Big Day Coming?

It’s the last free edition of the newsletter for 2025. Sniff. Consider a paid sub to ring in your new year?

Jeff Passan, who I otherwise respect, continues his stubborn refusal to join the cool, correct Twitter alternative - BlueSky. Instead, he hides his pearls of wisdom over on Threads (when he isn’t tweeting on the Hellsite.) On Christmas he opened up the floor to questions. Remarkably, there were apparently other people logged on to Threads on December 25th. A user named girldadruns asked Passan, “Jeff, one question about the Mets - what the fuck?” 

Sure enough, Passan responded to the question that sums up what most Met fans are feeling right now:

My kind of question: open-ended and profane! I’ve written this, but I’ll say it again: It’s OK to be bad, it’s OK to have a bad clubhouse, it’s not OK to have both. This is almost a wholesale jettisoning. And now David Stearns gets a chance to rebuild in his vision. Historically, it has been very disciplined and very practical and very not splashy. And while I absolutely expect the Mets to get a big free agent, make a big trade or both, I don’t inherently dislike a team taking its time.

There’s a fair amount to unpack. For one thing, Passan is saying the 2025 Mets had a “bad” clubhouse. A lot of people seem to think that’s the case, especially after David Stearns let Pete Alonso walk and traded Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil. But none of those people were an ESPN correspondent. This carries more weight. A national baseball writer is flat out saying (albeit on Threads) the Mets had stinky clubhouse chemistry. I think I was in denial until recently about that. I knew Francisco Lindor and McNeil had their issues, as well as Lindor and Nimmo re: the captaincy, but I also knew those three and Alonso reached Game 6 of the NLCS together just one year ago. Perhaps, the presences of Jose Iglesias and J.D. Martinez were more important than I thought. Or, as Passan puts it, the 2024 clubhouse was a bad one, but it was OK because the team was good. It wasn’t OK in 2025 because the team on the field was also bad. 

Secondly, Passan wrote that he “absolutely” expects a “big” free agent and/or trade by the Mets, right after pointing out that Stearns isn’t “very splashy”. I don’t know how you can call Stearns a non-splashy person after he was the President of Baseball Operations for the team that signed Juan Soto to a 15-year contract and offered Yoshinobu Yamamoto a 12-year deal - he absolutely is capable of going long-term. The problem is none of the remaining big free agents are in their twenties like Soto and Yamamoto were/are. It seems more likely that a big trade will happen rather than a big signing, and we may argue over what constitutes “big” amongst ourselves on social media. Still, I liked reading that it’s likely. As much as Steve Cohen seemingly trusts Stearns, there must be some internal pressure to make a move that will appease a fanbase that is currently anxious (more than usual) and angry (again, more so.) Would Stearns thread that needle of maintaining his disciplined philosophy while keeping a fanbase from becoming familiar with pitchforks by signing Cody Bellinger to a short-term deal? I’d bet he would. Will Belli fall in Stearns’ lap like that? With each passing day, it becomes slightly more possible. 

For what it’s worth, as of this writing Kalshi has the Mets as the favorites to land Bellinger. 

Japanese RHP free agent Tatsuya Imai revealed that he has yet to receive a formal offer from a MLB team. That’s kind of a problem for him, considering that he has until January 2nd - also known as this Friday -  to sign a MLB contract. Otherwise, he would have to go back to Japan. I would say this is good news for the Mets, who have been rumored to be in the running for Imai’s services, just not in the front of the pack. If the front runners haven’t made their offer yet, that must mean there won’t be a team that gives them more years and money than Stearns feels comfortable with. (Look, just let me have this, okay?)

Jeff McNeil said goodbye to Met fans and the Met organization on his Instagram. Unlike the Alonsos, he actually wrote the word “Mets”. 

Juan Soto was asked to describe his ideal woman. “Blonde, pretty, not too tall, not too short, there in between,” was his response.

The Mets told Ronny Mauricio’s LIDOM squad to play him exclusively at third base this winter. I don’t understand why the team doesn’t want him to at least try the outfield - he definitely has the arm for it. 

Katia Reguero Lindor, Francisco’s violin-playing podcaster better half, is a member of New York City Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani’s inaugural committee. And fans online were totally normal about it! Nope. I’ll say this - if the Mets were really getting rid of everybody who disagrees with the Lindors’ politics, they wouldn’t be able to fill up a 26-man roster. 

Tylor Megill got himself engaged to his partner Payton.

A Q&A with Bobby Valentine dropped. The man is a lot of things. Boring is not one of them.

Jon Heyman wrote what we suspected: the Mets tried to acquire first baseman Willson Contreras from the Cardinals before the Red Sox swooped in and nabbed him. Heyman didn’t elaborate any further, which is unfortunate. I’m convinced St. Louis asked for Jonah Tong and/or Brandon Sproat and Stearns wouldn’t budge.

The newest Met, 17-year-old RHP Yordan Rodríguez, had himself a bullpen session the other day in the Dominican Republic. And apparently he’s already ITBSOHL!

The Mets released the other son of Vladimir Guerrero, OF Vladi Guerrero. He signed in January of 2024 for a signing bonus of $117,000, plus the Mets paid a $60,000 scholarship bonus. Oh well.

On this day in 2009, the Mets signed OF Jason Bay to a four-year, $66 million deal. It unequivocally did not work out. My fondest memory of Bay was when I saw him pull out of the players parking lot at Citi Field. He was wearing shades and sucking on a lollipop, making him look like an alien trying and failing to fit in.