Category: Baseball

WINTER MEETINGS (Orlando, Fla.) — If Major League Baseball’s latest hiring cycle demonstrated anything, it’s that teams are increasingly willing to break from tradition in search of the right voice to chart a new path forward. 

Nine of the sport’s 30 managerial jobs were open after the 2025 season ended. The Rockies decided to keep Warren Schaeffer, while the other eight vacancies were filled by new talents — half of them were unorthodox hires.

In 2022, Kurt Suzuki finished his 16-year playing career as a catcher with the Angels while Craig Stammen wrapped up his 13-year career as a reliever with the Padres. Neither has coached professionally since then, yet both will be managing the last big-league team they played for when the 2026 MLB season begins.  

Meanwhile, 33-year-old Blake Butera — the youngest MLB manager in more than 50 years — will lead a youthful Nationals club as Giants skipper Tony Vitello makes the unprecedented move from college coach to big-league manager without any prior MLB experience.

It all begs the question, especially as data-driven front offices become increasingly involved in the on-field product: What is the most important job of a big-league manager in the modern game? 

“It always comes back to relationships,” incoming Rangers manager Skip Schumaker told me. “That’s what this job is, is building the relationships and getting the buy-in and the trust from your players and your coaching staff.”

Schumaker, who will take over for Bruce Bochy after serving as a senior adviser with the Rangers last year, has been one of baseball’s most highly-coveted managers since leaving Miami after the 2024 season. He carries with him the perspective of having led both a surprising Marlins team that made the playoffs in 2023 — a run that earned him National League Manager of the Year honors — and a club that fell back down to earth a year later at the start of a Marlins rebuild. 

“You can lose the clubhouse quickly,” Schumaker said. “And they don’t want to hear any BS. They want to know the truth. I think if you sugarcoat anything, you’re done. So in this seat, it gets hot sometimes, but the last thing they want is anything sugarcoated. They’re big leaguers for a reason, and they want to know the truth, so you have to give it to them. 

“But I also think … I’m an intense personality in general, but I think you have to be positive as much as you can throughout the season because they’re going to get hit on a lot of negative the whole year. So as intense as I can be, also as positive as I can be I think is always the goal.”

These are aspects of the job that Vitello, Stammen, Suzuki, Butera and Baltimore’s Craig Albernaz will have to navigate as big-league managers for the first time. 

The only way to learn is through experience.

Schaeffer found that out last year in Colorado when he inherited a Rockies team that had lost 33 of its first 40 games under Bud Black. The interim manager did his best to keep spirits up the rest of the way amid a 119-loss 2025 season, but he learned  “innumerable” lessons that he’d like to take into 2026 after being given the full-time role by new head of baseball operations Paul DePodesta. 

“I learned that I would love to have more conversations on a daily basis with players,” Schaeffer said. “I think that’s a big strength of mine. I need to utilize it more often, develop leaders behind closed doors.”

Almost universally, front-office executives and big-league skippers polled at the Winter Meetings agreed that the ability to communicate well was the most vital trait of a good manager in today’s game. 

“Being a strong communicator, a great connector and the curiosity and feel to put guys in the best positions to succeed,” one high-ranking team executive explained.

In theory, while professional experience is beneficial, a coach at a major college program could possess many of the right qualities. 

“Can you impact players in a positive way? I think that’s the most important role,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy, who spent decades as a college coach at Notre Dame and Arizona State, told me. “Is that leadership? I don’t know. Maybe. It can be a lonely job. It can be lonely in that, to truly try to do that — impact players and all that kind of stuff — you’re not always the most popular or you’re not always taking the safe way. Sometimes, there’s a little risk involved.” 

In the Giants’ case, there’s a lot of risk involved. 

Whatever happens with Vitello in San Francisco after he transformed the University of Tennessee into a national powerhouse, Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey will either be lauded or lambasted for his decision. Posey believes in the 47-year-old’s natural leadership qualities, motivational skills and ability to shape and build a culture. 

“There’s an expectation that he’ll get the best from everybody he comes in contact with,” Posey said as he introduced his new manager. 

As Vitello embarks on a journey no other manager has taken before — at the Winter Meetings, Vitello jokingly referred to himself as either a guinea pig or a sacrificial lamb, depending on how his tenure in San Francisco goes — he enters his new role with a respectable level of humility for a coach who just led his college program to six NCAA regional appearances, three College World Series appearances and the Tennessee’s first ever national championship.

He is wise enough to recognize that he does not know everything, which is why he values Murphy’s advice and looks forward to getting to know the Brewers manager better. 

Vitello and Murphy do not have a personal relationship, but they had a mutual connection in Tennessee coach Frank Anderson, whose son, Brett, pitched for the Brewers in 2021 and 2022. Through the Anderson family, Murphy was able to relay some advice to Vitello about transitioning from the college game. 

