets source told the Daily News at the time.

Meanwhile, Sherman at the Post reported that the Mets were hoping that the market would play out in a way that the pitcher’s “price could fall just enough” to allow the team to become “active participants” in the bidding process.

Despite all that, the Mets kept pushing.

In late December 2008, Yahoo’s Gordon Edes reportedly said the Amazin’s were deep in negotiations with Lowe.

About a week later, the New York Times reported that the team had made him a 3-year $36 million offer. In fact, he was the “priority” over Perez, both of whom were represented by Boras.

That offer represented the Mets holding firm. They only wanted to offer Lowe a three-year contract, while he was looking for five. That appeared to be the biggest hurdle in negotiations, along with other teams like the Boston Red Sox and Philadelphia Phillies also expressing interest in the starter.

The Times noted that the Mets were also making more contingency plans, like pursuing SP Randy Wolf. The New York Post at the time reported that the Mets would make offers to “at least two” of Lowe, Perez, and Wolf. They also noted that the Amazin’s were only expected to sign just one of the three pitchers.

The Mets kept playing ‘Lowe ball’ with Derek Lowe

As negotiations continued, the Mets and Lowe seemed to be a done deal. As the Daily News reported on the last day of 2008: “More and more it seems it will only be a matter of time before the Mets sign Derek Lowe, the starting pitcher they targeted going into the offseason.”

In fact, the Daily News reported, Lowe told a friend with the Red Sox that he “thinks he’ll wind up as a Met” after their negotiations and contract offer.

That article’s headline? “Mets playing Lowe ball with Derek.” (Credit where credit is due, it’s a classic New York tabloid headline).

As the calendar turned to a new year, Lowe’s representatives met with Jeff Wilpon, Assistant GM John Ricco, and Minaya.

But things seemed to hit a snag.

In late December it was reported that the Lowe remained a “top priority” for the team, but any talk of a deal being imminent were “unfounded.”

Despite the earlier chatter, it seemed Lowe was “hardly overwhelmed” by the teams’ 3-year $36 million offer, and he was “likely to continue shopping for a more desirable offer.”

The whole situation, according to Mike Puma of the New York Post, turned into a “protracted stare-down” between the Mets and Lowe.

As the offseason continued, talks between the two sides continued. On Jan. 7, 2009, the New York Post reported that Boras would have lunch with Minaya to discuss Lowe and Perez. The paper also noted that the Mets initial 3-year deal was rejected by the starting pitcher and that the team was “resistant to increase” their offer.

About a week later, everything changed. Lowe decided to sign with Atlanta after they added a fourth year into a $60 million deal.

“He was one of a group of pitchers that we’ve been looking into to fill a starting spot, but we’ve also felt that there are other guys out there who we like,” Minaya said, according to the New York Times. “We’ll regroup and move on.”

They moved on alright — to one of the most notorious deals of that era of Mets baseball.

What happened next?

In early February 2009, the Mets agreed to a deal with Perez that was the exact same offer they made to Lowe: 3-years $36 million.

We all know it was a disaster. In 2009 and 2010, Perez would be dreadful with the Mets, pitching to a 6.82 ERA in the first year of his new contract and a 6.80 ERA in the second year. In both years, he had an identical -1.2 WAR for the team. He, like 2B Luis Castillo before him, would become a symbol of the team’s rapid decline into irrelevance.

(Perez would make a comeback a few years later and pitch pretty well as a relief pitcher for a few years in Seattle and Arizona, for what it’s worth).

As for Lowe, it shouldn’t come as much of a shock that the 35-year-old showed signs of decline pretty quickly with Atlanta.

In his first year, he’d finish the season with a 4.67 ERA but still pitch in 34 games. He’d follow that up with a pretty solid 2010 season, winning 16 games and sporting a 4.00 ERA over 33 games. He’d have a rough 2011, losing a league-leading 17 games with a 5.05 ERA. He’d finish his career bouncing around between Cleveland, the Yankees, and Texas Rangers.

So while Lowe was nothing like he was with the Red Sox and Dodgers earlier in his career, he was certainly better than Perez was in orange and blue.

If you made it all the way here to the bottom, clearly you enjoy “what-if” Mets scenarios. You can subscribe right now and get this in your inbox every Friday!

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❓ Would you have signed Derek Lowe?

Would you have signed Lowe to a 4-year $60 million deal?

Next newsletter we’ll share the results of the poll! So stay tuned.

Last newsletter’s answers: Another unanimous vote! 100% of Almost A Met readers said they would have tried to sign 2B Orlando Hudson.

⚾ Mets news you need to know

🔵 The road ahead for the Mets only looks bumpy and uninviting ( / )

🟠 At some point, fans need something to believe in ()

🔵 The Mets are a mess (Michael Mayer / MetsMerizedOnline)

🟠 In case you forgot, Juan Soto is still Juan Soto ( / )

🔵 Mets Minors: A lost season top to bottom ( / )

Hello fellow Mets fans! Welcome to this week’s edition of Almost A Met.

This is a bit of fun one, but it also has some jump scare names in here.

We’re talking about 2B Orlando Hudson, someone who always makes his way onto my OOTP sims when I play in this era of Mets baseball (What can I say, playing as the 2009/2010/2011 Mets is a challenge).

Hope you all enjoy!

#LGM

Andrew Wyrich

Orlando Hudson ‘dreamed’ of playing for the Mets

Who doesn’t love when a player gets to play for the team they loved growing up? It’s a moment most baseball fans can’t help but smile at. I’d bet many of you reading this newsletter at one point daydreamed during a whiffle ball game that one day you’d wear your favorite team’s uniform in the big leagues. It’s moments like that when the game becomes more than a game. It’s peak baseball.

This is where you get the “how can you not be romantic about baseball” GIF.

You all know I have a strange encyclopedic knowledge about the Mets where other (more useful) things should be in my brain, so it came as a bit of a surprise when I read that 2B Orlando Hudson was a Mets fan while researching another player for a future newsletter.

Unfortunately — despite some attempts — Hudson never ended up wearing the orange and blue. That childhood dream we all love to see (Max Kranick stans rise up).

Despite growing up in South Carolina, Hudson “dreamed” of playing for the Mets, according to the New York Daily News, and loved Mets legend OF Darryl Strawberry.

In fact, ahead of the 2009 season, he was “making it known” he wanted to take his talents to Queens, the Daily News reported.

Hudson was a solid player. In fact, seeing his stats now is such a blast from the past. Playing for the Toronto Blue Jays and Arizona Diamondbacks, he amassed 23.1 WAR over seven years, hitting .282, had netted three Gold Glove awards, and generally being one of those good-glove decent hitting second basemen that we’ve heard about in baseball lore.

It’s almost quaint looking back on it. A guy who hit for average and had a solid glove at 2B. Old school baseball.

Hudson’s dream of playing for the Mets seemed possible over two separate offseasons. But, because he’s an Almost A Met, we know it never happened.

The roadblock stopping the Mets from signing Orlando Hudson

We can’t talk about Hudson never being on the Mets without talking about a fellow second baseman that Mets fans are loath to talk about: Luis Castillo. (Told you: Jump scare name).

In a lot of ways, Hudson and Castillo were similar players. Castillo was more known for his speed, but both of them had reputations for their stellar gloves. This is of course darkly funny looking back on, given Castillo’s high profile defensive gaffes with the Mets.

The Mets acquired Castillo from the Minnesota Twins at the 2007 Trade Deadline for two minor leaguers. He was pretty good down the stretch for the team, and following the season’s (very disappointing) end, the team then signed him to a four-year $25 million contract in November 2007.

The rest is a nightmare for the Mets. In 2008, Castillo was worth -0.4 WAR, battled injuries, and was generally ineffective for the Amazin’s. It was a sign of things to come. The contract had suddenly become an albatross. So much so that Ken Rosenthal reportedly named the Mets among several speculative fits for Hudson to sign with during the 2008 offseason.

So as the calendar flipped over to the 2009, there was at least some hope that perhaps the Mets could trade Castillo and bring in someone like Hudson.

Hudson appeared on MLB Network in February 2009 and said he’d spoken with the Dodgers, Mets, Yankees, and Nationals. Meanwhile, Rosenthal reportedly wrote that Hudson “seems to be banking on [the Mets or Yankees] pursuing a creative solution” to sign him, according to MLB Trade Rumors.

Instead, Hudson would end up signing a 1-year $3.38 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Daily News reported mid-season 2009 that the Mets “couldn’t find a taker for Luis Castillo’s contract in a trade” during the previous offseason, despite Hudson’s push to join the team.

When pressed on his offseason and flirtation with the Mets, Hudson demurred: “I am glad to be with the Dodgers now and happy to be able to put on their uniform. And they have a pretty good second baseman over there in Luis Castillo, too.”

But he did seem open to the idea of coming to Queens after his contract with the Dodgers was over, adding: “I am here and this is where I want to be. It wouldn’t be fair to the Dodgers or the Mets to talk about that now.”

Hudson would end up having a pretty great season in Los Angeles in 2009, netting a 4.1 WAR, hitting .283, having an OPS+ of 109, and getting an All Star nod and another Gold Glove award.

Castillo meanwhile would bounce back a bit, finishing the year with a 1.4 WAR, and hitting .302 over 142 games. However, his 2009 season was defined by a truly embarrassing moment when he “dropped the ball” (literally) against the Yankees.

