What should the Mets do with all the expiring contracts?
The Mets are officially out of the playoffs, and there aren’t any words to describe the season other than heartbreaking and disappointing. There are a lot of questions the Mets have to answer this offseason. Heading into free agency, there are a lot of guys who have expiring contracts within the organization that needs to be dealt with first.
Marcus Stroman, the Mets clear cut number two behind Jacob Degrom, is going to be a free agent this winter. Stroman who was playing on the qualifying offer had one of if not the best year of his career, don’t let the 9-13 record fool you. Thus far in the 2021 season Stroman has a career high 32 starts posting only a 3.00 ERA. Stroman is going to get paid this offseason, and I think bringing him back needs to be a priority for the Mets.
Javier Baez gave a glimpse of hope with his stint with the Mets. Over his 41 games with the team he had an average of .303 with 9 HRs and 20 RBIs with only 46 strikeouts. He lost some of the fan base after his thumbs down fiasco but easily won it back from a lot of fans with his play on the field. Baez needs to be resigned to be the Mets second baseman for years to come.
Michael Conforto, had one of the worst years of his career thus far hitting a dreadful .222 with only 12 HRs. Going into the offseason, Conforto is a free agent, this past year was a big year for him, if he played better a long term deal could have been in place. That being said, after his brutal 2021 season, he should only be offered the qualifying offer from the Mets.
Noah Syndergaard may be the biggest question mark the Mets have to deal with this offseason. The last time Syndergaard has pitched in a big league game was September 29th, 2019 almost exactly two years ago. This injury is for sure a worry with Syndergaard but with another whole offseason for him to get healthy will do him justice as he was nearing a comeback this year. Over his career Syndergaard has been great with the Mets, he has a career 3.31 ERA. Going into the winter, he is a free agent. A team that is struggling with pitching options could be willing to give him a long term deal but I believe it is in the Mets best interest to give him the qualifying offer to make him prove he is as effective as he was before his injury.
Aaron Loup feels like a must resign this offseason. The Mets are a team who lack Left handed pitching in the bullpen. This year however they only needed the one lefty for the most part of the year. The 33 year old who was signed to a one year deal this past offseason. Loup made a case to win reliever of the year posting only a .97 ERA thus far through 55.2 innings. Going into his 11th year in the bigs the crafty left hander deserves another contract. The Mets should definitely resign Loup heading into 2022.
The offseason needs to start with answering the questions about the guys who are in the organization before worrying about bringing in free agents.