“You don’t want to give up too many ingredients or the secret sauce, but some of it is pretty obvious,” Vitello said. “When [Murphy] was at Arizona State or Notre Dame, it was competitiveness at an incredibly high level, to an extreme really. That should carry over at any level, you’d like to think.” 

BEHIND THE PLATE: Tony Vitello Is Setting Example To ‘Marry’ MLB and College Baseball

Vitello still hadn’t actually seen Murphy at the Winter Meetings until minutes after his media session ended, when he walked out of a ballroom at the Signia by Hilton in Orlando and just happened to run into the Brewers manager. Vitello approached cautiously, like a kid that just saw his favorite player. Soon, the two struck up a lengthy conversation. Minutes into their talk, Dusty Baker stopped by and joined them, as if they were all longtime friends. 

“There’s a high level of respect for these people that are in the game, but for me, maybe because I was around my dad and all these athletic teams, I think it changes when you’re in a building together as a group,” Vitello said. “Like, we’re a part of a team. In order to be a good teammate, I don’t think you can see yourself as above somebody; I think it would be crazy to see yourself as below somebody as well because you’d be cheating yourself and them.”

Only time will tell how the experiment goes as Vitello transitions from a 56-game college sprint to a 162-game big-league marathon and from leading teenagers to managing the personalities and egos of wealthy adults.

Whatever happens, the hirings of Vitello, Stammen and Suzuki weren’t the best sign for coaches at the lower ranks of the minors with dreams of working their way up the traditional path. They also weren’t a great sign for former skippers such as Brandon Hyde and David Ross, who have yet to receive another opportunity, or for former big-league superstars such as Albert Pujols, a popular managerial candidate who ultimately did not land a job. 

With more information than ever at their fingertips, it’s possible that some front offices would prefer to hire novice managers who won’t question their influence or decision-making. 

Through a more optimistic lens, perhaps the latest round of hires were just an example of MLB catching up.

It’s not as foreign to see a direct jump from college to the pros at the coaching ranks in the NFL (e.g. Jimmy Johnson) or NBA (e.g. Billy Donovan) as it is in MLB, nor is it strange to see a coach in his 30s thrive in other sports (e.g. Sean McVay, Joe Mazzulla), as Butera is now trying to do in Washington under a new Nationals front office led by 35-year-old president of baseball operations Paul Toboni. 

“You have to adapt,” Butera said. “The game’s moving faster than ever. The information we have access to now is more than it’s ever been. It’s just going to continue to become more. It’s not just having information; you want to bring in coaches that want to understand how to interpret the information and, two, understand when to deliver to players and what to deliver to players.” 

In the NBA, J.J. Redick had no professional coaching experience before he started coaching the Lakers, who believed in his basketball IQ and ability to connect and communicate. The Lakers won 50 games in his first season, the third-best record in the Western Conference.

Two years ago, the Cleveland Guardians took a similar chance on manager Stephen Vogt for similar reasons and have reaped the rewards of their decision. Vogt, a former All-Star catcher who had no managerial experience when the Guardians hired him, played his last big-league season in 2022 before spending the next year as the Mariners bullpen and quality control coach. In 2024, he replaced future Hall of Famer manager Terry Francona in Cleveland and went on to earn AL Manager of the Year honors in each of his first two seasons with the club.

Vogt considers consistency to be the most important part of the job — an understandable notion for a manager who helped his team overcome a 15.5-game deficit in 2025, the largest ever to win a division. 

“You have to be the same person every single day, whether things are going well, things are going poorly,” Vogt told me. “You can’t have bad days. You can’t be in a bad mood. You show up every day, choose to be in a good mood and choose to lead with a smile on your face. That consistency is an absolute must for a manager.” 

Vogt’s success helped pave the way for the latest crop of incoming managers. He believes the period in which he came up, as baseball was undergoing its analytics revolution, makes players from his era distinctly equipped for the role in the manager’s chair. 

“We were raised in an old-school world, but then we played through the transition,” Vogt said. “So now I feel like we have a very good understanding of how to apply information while not losing sight of maybe the gut feel.” 

Clearly, the Angels and Padres shared a similar belief with their hires. Vogt’s final season as a big leaguer was the same year that Suzuki and Stammen wrapped up their playing careers.  

In Anaheim, Suzuki is following a similar trajectory to Vogt as a former longtime MLB catcher. Vogt’s advice to Suzuki: “Be yourself,” Vogt said. “It’s OK to not have any answers. It’s OK to say, ‘I don’t know,’ or use the resources around you.”

In San Diego, Stammen’s hiring was more atypical, not only because he was a pitcher but also because he went from interviewing potential candidates for the job following Mike Shildt’s retirement to suddenly becoming the answer. 

Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller thought Stammen was “super genuine” and “comfortable in his skin,” traits that were attractive as he tried to find the right person to keep the Padres’ window for contention open. 

What does Stammen believe is the most important part of the job? 