The team as a whole bottomed out, finishing 70-92. After that, any goodwill with Mets fans was over. Castillo was one of several Mets players who became emblematic of their downfall.

Enter the Hudson-Mets flirtation 2.0.

More rumors about the Mets and Orlando Hudson

The Mets seemed very interested in trying to move Castillo following the 2009 season. The only problem, according to the New York Post, was that they were unable to “ditch” him to another team. The Daily News similarly reported that the Mets were having a “difficult time” moving Castillo.

There was a rumored three-team trade in the works between the Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers, and Mets that would have sent SP Kevin Millwood to Queens, Castillo to Wrigley Field, and OF Milton Bradley to Texas.

The deal never ended up happening, according to the Post, because Texas didn’t want to give up Millwood “so easily,” making Castillo a “stumbling block” in their effort to replace him with a free agent like 2B Chone Figgins or Hudson. There was also speculation in December 2009 that the Mets could look into 2B Adam Kennedy, who would “cost less” than Hudson and would “afford the Mets more payroll flexibility.”

But the interest was real. As a Bleacher Report article pointed out at the time: “If the Mets can move Luis Castillo, then I’m sure they would sign Hudson in a heartbeat. However, moving Castillo seems to be nearly impossible at this point.”

As we all know, the Mets never found a taker for Castillo’s contract, and Hudson would sign a deal with the Minnesota Twins. He’d have a 2.9 WAR season for the Twins during the 2010 season.

Meanwhile, Castillo would continue to struggle for the Mets in 2010. He’d only play in 86 games and would have 0.3 WAR season. It would be his final season in Queens, as they’d eventually release him after new GM Sandy Alderson was hired.

Hudson would finish his career playing for the San Diego Padres and Chicago White Sox. Ultimately, Hudson’s dream of playing in Queens would never materialize.

But I think we’d all sign up for a Mets past that included him instead of Castillo.

❓ Would you have signed Orlando Hudson?

Would you have tried to sign Orlando Hudson?

Next newsletter we’ll share the results of the poll! So stay tuned.

Last newsletter’s answers: Not shockingly, it was unanimous. 100% of Almost A Met readers said they would have signed Hideki Matsui in 2002.

🧢 Did you miss this newsletter?

⚾ Mets news you need to know

🔵 The resurrection of Jacob deGrom ()

🟠 Maybe it’s not too late ( / )

🔵 Mets record biggest extra inning in club history ( / )

🟠 Mets’ David Stearns being proactive as youth movement takes Queens by storm (Danny Abriano / SNY)

Hello fellow Mets fans! Welcome to today’s edition of Almost A Met.

We all know the story of what happened with Kaz Matsui and the Mets. For those who somehow don’t know: It went poorly.

But the team was reportedly interested in bringing in a different Matsui to Queens: Hideki Matsui. We also know he had a great career across town. So how close was that to being a reality? Let’s find out.

Andrew Wyrich

The Mets viewed Hideki Matsui as a ‘special circumstance’ to add to their payroll

We’ve covered the disaster of the 2002 Mets several times in this newsletter. It was one of the greatest disappointing eras in the team’s history.

Just to recap: Ahead of the 2002 season, the Mets made several splashy moves including acquiring: 1B Mo Vaughn, 2B Roberto Alomar, RF Jeromy Burnitz, CF Rodger Cedeno, and SP Shawn Estes. The new-look Mets were a trendy pick to win the World Series and with those lofty expectations, the team finished 75-86. They were last in the NL East and a major disappointment.

In an effort to supplement that roster the following offseason, the Mets were “interested in Japanese stars,” according to the New York Times. We’ve previously covered the team’s intense interest in 3B Norihiro Nakamura (who would have come with his signature bat flips). But in addition to Nakamura, the Mets were looking into the possibility of bringing in Matsui.

Matsui, nicknamed “Godzilla,” was one of the premiere power hitters in Japan. During the 2002 season, he hit 50 HRs and drove in 107 RBIs, while hitting .334 and having an OPS of 1.153. Prior to that, he routinely hit 30+ HRs over his 10 years in Japan’s league, never having a season with less than 11 HRs (in his rookie season).

So, it makes sense that the Mets — and other teams — were looking to add that kind of power to their MLB lineups.

Ahead of the Winter Meetings in December 2002, the Mets interest in Matsui “remained strong,” according to the New York Times, with both owner Fred Wilpon and GM Steve Phillips expressing interest in bringing the slugger to Queens.

In fact, the Mets spoke with Matsui’s agent Arn Tellum about his probable asking price and were “not scared off by it.” While they had a financial plan in place for the offseason, they believed that Matsui could be “the one special circumstance” to deviate from it, an official familiar with the talks told the Times.

Around the same time, Wilpon made a somewhat uncharacteristic comment to the press about Matsui.

“We certainly think he’s an interesting person,” Wilpon said, according to the New York Daily News. “He’s enormously popular.”

Wilpon went on to say that Matsui’s popularity in Japan could open up new revenue streams for the Mets, but there was intense competition for his services. Most notably, from the Yankees.

However, Phillips seemed optimistic. “We’re in on everything until we’re not in on it,” Phillips said, the Daily News reported at the time. “Obviously, he’s a good player so we’re considering it.”

The Mets make a ‘last-ditch’ offer to Hideki Matsui

As the Mets continued their pursuit of Nakamura, they also continued to stay in the hunt for Matsui. In fact, the Murray Chass of the New York Times noted that signing Nakamura “would not preclude the Mets from pursuing” Matsui also.

In mid-December 2002, the New York Post reported that the Amazin’s had offered the slugger a three-year offer that was “in the same $21-million range as the Yanks and Orioles.”

The Mets envisioned him playing center field for them alongside Burnitz in right field and Cedeno in left field.

While they believed Matsui was likely to land with the Yankees, they had “not abandoned hope” on him choosing Queens, the Post reported, and were still were hotly pursuing Nakamura to play third base.

Ultimately, the Mets made a “last-ditch effort” to try and land Matsui, according to the New York Post, but lost out to the Yankees.

Here’s how the Post put it at the time: “The Mets also had tried to get into the Matsui sweepstakes. But last night, as expected, the Yanks won. The sides reached an agreement of three years, $21 million. They still have to work out details involving an option year and performance bonuses, but are confident those are minor hurdles.”

However, it seemed, for a moment, that they would still get a Japanese slugger to sign with them. That never happened.

As we’ve covered previously, Nakamura would agree to a deal with the Mets before backing out of it and deciding to stay in Japan.

What happened next?

Matsui would go on to have a great career in the Bronx. He drove in 106 RBIs in 2003, 108 in 2004, and 116 in 2005. He’d be an All Star several times for the Yankees and generally be considered a great bat in the middle of their lineup.

Put simply: He was awesome for the Yankees.

Meanwhile, the Mets signed OF Cliff Floyd — who, as I’ve said in the past, was a personal favorite player of mine. They also decided to dip back into the Japanese player pool in 2003 by signing SS Kazuo Matsui to a three-year $20.1 million contract. We all know how that went. (Side note: Jolly Olive recently did a great video on Kaz Matsui. Give it a watch).

While I often say the Mets dodged a bullet by not signing or trading a player, this is one instance where they clearly could have used Matsui’s power as they tried to dig themselves out of the hole they made in 2001.

❓ Would you have signed Hideki Matsui?

Would you have signed Matsui in December 2002?

Next newsletter we’ll share the results of the poll! So stay tuned.

Last newsletter’s answers: 80% of Almost A Met readers said they wouldn’t have signed Carlos Correa to a 12-year $315 million deal, while 20% said they would have.

🧢 Did you miss this newsletter?

⚾ Mets news you need to know

🔵 Is it time for the Mets to turn to the next generation? (Jorge Eckardt / Mets Merized Online)

🟠 A debut for the literal history books ( / )

🔵 Hope arrived at Citi Field: and his name is A.J. Ewing ()

🟠 Why Mets are promoting top prospect A.J. Ewing and what scouts see (John Harper / SNY)

🔵 What if Mets sell at trade deadline? Should David Stearns be better at evaluating? Mailbag (Tim Britton / The Athletic)

Hello fellow Mets fans and welcome to this week’s edition of Almost A Met.

Sorry for the skip last week. I’ve been dealing with a hell of a cold, and on top of that, I started a new job! (Yes, those two things happening at the same time was… something else).

Anyway, with the news that SS Carlos Correa was injured, I thought it would be fun to dive into one of the bigger “what-ifs” of the Steve Cohen era.

So strap in, and let’s see how Correa was almost a $315 million bust in Queens.

P.S. — The newsletter is growing at a great rate, but the only way we can make it to the next level is by readers like you sharing it with fellow Mets fans. So why not take a second, send this to a Mets fan in your life, and tell them to subscribe!

I made it easy for them. Here’s a box to do it.

Alright, let’s get into the Mets-Correa saga.

Andrew Wyrich

For a second, Carlos Correa felt like Steve Cohen’s last Mets Infinity Stone

Ahead of the 2023 season, the Steve Cohen-owned Mets were flying high. It was the peak of Mets fans feeling like a whole new world was upon them. It was euphoric. It was grandiose. It was something Mets fans never felt before: Fuck you money.

