#New York Mets

#New York Mets

Mets legend David Wright's Hall-of-Fame credentials had been pretty cut and dry. When healthy, he was on a fast track to Cooperstown, but spinal stenosis derailed his career during his age-32 season in 2015, relegating him to one of the more prominent what ifs? in recent baseball history. Yet the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) appears to be taking his entire journey, and just how good he was during his peak years, into consideration, which surprisingly bodes well for potential enshrinement down the road.

With their starting rotation problems still unresolved, the Mets are still in on free-agent starting pitcher Framber Valdez, even if more penalties come with it. Will Sammon of The Athletic first reported that New York maintained its interest in the southpaw ace, who rose to stardom with the Houston Astros, even if that means that they would lose their third and sixth-highest selections in the 2026 MLB Draft.

This is not an argument against continuing to line things up just so, of course. It just means that the very orderly person will over time become a very familiar face to the people at The Container Store, to the point where they might remark to each other during their breaks about having seen him, again, purchasing more of those stackable, breakable containers that he's always getting.

He appeared in just five regular-season innings in 2024 and then had an All-Star-caliber start to last season destroyed by a hamstring injury that he suffered while leaping to reel in a high Pete Alonso throw while covering first base during a June game against the Colorado Rockies. With a 1.47 ERA through his first 13 starts of the year, Senga was a shell of himself upon his return after a month on the shelf.

Arroyo, 31 in May, was once a notable prospect but he hasn't been able to do much with scattered big league opportunities. In seven seasons from 2017 to 2023, he appeared in 295 games split between the Giants, Rays, Guardians and Red Sox. In his 992 plate appearances, his 21.7% strikeout rate was decent but he only walked 5.1% of the time and hit just 24 home runs. That led to a combined .252/.299/.394 line and 86 wRC+.

The Mets jettisoned another core player as part of their retooling, trading second baseman Jeff McNeil to the Athletics on Monday for minor league right-hander Yordan Rodriguez. New York will send cash to the A's to offset some of the $17.75 million remaining in McNeil's $50 million, four-year contract. McNeil follows Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo and Edwin Diaz in departing the underperforming Mets, who failed to reach the playoffs this year despite the second-highest payroll behind the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers.

Well Miami Marlins fans, are you of the glass half-full or glass half-empty persuasion? Or to put it more simply, just how much do you hate the New York Mets. For there's no question that the suffering that started with Miami eliminating them from the playoffs in the final weekend of the season has continued into the offseason for fans of the Metropolitans. Pete Alonso? Gone. Edwin Diaz? Not just gone, but a bleeping Dodger.