For years, Mets fans had to deal with the penny-pinching Wilpon’s try and sell them a damaged set of goods. So much spring optimism was built upon “well, if everything breaks right, we can compete.”

With Cohen, that felt like a bygone era. Money was no object. No player was beyond the team’s reach.

The team has just signed Justin Verlander and Kodai Senga. Brandon Nimmo and Edwin Diaz signed mega extensions.

It was a brand new era of Mets baseball.

In a lot of ways, this new era was exemplified by the team’s pursuit of star SS Carlos Correa.

Martinis and ‘what the [heck’s] the difference’ money for the Mets and Carlos Correa

It’s not hard to see what Cohen liked in Correa. The 28-year-old free agent shortstop had accumulated 39.3 WAR over 888 games, hit 155 HRs, drove in 553 RBIs, and had an OPS+ of 129. He was known as a plus defender. He won several World Series in Houston. He was also known to be “clutch.”

Moving him to third base and adding him to a lineup of Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo, and Jeff McNeil would have made the team’s offense even more formidable coming off of their (disappointing) 101 win season in 2022.

While the Mets fizzled out at the end of the 2022 season and left the playoffs in a hurry, Correa was known to be a major postseason performer, with a lifetime .849 OPS in the playoffs.

He appeared, on paper, as a final piece of the puzzle.

In mid-December 2022, the Mets were described as having a “flirtation” with the free agent short stop.

However, they seemingly missed out on signing him when he inked a 13-year $350 million deal with the San Francisco Giants, who were desperate to make a big splash after they whiffed on trying to lure Yankees star Aaron Judge to the Bay Area.

In an interview with Jon Heyman of the New York Post, Cohen talked to him with a “tinge of disappointment” in his voice about not signing Correa. The Mets owner said he made a surprise call to Scott Boras, Correa’s agent, to try and sign him before he agreed to a deal with the Giants. He was told they were “already down the road” on a contract agreement.

“We got there late,” Cohen said, according to the Post.

So, that seemed to be that. The idea of adding a (expensive) cherry on top to Cohen’s lavish offseason seemed to be over. Correa was going to be a Giant.

Or was he?

In a truly stunning turn of events, the Giants cancelled a press conference where Correa was going to be introduced as the franchise’s new cornerstone player.

There appeared to be concerns about his physical. Boras said the concerns were not about the shortstop’s back, which limited him to just 75 games in 2019. When they did not meet a deadline to continue to review his medicals, Boras began talking to other clubs about his client’s availability.

Cohen was ready.

Boras and Cohen spoke for “four or five hours” while the Mets owner was enjoying dinner and martini’s in Hawaii, according to Sports Illustrated’s Tom Verducci. Boras, known for his puns, reportedly asked Cohen: “Do you have three olives for a third baseman?”

At 3:15 a.m. ET, the Mets and Correa agreed to a 12-year $315 million deal.

When the Mets initially entered the Correa sweepstakes, they had hoped to sign the shortstop for around $300 million, but when the final number ended up being a bit higher, it didn’t seem to phase Cohen.

“In the end, what the [heck’s] the difference. If you’re trying to make a move, you make the move,” Cohen told the New York Post from Hawaii. “If it’s [a few percent] more, what’s the difference?”

In Cohen’s words, Correa was the piece that the Mets needed to wash away the disappointment of 2022.

“We needed one more thing, and this is it,” he told the Post. “This really makes a big difference … I feel like our pitching was in good shape. We needed one more hitter. This puts us over the top.”

Cohen’s late-night swoop to acquire the free agent star was lauded.

• Mike Vaccaro of the Post said, the Correa deal “takes your breath away.”

• Fox Sports called the deal “the biggest flex yet” by Cohen.

• The New York Times called the deal the “ultimate luxury.”

• New York Magazine called the deal “Steve Cohen’s midnight miracle.”

But… Carlos Correa is an Almost A Met.

So what happened?

The two-week attempt to save the Mets-Correa contract

Clearly, there was palpable excitement about Correa coming to Queens. Correa even posted a photo of his son wearing a T-shirt that spelled out “I heart NY” in a hot dog and pretzel.

But while the deal was announced, it was never made official. For two weeks, speculation brewed on what was going on. In fact, Cohen had liked a few tweets about the Mets and Correa that raised some eyebrows.

Soon enough, it became clear that the Mets had similar concerns about Correa’s physical that the Giants did, leaving the deal in limbo. The Post reported that the Mets scrambled for two weeks to “forge a deal both Correa and the Mets could live with.”

Some of those provisions reportedly would have included fewer guaranteed dollars than what he would ultimately get from the Minnesota Twins, and also annual physicals with the Mets.

The Mets revised deal guaranteed six years at $157.5 million, according to the Post, but had conditions Correa’s team found “difficult to reach” including plate appearances and time on the field. The Mets saw “significant risk” in the later years of his contract.

Correa signed a significantly smaller deal to remain with the Twins, agreeing to a 6-year deal with several option years for a guaranteed $200 million that could boost up to $270 million.

Talk about a whirlwind.

What happened next?

After resigning in Minnesota, Correa was good — but never the player he was. In 2023, he his just .230 with 18 HRs and 65 RBIs. He followed that up in 2024 with a .310 batting average along with 14 HRs and 54 RBIs.

But crucially, both of those years were marred with injuries. Over both years, plantar fasciitis in both feet caused him to miss time.

At the 2025 trade deadline, Correa was — somewhat stunningly — traded back to Houston, with the Twins sending $33 million to cover part of his remaining contract.

As I mentioned in the intro, Correa was injured again earlier this week and will miss the remainder of this season.

Meanwhile, the 2023 Mets bottomed out, finishing 75-87 and missing the playoffs. That ushered in the David Stearns era.

It’s hard to imagine how Correa’s poor performance, injuries, and monster contract would have been anything but a nightmare for the Mets during that season (and beyond).

So while we may have memories of being a financial behemoth that should have been feared across the sport, this is clearly an instance where the Mets dodged a bullet.

Can you imagine that contract on the current Mets right now? Yikes.

Refer a friend

❓ Would you have signed Carlos Correa?

Would you have signed Correa to a 12-year $315 million deal?

Next newsletter we’ll share the results of the poll! So stay tuned.

Last newsletter’s answers: It was unanimous! 100% of Almost A Met readers said they would have hired Kim Ng instead of Brodie Van Wagenen.

🧢 Did you miss this newsletter?

⚾ Mets news you need to know

🔵 More than broadcasters: Why Gary, Keith and Ron mean so much to Mets fans ()

🟠 Could Carson Benge win a Gold Glove as a rookie? ( / )

🔵 (Not Mets related… but maybe soon?) Maybe the new-manager bounce is real after all ( / )

🟠 Waiting for Brett Baty’s power to arrive ( / )

Good morning fellow Mets fans! Welcome to today’s edition of Almost A Met.

Hey, the Mets won some games finally. Our national nightmare is over.

I was at the game on Tuesday and thought they were going to end their losing streak then. They did not.

But for today’s newsletter, we’re starting something new! Almost A Met (GM) Edition.

I took a look into how there has been a lot of suggestions that the Mets hire Kim Ng over the years (including me, all the way back in 2010).

Lets get into it.

Andrew Wyrich

How close was Kim Ng to being the GM of the Mets?

Kim Ng would eventually become a historic member of Major League Baseball.

In November 2020, Ng was hired by the Miami Marlins, becoming the first woman to lead baseball operations for a major sports league in the U.S. She then led the Marlins to a playoff berth in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, and her first full-season playoff berth in 2023, cementing herself as one of the best baseball minds in the game.

But did you know she could have done it for the Mets?

Ng and the Mets have been connected several times. After the 2018 season, the Mets were looking for a new general manager following long-time GM Sandy Alderson’s decision to step down from the role. Alderson, who has been leading the team’s baseball operations since 2010, steered the franchise in a new direction during the Bernie Madoff scandal. The team’s success culminated in back-to-back playoff berths in 2015 and 2016, with one of those being a magical run to the World Series.

But Alderson announced his “leave of absence” in June 2018, which left a three-headed monster of John Ricco, the team’s longtime assistant general manager, Special Assistant J.P. Ricciardi, a former GM himself, and Omar Minaya, the team’s former GM, to run the baseball operations of the team.

While the search for a GM didn’t begin in earnest until the offseason, there was a clear name many in the Mets community wanted the Mets to consider to take over the team’s decision making.

Matthew Cerrone, of MetsBlog (and a Mets community GOAT), floated the idea of the Mets hiring Ng in a July 2018 editorial. Ng, who served as the senior vice president of baseball operations for MLB at the time and grew up in New Jersey, was highly regarded as someone who should be making decisions for a major league team.

“There have yet to be reports about Ng or anyone else who will be considered by Mets ownership, but she should be based on her background, upbringing and experience in baseball,” Cerrone wrote.

(Side note, I advocated for the Mets to hire Ng way back in 2010 amid another GM search, saying “In a perfect world, Ng would be the next Mets GM.” I wrote about it in my “Meet The Mess” Mets column for my college’s newspaper “The New Paltz Oracle.”)

Ng’s credentials in 2018 were clear. Besides working for MLB, she was an Assistant General Manager for the Yankees, Vice President and Assistant GM for the Dodgers, and had interviewed to be the GM of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Minnesota Twins, Seattle Mariners, San Diego Padres, Milwaukee Brewers, and Los Angeles Angels, as Cerrone noted at the time.

Ng was interviewed by the Mets in 2018

The Mets search for a GM in 2018 was, characteristically, a mess.

With Owner Fred Wilpon “not a big belive[r] in analytics” some candidates like Toronto Blue Jays Vice President of Baseball Operations Ben Cherington bowed out, according to NorthJersey.com’s Matt Ehalt.

The New York Post reported that many around the league felt that Mets COO Jeff Wilpon “is too involved in baseball operations,” making it less desirable to take the role.

Here’s how Ken Rosenthal, of the Athletic, described the Mets GM search at the time:

“The Mets’ job should be one of the most attractive in the game, drawing widespread, heavy interest. But executives throughout the sport believe the Wilpons exert greater day-to-day influence than many owners, and the team has yet to make a strong commitment to analytics even as other clubs continue to ramp up their research and development staffs.”

Luckily, the Mets brass had the brains to include Ng among the numerous executives they interviewed to take over the team. Other names that got early consideration were Milwaukee Brewers adviser Doug Melvin, St. Louis Cardinals Director of Player Development Gary LaRocque, Player Agent Brodie Van Wagenen, Rays Senior Vice President of Baseball Operations Chaim Bloom, Cleveland’s baseball team GM Mike Chernoff.

In early October 2018, the Mets conducted a first round of interviews, with a second round expected to happen the week after. The team wanted to have a GM in place ahead of the GM Meetings in early November.

Ahead of that second round it was reported by MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo that Ng was among four people who remained in “realistic contention” for the position. Despite this, it didn’t appear likely the Mets would hire her.

The New York Post reported at the time that Melvin and Van Wagenen were “the favorites” for the role, while Ng and Bloom were “in the mix.”

Ultimately, it came down to three candidates: Melvin, Bloom, and Van Wagenen.

What happened next?

The Mets went outside-the-box (sigh) and hired Van Wagenen in late October 2018. Bloom was reportedly the other finalist.

While Brodie did inject some life into a franchise that needed some hope, his era in charge of the Mets was… all over the place, and mostly bad.

Yes, he brought in solid contributors like C Wilson Ramos and INF J.D. Davis, but he also made the wild 2B Robinson Cano and RP Edwin Diaz trade, and signed INF Jed Lowrie to a deal that may be among the worst in Mets history.

The team also faced numerous off-the-field LOLMets moments like when Van Wagenen was caught on hot mic criticizing Commissioner Rob Manfred, or when the Wilpons responded to that by misspelling their GM’s name in a press release. Or when he bad-mouthed SP Zack Wheeler after he signed with the Philadelphia Phillies (and subsequently was amazing, of course). The list goes on and on.

After Steve Cohen bought the Mets in 2020, Van Wagenen was swiftly fired.

As for Ng, she went on to be hired by the Marlins in 2020. As I mentioned, they had a surprise playoff appearance in 2020’s shortened season, but the team also finished 84-78 in her last year running the team—and lost in the Wild Card round.

However, despite her success, the Marlins apparently wanted to hire someone above her. Following her playoff berth season in 2023, they began looking for a president of baseball operations. Ng, understandably, was “not completely aligned” with Marlins Owner Bruce Sherman’s baseball operations plan and a mutual option for 2024 was declined.

Mets and Kim Ng part two

But there was another time the Mets and Ng had a connection.

In October 2023, shortly after Ng did not pick up her mutual option with the Marlins, there was a push in the New York media for the Mets to hire Ng to replace GM Billy Eppler.

Eppler abruptly resigned shortly after the Mets hired President of Baseball Operations David Sterns, with an anonymous letter accusing Eppler of manipulating the injured list (something every single baseball team does, but I digress).

With the Mets looking for a new GM, everyone seemed to want Ng to take the role.

“Having run a baseball operations department, Ng might not want to have a title (GM), but not the lead authority, which is vested in Stearns. But Steve Cohen has made it clear he would like to fill his front office with as much brain power as possible and he has demonstrated he will pay what is necessary to get what he craves—we can assume being No. 2 for these Mets would pay more than being the lead person for the Marlins,” The New York Post’s Joel Sherman wrote in a column, later adding: “But Ng was not on the radar before Monday. She is now. The Mets have to—at minimum—investigate whether she is interested and if the fit would work.”

Other outlets also made the same obvious connection. Although Andy Martino of SNY had a source that said: “I doubt she has any interest in the Mets.”

Ng was named the commissioner of the Athletes Unlimited Softball League in April 2025.

Given her track record in Miami, it’s incredibly likely she would have been a better option for the Mets than Van Wagenen in 2018.

❓ Would you have hired Kim Ng?

Would you have hired Kim Ng instead of Brodie Van Wagenen?

Next newsletter we’ll share the results of the poll! So stay tuned.

Last newsletter’s results: 80% of Almost A Met readers said they wouldn’t have traded for Kluber in 2018, while 20% said they would have.

🧢 Did you miss this newsletter?

⚾ Mets news you need to know

🔵 Checking in on Scott, Tong and Wenninger in Syracuse (Jorge Eckardt / MetsMerizedOnline)

🟠 They finally won … now what? ( / Substack)

🔵 Don’t blame Carlos Mendoza for the Mets’ losing streak ( / )

🟠 Francisco Lindor’s injury should lead to big chance for the still-tantalizing Ronny Mauricio (Danny Abriano / SNY)

🔵 How do you properly value Clay Holmes? ( / Mets360)

Hello fellow Mets fans! Welcome to today’s edition of “Almost A Met.”

I went to my first game of the season last week. The Mets lost (classic) and got swept by the A’s. But it was still a good time. I tried some new food (more on this in a future newsletter…) and enjoyed being at the stadium with my friend, and Almost A Met subscriber, Connor.

We both were like: “It’s good to be back.”

Anyway, enough about me. You’re here for a Mets “what-if” scenario. Today I’ll dive into how the Mets were looking to acquire SP Corey Kluber.

They were connected more than I initially thought…

Let’s get into it.

Andrew Wyrich

The Mets and Brodie Van Wagenen were ‘thinking big’ — and that included Corey Kluber

Where do I even begin with former Mets GM Brodie Van Wagenen?

He certainly was… unorthodox. From the moment he was hired — when the Wilpon’s decided to go with a player agent to run their baseball operations rather than an experienced GM or up-and-coming baseball mind — he clearly wanted to change the perception and personnel of the Mets.

He was hired in October 2018, and immediately got to work to try and fix a Mets club that finished 77-85 and featured the likes of OF Jose Bautista playing 83 games for them.

Van Wagenen put his stamp on the team with a blockbuster trade on December 3, 2018: Acquiring 2B Robinson Cano and Closer Edwin Diaz for several veterans and top prospects OF Jarred Kelenic and SP Justin Dunn. (While this trade worked out for the Mets, process wise it’s a disaster. You don’t trade your top prospect for a closer, no matter how good he is).

But he was seeking even more moves. One player he was reportedly eyeing: Cleveland’s SP Corey Kluber.

Kluber had quickly established himself as one of the best pitchers in the game. From 2013-2018, he had a 2.96 ERA, won 94 games, and won two Cy Young Awards.

He also finished high in that award’s voting three times when he didn’t win over that span, where he had 1,364 strikeouts over 1,238 innings.

He was just coming off a fantastic 2018, where the 32-year-old had a 2.89 ERA and pitched 215 innings. However, he was slated to make quite a bit of money. As NBC Sports reported at the time, he would make $17.2 million in 2019, with a $17.2 club option in 2020, and an $18 million option in 2021.

As the offseason kicked off, it was reported that Cleveland was willing to listen to offers on Kluber, so it made some sense that the Mets would at least entertain the idea of slotting him into a rotation that could include some combination of Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Zack Wheeler, and Steven Matz.

A possible ripple effect of a Kluber-Mets trade: What happens to Syndergaard?

The Mets and Van Wagenen wasted no time in kicking the tires on Kluber.

On Dec. 1, 2018, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com tweeted that the Mets had “spoken” with Cleveland about trading for Kluber after failing to come to an agreement on a trade for C Yan Gomes. (Who I now learned is officially an “Almost A Met”).

“Sources say the Mets have spoken with the Indians about Corey Kluber. The two teams had talked about Yan Gomes before he was dealt to the Nationals, but the Mets’ interest now appears to also extend to Kluber, who had Mets manager Mickey Callaway as a pitching coach in Cleveland,” Feinsand wrote.

As I mentioned earlier, Van Wagenen was shooting for the moon in the GM chair.

In fact, Feinsand noted that the Mets were “thinking big” during the offseason, including talking about the ace. He added that the Mets GM was even thinking about trading Syndergaard as he was “exploring every possible avenue to improve his team.”

CBS Sports speculated at the time that without the necessary prospect capital to entice Cleveland—they had just traded two of their highly regarded prospects to Seattle—that the Mets could flip Syndergaard for prospects they’d then use to acquire Kluber.

The Daily News also surmised that a deal for someone like Kluber would make the idea of trading Syndergaard easier to swallow. Other sites suggested players like OF Juan Lagares, 1B Dominic Smith, and SP prospect David Peterson as part of a deal.

Ultimately, while Kluber’s connections to Callaway made sense on the surface, there were other obstacles the two teams would have had to overcome. It appears that things didn’t progress beyond talks.

Cleveland ultimately kept Kluber for the 2019 season. But that wasn’t the only time the Mets would be linked to him.

What happened next? More Mets-Kluber rumors.

Kluber’s 2019 season was a disaster. The ace struggled in his first seven starts of the season, pitching to a 5.80 ERA, and suffered a non-displaced fracture in his right forearm after he was struck by a line drive against the Marlins in early May.

To make matters worse, he suffered an oblique injury during a rehab start later in the year. He wouldn’t pitch again in 2019.

The Mets, meanwhile, had a very strange year in 2019. They were 10 games below .500 around the All Star break, but surged in the second half to finish with an 86-76 record and missed the playoffs. For what it’s worth, Syndergaard also had an odd season, finishing with a 4.28 ERA over 32 games.

Following the 2019 season’s end, the New York Post would report that Van Wagenen would want to “swing for the fences” again during the offseason, and that the Mets could re-explore a trade for Kluber. In fact, Mike Puma suggested that the team could take a hypothetical trade “a step further” and include Cleveland’s SS Francisco Lindor in a potential deal. He speculated that a return package to Cleveland could include 1B Dominic Smith or 3B J.D. Davis (and presumably much more).

However, it wasn’t meant to be. Cleveland shipped Kluber to the Texas Rangers in December 2019, getting OF Delino DeShields Jr. and RP Emmanuel Clase in return. The deal would look horrific for Texas — as Kluber pitched in just one game for them before injuring himself and his 2020 season ending. Also Clase turned into one of the best pitchers in baseball… ahem until recently.

Even after all of that, there were still connections between the Mets and Kluber.

The former ace hosted a workout in January 2021 and around 20 teams, including the Amazin’s, were expected to be in attendance. The Yankees were expected to be a natural fit for him as a buy-low candidate.

Joel Sherman of the New York Post wrote a column around that time noting that new-Mets owner Steve Cohen could simply offer Kluber more money than everyone else to take a chance on him.

That obviously didn’t happen. That’s why Kluber is an “Almost A Met.”

Kluber ended up pitching for the Yankees, then bounced around for a few seasons with the Rays and Red Sox before throwing his last major league pitch in 2023.

While there was a ton of speculation about the Mets and Kluber over several off-seasons, it’s likely a good thing the teams never matched up for a trade (or signing). Given how his career went after 2018, he’d be remembered as another questionable Van Wagenen deal.

❓ Would you have traded for Corey Kluber?

Next newsletter we’ll share the results of the poll! So stay tuned.

Last newsletter’s answers: It was unanimous! 100% of Almost A Met readers said they wouldn’t have signed Jhonny Peralta to a 4-year $53 million deal.

🧢 Did you miss this newsletter?

⚾ Mets news you need to know

🔵 Struggling Mets must prove uninspiring start is an aberration (Chelsea Janes / SNY)

🟠 It’s getting late early for the Mets ( / Substack)

🔵 A deep dive into the Mets’ offensive struggles (Robert Colonna / MetsMerizedOnline)

🟠 What the FIP is going on with David Peterson? ( / Mets 360)

🔵(Not Mets related, but still a great read): We should appreciate the Mike Trout renaissance while we can ( / )

Hello fellow Mets fans! Welcome to today’s edition of “Almost A Met.”

Today, we’re going back to the early Sandy Alderson-era — yes, a bit of a jump scare, I know — but specifically, we’re looking at a time where the Mets were finally thinking about spending some money.

We’re talking about the Mets and how they “clandestinely” met with free agent shortstop Jhonny Peralta.

Before we get into it: If you are new here, you should consider subscribing! You’ll get a Mets “what-if” newsletter in your inbox each week (plus some other fun stuff). If you are already a subscriber, please hit that like button! I know everyone asks, but it does really help.

Let’s get into it.

Andrew Wyrich

The Mets and Jhonny Peralta seemed like a good fit ahead of the 2014 season

As the 2013 season came to a close, many people linked the Mets and Peralta as a potential fit.

The Mets were looking to spend some money after finishing 74-88 and had multiple holes to fill on the roster.

One of the most glaring holes was shortstop: SS Omar Quintanilla finished with the most games started at the position, 95, and finished the year with a -0.9 WAR. Meanwhile, 23-year-old Ruben Tejada also played in 57 games but similarly didn’t produce all that much, finishing the season with a -0.6 WAR.

So yeah, an upgrade was clearly favorable.

Meanwhile, Peralta was coming off a pretty good season. He had a 3.0 WAR for the Detroit Tigers, hit 11 HRs, knocked in 55 RBIs, and had an OPS+ of 121. The veteran had played for 10 seasons so far, and averaged 2.2 WAR over that time.

However, there was some belief that Peralta would be a “bargain,” thus the connection to the Mets.

The reason? His connection to Biogenesis — the Florida clinic at the center of a performance enhancing drug scandal that embroiled superstar Alex Rodriguez and other players — and served a 50-game suspension for his connection in early August 2013.

But PED scandals never seemed to faze Alderson, especially with the Mets where he was trying to squeeze every penny.

The year prior, the Mets signed OF Marlon Byrd, who was suspended for 50 games in 2012, to a very cheap contract that far exceeded anyone’s expectations. Also, as the New York Daily News noted at the time, Alderson’s very-first Mets contract he gave out was to C Ronny Paulino, who was still serving a 50 game suspension.

Oh, and don’t forget, Alderson was the GM of the Oakland A’s during the “Bash Brothers” years with Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire.

All of this is to say that Alderson clearly wasn’t going to let a PED suspension get in the way of a bargain contract. However, Peralta returned from the suspension and had a very visible postseason (including a dramatic home run) so there was some suspicion about just how much of a bargain he’d ultimately end up being.

Those early predictions of a Mets-Peralta potential match seemed to be prophetic in November 2013.

The Mets ‘clandestinely’ meet with Peralta but were met with ‘sticker shock’

The GM Meetings in November 2013, the Mets “clandestinely” met with Peralta, according to Jon Heyman, then of CBS Sports. The shortstop traveled to the annual meeting to meet face-to-face with teams.

“No Mets person would admit there was a meeting with Peralta, but sources on other teams said he did meet with them,” Heyman wrote on Twitter, according to NBC Sports.

However, about a week later, the Mets seemed less hopeful about landing their “primary target” Peralta at a discount. In fact, they were reportedly the first team that contacted him.

Things changed quickly. The team had “sticker shock” at the shortstop’s asking price, a source told the New York Post.

The Mets thought they could lock up Peralta with a two-year deal in the neighborhood of $20-25 million, according to the Post. However, the free agent “made it clear” he wanted at least a three-year contract worth at least $45 million.

Later in November, it became very evident that the Mets weren’t able to get anywhere near the price it would take to get him. Peralta eventually landed a four-year contract worth $53 million from the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Yankees reportedly offered him a three-year contract.

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“The Mets talked to my agent, but the offer they made was not really good,” Peralta said, according to the Post. “But they were really serious. The Mets came in first and they offered only two years and the Yankees offered three, but I decided to come here to the Cardinals.”

The shortstop added that the Mets seemed to have a “little problem” with Tejada manning the position moving forward.

What happened next?

After Peralta signed with the Cardinals, the Mets quickly pivoted and signed OF Curtis Granderson to a four-year $60 million contract. Personally, I loved the move at the time and Granderson quickly became one of my favorite Mets.

(Coincidentally, he is also one of my wife’s favorite players. Perhaps that’s why we’re a good fit together).

Peralta would go on to have a great 2014 season, hitting 21 HRs, 75 RBIs, and having an OPS+ of 117 and a WAR of 5.8. However, things would peter out after that. He had a decent 2015 season, but his final two years in the majors would have negative WAR.

Maybe Alderson was onto something by only offering a two-year deal, huh?

Tejada would stay with the Mets and would the victim of one of the most dirty plays I’ve seen on a baseball field.

However, I was there when Chase Utley first came to Citi Field after that play… and I don’t think I’ll ever forget how that crowd sounded. It felt gladiatorial in the stadium that night.

❓ Would you have signed Jhonny Peralta?

Would have signed Peralta if it required a four-year deal?

Next newsletter we’ll share the results of the poll! So stay tuned.

Last newsletter’s answers: 60% of Almost A Met readers said they have signed Norihiro Nakamura, while 40% said they wouldn’t have.

🧢 Did you miss this newsletter?

⚾ Mets news you need to know

🔵 The Mets are already showing a lot of grit and character in 2026 ( / )

🟠 Mets not ready for rotation shakeup despite inconsistent David Peterson (Chelsea Janes / SNY)

🔵 Evaluating the Mets’ offense after 10 games ( / Mets360)

🟠 1986 Mets Rewatch: Kramer & Newman’s Misplaced Antagonism (Mark Simon / Like It Oughta Be newsletter)

🔵 Analyzing the Mets’ starting pitching depth (Robert Colonna / MetsMerizedOnline)

🟠 Mets reliever A.J. Minter begins rehab assignment with perfect inning at Port St. Lucie (Ben Krimmel / SNY)

Hello fellow Mets fans! Welcome to today’s edition of “Almost A Met.”

We’ve been focusing on more recent “what-ifs” for the past few weeks, so I thought I’d dig back further today.

I looked into how the Mets and Japanese star Norihiro Nakamura were very close to finalizing a deal. There’s a… unique reason it never ended up happening. Scroll down to find out what it was.

Before we get into it: If you are new here, you should consider subscribing! You’ll get a weekly look into moves that almost shaped the history of the Amazin’s!

I made it easy, just type your email in the box below.

Let’s get into it.

Andrew Wyrich

Norihiro Nakamura’s epic bat flips almost came to the Mets

Steve Phillips loved splashy moves. We’ve covered it quite a bit in this newsletter. So after striking out on trying to acquire Japanese superstar Hideki Matsui (yes, you better believe I’ll be covering this in the future), he set his sights on another Japanese slugger in late 2002.

Enter Norihiro Nakamura.

In an effort to replace fan-favorite 3B Edgardo Alfonzo, the Mets were looking at Nakamura’s undeniable power as a way to supplement the lineup.

The then 28-year-old was coming off a monster season in Japan. During the 2002 season, he hit 42 HRs, had 115 RBIs, batted .294, and had an OPS of .997. He also was coming off his second straight season of 40+ HRs, and his fifth straight season of hitting 30+ HRs.

It’s clear why Phillips was interested in bringing in that kind of potential power to the Mets.

Oh, did I mention Nakamura’s epic bat flips? Yeah, they are pretty cool. (I don’t know how they would have played in the stuffed up nature of MLB at the time, but today they’d be going viral every single day.)

By all accounts… negotiations between Nakamura and the Mets seemed to be going well

The Mets interest in Nakamura started at the end of the 2002 season.

To recap, the 2002 Mets had struggled mightily after being a trendy pick to win the World Series after acquiring the likes of 1B Mo Vaughn, 2B Roberto Alomar, OF Jeromy Burnitz, and LF Roger Cedeno. (Not to mention trying to add to that list).

We all know that didn’t work out. They ended up finishing 75-86.

The day after the season ended the New York Post reported that the Mets would be looking at Japanese players to help “fix their broken roster.” In fact, Assistant GM Gary LaRocque spent two weeks in Japan and “filed positive reports” on Nakamura and SS Kazuo Matsui.

About two weeks later, Mets officials gathered to “determine whether to offer a contract” to the third baseman, according to the New York Times. But the team was also exploring other options, including making a big trade with the Montreal Expos.

The Mets and Nakamura had met and he toured the Mets facilities at Shea Stadium. By all accounts, he was impressed.

“They have great facilities,” Nakamura said, according to ESPN. “They have a medical clinic in the stadium, and you can really see the difference between major league ballparks and Japanese ones.”

Phillips called their December 2002 meeting “good” and added that the team and player “got to know each other.”

“I told him we’d be back to him in a couple of days. He’s got to assess what he wants to do. He has decisions to make,” ESPN reported Phillips saying.

Soon, reports would surface that Nakamura was looking at several multi-year deals in Japan worth $30 million.

The Mets, however, reportedly offered $7 million over two years.

Nakamura was also apparently willing to take less money to play in the MLB, as the New York Times reported at the time, and the Mets were the “only team” he visited in the U.S.

On December 20, 2022 the New York Post reported that the deal was “almost wrapped up.”

But things were about to change.

Then things died — for a unique reason

There was a specific reason that the deal fell apart, according to Nakamura — his signing being leaked to the press.

Before it was officially said, rumors began to circulate that the deal was falling apart. John Harper of the Daily News reported that the team was aware of Japanese outlets reporting that Nakamura decided to return to Japan. The Mets were “anxiously awaiting” any official word.

“We don’t know what’s going on,” a Mets source said.

Nakamura felt that reports of his signing coming out before he informed the teams in Japan of his decision “broke the rule” and eroded trust with the Amazin’s.

“The Mets broke the rule,” Nakamura said, according to the Daily News. “I asked them not to leak the story (he had committed to them) to the media until I informed Kintetsu and Hanshin of my decision. I don’t trust the team which broke the rule.”

In response, Phillips played it straight.

“We had an agreement in principle with the player,” Phillips said in a statement, according to the Daily News. “He changed his mind after successfully completing a physical. We respect his decision and wish him nothing but the best of luck.”

Nakamura would stay in Japan and sign a 5-year deal with the Kintetsu Buffaloes.

What happened next?

Some scouts believed the fallout “might have done the Mets a big favor,” according to the Daily News. As there were concerns about Nakamura being able to adjust to major league pitching and catching up to fastballs in a different league.

Around the same time, the Mets agreed to a four-year deal with OF Cliff Floyd (a personal favorite of mine) and turned their attention to other ways to replace Alfonzo.

“Despite Mr. Nakamura’s decision, today was a productive day for the Mets’ organization,’‘ Phillips said, as ESPN reported at the time.

Instead of making a free agent splash like 3B Bill Mueller or 3B Jose Hernandez, the Mets opted to stick with prospect 3B Ty Wigginton to take over the hot corner.

And let’s face it: Even if Nakamura was half of the player he was in Japan, he wasn’t going to move the needle for the disastrous 2003 Mets that finished 66-95.

Eventually, Nakamura would make it to the MLB after several seasons in Japan where his offensive numbers declined from the heights they were before his flirtation with the Mets.

Ahead of the 2005 season he would sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers as an attempt to fill the void created when 3B Adrian Beltre left.

It didn’t go very well. Nakamura would play in just 17 games for the Dodgers.

Given his offensive decline, perhaps some scouts were right that the Mets dodged a bullet. But this is an interesting piece of “what-if” Mets history given just how close things seemed to be.

Refer a friend

❓ Would you have signed Norihiro Nakamura?

Would have signed Nakamura to a 2-year deal for $7 million?

Next newsletter we’ll share the results of the poll! So stay tuned.

Last newsletter’s answers: 67% of Almost A Met readers said they wouldn’t have traded Starling Marte for Hunter Harvey, while 33% said they would have.

🧢 Did you miss this newsletter?

⚾ Mets news you need to know

🔵 J.D Martinez returns to Mets as Special Advisor (Eitan Hain / MetsMerizedOnline)

🟠 INTRODUCING: Mets Fix (the site) Your new companion to the newsletter ( / )

🔵 How Juan Soto helped Luis Robert get comfortable in New York (Tim Britton and Will Sammon / The Athletic)

🟠 Kodai Senga looks great. The bats do not. ( / )

🔵 Some things that have jumped out to me after four games ( / Mets360)

🟠 Baseball’s next wave of talent dominated Opening Weekend ( / Substack)

Hello fellow Mets fans and welcome back to the second part of a special edition series of newsletters for Almost A Met. I’m continuing our season of simulating the 2026 Mets in Out of the Park Baseball.

Today we’ll pick up where we left off. If you missed the first newsletter, check it out here.

If you are new here, I usually write about players who were almost on the Mets. I guess this is in a way a “what-if” like my normal newsletter.

If you are into that, you should subscribe! We’re growing fast and I’d love for you to be a part of it.

Subscribe now

Anyway, let’s get into the second half of the Mets (simulated) 2026 season.

I simulated the Mets 2026 season in OOTP. It was a wild ride.

July continued - Trade deadline

It’s now July 20th and I need to consider some trades. We’ve currently got the last Wild Card spot and are only 3 games out of first in the NL East. In a season that I thought could get ugly quickly, it’s time to be buyers.

After looking at the trading block at potential deals for Emilio Pagan of the Reds and Will Vest of Detroit, I decided to try and incrementally make this team better.

The first trade I made was acquiring Dennis Santana and Jake Mangum from the Pirates, who were 12 games back at 46-57. I traded Mark Vientos and a few lower level prospects. This necessitated a few moves, but I sent Ryan Lambert down since he had a 6.40 ERA since coming up.

As I continued to monitor the trade market, we had a fun milestone happen. On July 24, Marcus Semien scored his 1,000 career run. Congrats, Marcus.

After shoring up the ‘pen a bit, I decided to look at potential available bats. One name that caught my eye was Eugenio Suarez. (Eagle-eyed readers will know I liked him for the 2026 Mets). In this sim, he’s having a pretty good season with 31 HRs, 65 RBIs, and an OPS+ of 141. We could use a bat like that to help Soto.

Unfortunately Brett Baty has been a major disappointment this year, so having him take on a utility role instead of a (mostly) full-time DH seemed like a good idea. Also Suarez’s contract is only $15 million for this year and a team option for $16 million. Not so bad for adding some power to a lineup that clearly needs it.

That deal cost us Jacob Reimer, Ronald Hernandez, and Nick Morabito.

On the eve of the trade deadline, the Padres offered Jalen Beeks for a pair of young FCL and DSL players. I accepted it. That meant Tobais Myers and his 6.84 ERA was getting sent down to AAA.

Of course, Beeks got injured 3 games into his Mets tenure. But the injury was still undiagnosed as the deadline was about to hit. I was able to snag Griffin Canning — who was pitching well as a reliever — from the Padres for Calvin Ziegler and Adbert Alzolay.

Also the Rays offered me Blake Treinen on a minor league deal for two pretty non-important prospects. I made the deal (if a bit of a panic move after Beeks’ injury). It felt like a no-risk situation. This deal necessitated the DFA of Luis Garcia, but he had a 5.53 ERA so, not a huge deal.

Here’s a look at the state of the roster at the end of the deadline.

Fingers crossed.

August - Injury scares, but a a first place fight

Well, this was a nice way to start the month: Clay Holmes won pitcher of the month for July, a nice little achievement for his very good season so far.

To counterbalance that, Beeks will be out for 8 weeks with a sprained ankle. So perhaps my panic bullpen moves weren’t a terrible idea. (I’m going to file a grievance with MLB about the Padres and their medical records…)

Anyway, Brazoban was able to come back after a minor league rehab stint, so I decided to send down Christian Scott, who has performed pretty well in both the rotation and as a long reliever.

But the bigger news is after sweeping the Guardians and taking 2 of 3 from the Pirates - WE ARE IN FIRST PLACE with a 68-51 record on August 10th. LFGM.

Of course, with this season being the way it is… that kind of news was immediately squashed by us losing Bo Bichette for some time with hamstring tendonitis. Looking at the available options, I decided to bring up Ryan Clifford from AAA where he had been mashing, have him start at first base and move Jorge Polanco to third base. It’s far from ideal, but he can be decent enough there for a few weeks.

After a few days, we are about to hit September. The team is in the thick of the playoff race and we’ll have Luke Weaver and Bichette back shortly. The Mets are 82-55, in first place, but just one game ahead of the Phillies. Here’s a look at the standings.

September - ‘Meaningful games in September’ alright

Once again, we are starting off the month with an award. Nolan McLean has put his bad start of the season behind him and won Rookie of the Month for August. Over 5 games in the month he had a 0.88 ERA. He’s finally cookin’.

Also, roster expansion to 28 players on Sept. 1 made some injury decisions easy. Bichette and Weaver were activated from the IL that day. Bichette will move back to third base, Polanco back to first base, and Clifford will stay for now as a pinch hitting option off the bench (although that experiment hasn’t really worked… he’s got a 21 OPS+ over 16 games).

I wanted to bring Carson Benge back up also — he’s excelled since being sent down — but a strained groin has him out for another 2-3 weeks. Maybe he can help us down the final stretch run.

On Sept. 9, what felt like an impossibility in April actually happened. With an 86-58 record, the New York Mets clinched a post season berth.

After that, what seems to be a running theme this year happened once again: On Sept. 15 it’s announced that Blake Treinen needed radial nerve decompression surgery. The timeline is literally listed as “?” so his season is over.

My no risk move didn’t pan out. He had a 6.55 ERA for us over 11 games. You win some, you lose some. I called up Bryan Hudson for some bullpen depth.

Unfortunately as of Sept. 22, we are out of first place in the NL East. The Yankees clobbered us from Sept. 11-13, but we were able to split the series with the Phillies a few days later.

The Mets are 3 games out of first with 6 games left to play in the regular season.

In the second game of the Rangers series, Jacob DeGrom squared off against Nolan McLean. I enjoyed the symbolism in that matchup. Unfortunately DeGrom got what he never did with the Mets: Runs. The Mets lost 10-7, but neither DeGrom or McLean pitched great. DeGrom did get the win though.

That was a bit of a harbinger of things to come, as the team sputtered a bit down the stretch losing 4 out of their final 6 games.

However, David Peterson finished the regular season with the best ERA in the league and Suarez led the league in home runs. It appears I made one deadline move that didn’t end in disaster.

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October - Playoff baseball!

We finished the regular season with a record of 94-68 in second place in the NL East and the first Wild Card spot. Not too bad.

As I set the playoff roster, I added Jalen Beeks back to the team and decided to call up Carson Benge. He was been tearing it up in AAA after his send down early in the year and Ewing was only OK. Gotta give the kid a shot here. (Also I’d be lying if his performance on real life Opening Day didn’t influence me a little bit).

Unfortunately, even with the first Wild Card spot, we have a tough path. Our Wild Card series is against the Diamondbacks, but if we win we’ll face the Dodgers.

Our first game will see McLean on the bump against Shane McClanahan, who the Dbacks acquired for a package of prospects including Jordan Lawlar at the deadline.

McLean pitched well, giving up just 3 hits through the first 5 innings. The Mets broke a 0-0 tie after Francisco Alvarez hit a 2-run HR in the bottom of the 5th. Santana got into a bases loaded jam in the top of the 8th, and Brazoban gave up a grand slam. Gut wrenching. A 4-2 loss to begin the playoffs.

Luckily, we were able to bounce back in the second game of the series. Lindor, Polanco, Soto and Bichette all homered during the game and Peterson, Brazoban, Minter, and Beeks helped us secure a 9-4 win.

This set up a winner-take-all final game of the Wild Card series… and we won in decisive fashion. 11-3, on the backs of Lindor getting 3 hits, Soto knocking in 4 runs and (my genius at play once again) Benge also getting 4 RBIs.

The win set us up for an NLDS matchup against the Dodgers. I was dreading this.

In Game 1, Yoshinobu Yamamoto was dealing, and pitched 6.2 innings with only allowing one run. The Dodgers ‘pen took care of the rest. We lost 9-2 as Freddy Peralta lasted only 3 innings.

In Game 2, we lost 1-0. Edwin Diaz pitched two scoreless innings to get the win, the Dodgers scored in the bottom of the ninth. Once again, gut wrenching.

I was hoping for some new vibes as the series shifted to Citi Field for Game 3 — and it happened. Peterson continued his brilliant season with 6.1 innings of scoreless baseball, and the Mets won 7-1.

Unfortunately, the season came to an end the next day.

The Dodgers rallied for 3 runs in the 9th inning, with Devin Williams blowing the save. We lost 3-2. So many heartbreaking losses in this postseason.

Final thoughts

This was a fun little season, huh?

Some pretty bleak beginnings to a mid-season rally, a scuffle at the end of the regular season and ultimately once again running into the Dodgers buzzsaw.

However, if all of those playoff loses happened like they did in this sim, I’d probably punch a wall or something dramatic.

I’m glad the Mets already proved the simulation wrong with an awesome showing on real life Opening Day.

Hopefully some of this still comes to fruition, but are able to prove OOTP wrong again and advance further in the playoffs.

LGM!

I hope you enjoyed this little random side project. If you’d like me to do more OOTP content in the future, let me know. I could try something. Who knows.

Regardless — back to our regularly scheduled Almost A Met posts next week!

Hello fellow Mets fans! And happy (real) Opening Day!

It’s my absolute favorite day of the year. I have a shirt that says it should be a national holiday.

To celebrate, I thought I would do something a little bit different. To two-part special edition. One will be today, the next one tomorrow.

For those of you who don’t know I love playing Out of the Park Baseball (OOTP). I started with Baseball Mogul when I was a teenager, but the depth of OOTP leaves me looking at spreadsheets and baseball data for hours and hours on end.

I bought the latest edition a few days ago and thought… what if I simulated the Mets and told Almost A Met readers about it?

So here it is! If you enjoy it, please leave a like! If you are new here, you should subscribe to get a “what-if” Mets newsletter in your inbox each week.

I simulated the 2026 Mets on Out of the Park Baseball 27

Just for a baseline, here’s what the roster looks like on Opening Day.

Opening Day. Mets record 0-1

Let’s just hope today’s game goes better for the real-life Mets than it did for my simulated Mets. We lost 5-0 to the Pirates and Paul Skenes tore us up, going 7 innings and striking out 8 batters.

Meanwhile, Freddy Peralta only went 5.1 innings and gave up 4 runs. Huascar Brazoban continued his dominance from the World Baseball Classic and pitched 1.2 innings of scoreless baseball, but newcomer Luis Garcia gave up another run. To top it all off Marcell Ozuna hit a home run off Peralta. Gross.

The offense obviously wasn’t much better, with Juan Soto getting 2 of the team’s 5 hits. If there is some silver lining, many new-Mets got their first hits for the Amazin’s out of the way: Bo Bichette, Luis Robert Jr., and Marcus Semien all checked off that milestone.

Hopefully things get better over the next few weeks.

March / April - So. Many. Pitching injuries.

The first week was a lot of the same. We had a great game against the Cardinals where we won 18-2, but then proceeded to have a 4 game losing streak.

Then on April 14 the injury bug bit us for the first (but nowhere near final) time. Peralta, who had pitched in that high scoring Cardinals game but otherwise had been pretty uneven over his first four starts, suffered a hamstring strain after pitching against the Athletics.

He’ll be out for the next 5 weeks — I’m sure the simulated version of WFAN and #MetsTwitter had very normal reactions to it.

In response, I looked into how our depth was doing down in Syracuse. Jonah Tong was having a great start to the season and Christian Scott was only OK.

To be more realistic, I moved Sean Manaea back into the rotation and decided to bring up Craig Kimbrel to fill his role in the bullpen. This hurt because the bullpen seemed to be agreeing with Manaea, who has a 2.31 ERA over 6 games.

To top off our rotation woes, Nolan McLean also experienced a “dead arm” injury just about a week later. He’s also been struggling mightily, with a 7.07 ERA to start the season. Out of an abundance of caution, I decided to shut him down for 15 days and bring up a fresh arm. I think he could use the mental reset. Scott got the call up.

Then this happened. I literally mumbled “You’ve got to be kidding me” when the notification appeared.

So yeah, I immediately regretted putting McLean on the 15-day injured list, with Senga also out for the next two weeks, but that’s the way baseball goes sometimes. Tong has continued to pitch well so I brought him up.

So to recap: From Opening Day through April 27th the Mets rotation went from:

• Peralta, Peterson, McLean, Holmes and Senga

• Manaea, Peterson, Scott, Holmes, and Tong

Thank you for the pitching depth, David Stearns.

At the end of April, it’s safe to say it’s been the worst case scenario. We’re in 3rd place in the NL East with a 12-19 record. But we’re also 7 games back already and trailing the 19-12 Phillies (gross) and the surprising Nationals who are somehow 19-13.

I’m hoping things turn around in May with a softer schedule featuring the Angels, Rockies, Diamondbacks, Nats, Marlins, and Reds.

Hopefully a six-game stretch against the Tigers and Yankees doesn’t end up feeling like a season ender.

May - Signs of life

In the first week of May, McLean was eligible to return. Luckily, Scott and Tong have pitched well. However, Manaea was pretty putrid in his return to the rotation. My first thought is to let the young guys stay in their roles and move Manaea back to where he was doing well earlier in the season.

That left a bit of a roster crunch. Alex Carrillo was the casualty there, since Kimbrel has been pretty good since getting called up.

Just a few days later, Brooks Raley suffered a 7-month injury on the day Senga was eligible to return from the IL. That made roster movement easy, I also want to keep Tong on a regular starting schedule so he’s going back down to Syracuse for AJ Minter, who is finally ready to take a bullpen role after coming back from injury.

Despite all of these injuries and roster moves, the Mets have gone 6-3 against the Angels, Rockies and D-Backs to start the month. I would have liked one or two more wins, but I’ll take what I can get.

Now I’m just hoping the team surprises me against the Tigers and Yanks. The good news is Peralta should be lined up to make his return at home against the Yankees.

Nope. This disappointing season continued with McLean getting injured for 4-5 weeks and Luke Weaver going down for 3 months. Peralta took one spot on the roster and I decided to bring up Ryan Lambert, who had been pitching well in Syracuse.

Luckily the team decided to rise to the occasion and finally show some signs of life. We’ll end the month 29-30 and only 4 games back in the NL East.

Against all odds, we may have a shot here.

Maybe another mascot threw out a first pitch.

June - Time for changes

So much of this season has been focused on pitching injuries. Luckily, the same hasn’t happened on offense. But there are still clear issues.

When I play OOTP I try not to make many rash decisions, especially with rookies. I did the same with Carson Benge. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like he’ll be winning Rookie of the Year this year.

On June 1, simulated Benge has a .198 batting average, 6 HRs and 22 RBIs. I think he needs a mental reset, so I’ll be sending him down to AAA for a bit. I believe in him, but maybe he needs to get some confidence back.

After reviewing my options, I realized AJ Ewing was playing awesome in Syracuse, so I decided to call him up. Maybe he can be a sparkplug for us.

What has been most startling is the absolute lack of power from the newcomers.

Jorge Polanco has 10 HRs, which seems about right. However, Bichette, Robert Jr., and Semien have a combined 8 HRs so far this season. That ain’t going to cut it.

On the other hand, Soto is having an MVP caliber season with 20 HRs, 47 RBIs, and a .316 batting average already.

Here’s a look at the team’s offense on June 1. I’m trying to get Bichette going a bit and swapped him with Soto in the lineup.

And well, well, well - look at that. The Mets went on a 9-4 stretch over the first half of June.

Now look, I don’t want to say necessarily that those changes were the reason all this happened, but I’ll take credit if y’all think I should.

About a week later, McLean was eligible to return again, so he was activated off the IL after a brief minor league rehab assignment. Unfortunately, the injury bug struck again and Brazoban was injured for two weeks with “chronic back soreness.”

(Honestly, though, same).

At the end of June, the Mets have somewhat amazingly climbed up to 46-40, and are only 3 games behind the Phillies.

Here’s a look at the standings. Suddenly things are looking up.

July - All Stars

The start of the month has been pretty ho-hum, with a 7-6 record shortly after the All Star break.

Speaking of the All Star game, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. defeated Soto in the Home Run Derby 26-25.

As for the game itself, Clay Holmes, Francisco Alvarez, and Soto — all of whom are having fantastic seasons — represented the Amazin’s. Unfortunately, old friends like Pete Alonso and Edwin Diaz were voted in on their new teams in the summer classic.

Somewhat hilariously, Kimbrel used the All Star break to ask me for an extension — which won’t be happening. But we’ve definitely hit lightning in a bottle with him. He’s got a 2.12 ERA over 23 games.

Good on him for shooting his shot though.

But now it’s time to focus on what comes next… the trade deadline.

Read part 2 of this special edition newsletter here

Did you like this post? I have a few other non-Almost A Met ideas I want to try. If you enjoyed this and want to see more, let me know in the comments!

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Hello fellow Mets fans! Welcome to this week’s edition of Almost A Met.

We’re going to stay more recent today since you all seemed to enjoy the last recent Almost A Met I did.

With former Met OF Starling Marte signing with the Royals earlier this month, I thought it would be fun to look at one of the very few leaks to have come out of the David Stearns-era: How the Mets were looking to swap Marte for RP Hunter Harvey.

Before diving in, I’m gonna be that guy and ask you to hit that like button if you enjoyed today’s newsletter. I know everyone asks, but it really does help.

Anyway, let’s get into it!

Andrew Wyrich

The Starling Marte part of the Mets Hunter Harvey possibility

Before we get into specifics about how the Mets were looking into acquiring Harvey, we need some context: Specifically, OF Starling Marte.

The 2025 Mets were billed as a big-spender. They had just spent a record number of dollars to sign OF Juan Soto, and already had numerous large contracts on the books.

So it shouldn’t have come as a surprise that in December 2024, the Mets reportedly floated the idea of paying down the salary of Marte in order to get something in return.

Marte was under contract for the final year of the four-year deal he signed ahead of the 2022 season and was scheduled to make $20.75 million, according to the Athletic.

With Soto in right field, OF Brandon Nimmo in left field, and a combo of OF Tyrone Tracy and newcomer OF Jose Siri slated to handle center field, it made Marte expendable. He was at best a DH option and at worst a very expensive fifth outfielder. The signing of DH Jessie Winker only exacerbated things as the offseason went on.

Marte had a very good first season with the Mets in 2022. He had 3.8 WAR, hit 16 HRs, drove in 63 RBIs, and played in 118 games. From there, the results were less than ideal. The second season of his deal he had -0.7 WAR and only played in 86 games. In his third season, he got his WAR up to 0.7.

Given that kind of production, it should be obvious why he was shaping up to be the Amazin’s fifth outfielder.

While no trade ever materialized, despite the Mets being willing to eat some of the outfielder’s salary, some discussions came to light during the offseason.

The Mets and Royals discussed a Marte-Harvey swap

About a month later, Pat Ragazzo of Sports Illustrated reported the Mets discussed a deal with the Kansas City Royals that would have netted the team Harvey. Joel Sherman of the New York Post would confirm the team’s interest in Harvey in March of that year.

The two teams talked about the deal around the Winter Meetings that offseason, and the Mets were willing to pay down a portion of Marte’s salary in order to facilitate a deal.

The deal felt like a potential swap of distressed assets. Harvey didn’t have a great stint in Kansas City after being dealt there from the Washington Nationals at the 2024 trade deadline.

After being traded to the Royals, Harvey had a 6.35 ERA across 6 games. He didn’t pitch in the postseason for the team.

However, prior to that, he had a decent run of success. From 2022-2023 he accumulated 2.9 WAR, had a 2.70 ERA and struck out 112 batters over 100 innings for the Nats. The Mets clearly were hoping to tap back into that to help their bullpen.

Meanwhile, the Royals were looking for an outfield bat after having their offers to free agent OFs Anthony Santander and Jurickson Profar denied.

The deal made sense on paper, but ultimately never came to fruition.

What happened next?

Both players stayed with their respective clubs.

In 2025, Harvey got hurt but was pitching well before that — with a 0.00 ERA over 12 games.

Meanwhile, Marte would finish his last season in New York with 1.0 WAR, hitting 9 HRs, 34 RBIs, and batting .270 over 98 games. His role expanded after Winker was injured.

While there was some speculation online that the Mets could try and sign Harvey this offseason after having previous interest, it never came to be.

Harvey signed a one-year $6 million contract with the Chicago Cubs in December 2025 that will allow him to make an additional $1.5 million in incentives, according to the New York Post’s Jon Heyman.

Meanwhile, the Royals finally ended up getting their guy.

Earlier this month, Marte signed with the Royals for a one-year $1 million. Bonuses can raise that to $3 million, according to Anne Rogers of MLB.com.

With hindsight being 20/20, it’s probably for the best the Mets never made the Harvey for Marte swap, but I see the logic behind the idea at the time. As for Marte, he gets another shot in the majors with a team that already expressed interest in him.

Since he is one of my wife’s favorite Mets players over the past few years, I wish him well.

Refer a friend

❓ Would you have made that trade?

Would you have traded Starling Marte for Hunter Harvey? (Without knowing how the season would have played out).

Next newsletter we’ll share the results of the poll! So stay tuned.

Last newsletter’s answers: 56% of Almost A Met readers would not have hired Mark DeRosa to succeed Terry Collins, while 44% said they would have.

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