“I think the veteran managers probably have a lot more to say about it, but from my perspective, what I can bring to the table that’s valuable is relatability, doing things with integrity, trust, honesty,” Stammen said. “I think those leadership qualities go a long way.” 

The Rangers (Schumaker), Rockies (Schaeffer), Braves (Walt Weiss), Twins (Derek Shelton) and Orioles (Albernaz) all went a more conventional route than the Giants, Nationals, Angels and Padres with their managerial decisions. 

Albernaz, who will get his first MLB managing opportunity this year with the Orioles, worked his way up in a more conventional manner than many others in this hiring cycle. He climbed the minor league ranks before joining the Giants coaching staff and then spending the past two seasons on Vogt’s staff in Cleveland, an experience he considers the best he has had in baseball. 

Through those various stops, he feels that he gained a grasp on the most important part of his new job. 

“It’s people,” Albernaz told me. “At the end of the day, you’re a manager of people. That’s something that’s never going to change in this game, that people still play. Front-office members don’t play. Coaches don’t play. The players play. And for a big-league manager, for anyone, even a coach, you have to be a connector of people.”

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on X at @RowanKavner.

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Minnesota Twins ownership has finalized the purchase of portions of the franchise by three different investors, limited partnerships the Pohlad family sought for a fresh infusion of cash and strategy after deciding earlier this year to retain control of the club.

The Twins also announced Wednesday a plan to make Tom Pohlad the controlling owner and primary liaison to the league in place of his younger brother, Joe Pohlad, as part of a new executive leadership structure coinciding with the new investors.

Major League Baseball approved the acquisition of non-controlling minority interests in the Twins by Glick Family Investments, a multi-generational New York venture capital firm; a group of Minnesota business leaders spearheaded by George Hicks; and Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold.

Neither the purchase prices or size of the stakes were disclosed. Financial analysis earlier this year by Forbes valued the franchise at $1.5 billion, ranked 23rd in MLB. Sportico ($1.7 billion) and CNBC ($1.65 billion) pegged the Twins a bit higher.

Joe Pohlad, 43, served as executive chair for three years. Tom Pohlad, 45, has never had a role with the baseball club before, previously serving as executive chairman of Pohlad Companies in overseeing the family’s diverse portfolio of businesses. Their uncle, Jim Pohlad, was chairman of the Twins until 2022. Their grandfather, Carl Pohlad, built his fortune in banking and bought the Twins in 1984 from Calvin Griffith for $44 million. He died in 2009.

MLB must approve Tom Pohlad becoming control person.

“It is a profound honor to have the opportunity to continue a legacy that has been part of my family — and this community — for the past 40 years,” said Tom Pohlad said in a statement distributed by the Twins. “My uncle and my brother have led this organization with integrity, dedication, and a genuine love for the game. As I assume my new role, I do so with great respect for our history and a clear focus on the future — one defined by accountability and stewardship in our relentless pursuit of a championship.”

The Pohlad family announced last year the exploration of a sale, a declaration that largely delighted a fan base frustrated by the level of investment in the player payroll. The primary driver of the decision was a debt load that hit $500 million this year, with the loss of crowds during the pandemic and the collapse of their regional television contract weighing heavily on the financial operation.

The Twins won the World Series in 1987 and 1991, but they have only reached the American League Championship Series once since then, in 2002.

In 2023, they ended an 18-game postseason losing streak, a North American professional sports record. They went 70-92 in 2025 and fired manager Rocco Baldelli, replacing him with Derek Shelton.

Hicks is a native of Minnesota, a former executive of Cargill Financial who co-founded Varde Partners, a startup in 1993 that has grown into a global investment firm.

“As a lifelong Twins fan, I am honored and excited to join the Pohlad family as a steward of this beloved franchise,” Hicks said. “Like many in the state, some of my favorite memories are of times spent watching and cheering for the Twins. The leaders I represent share these values and recognize the importance of Twins baseball to our communities. This is the opportunity of a lifetime and one we view as a true privilege and responsibility.”

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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Tony Vitello was a fish out of water at his first ever Winter Meetings.

“I don’t know what I’m doing at this thing, to be honest with you,” the new San Francisco Giants manager admitted last Tuesday to a gaggle of reporters at the onset of his news conference. 

These scrums with the media are a managerial responsibility that will soon become a significant part of his daily routine. They won’t always be as chaotic as this one was, which took place against the backdrop of thousands of individuals involved in baseball, meandering without a specific direction or path, in the wide and brightly lit hallways of the Signia hotel in Orlando, Fla. For someone not used to the mass and mess of the annual hubbub of baseball’s hot stove, the Winter Meetings can be unnerving.

Not only is Vitello not used to the professional baseball world, he’s never even been in it. Vitello has just as much experience being the manager of a pro baseball team as your neighbor next door. But, ask him about being the head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers, and he’ll have you schooled. After the Giants hired him in late October, Vitello became the first manager in MLB history to jump directly from college baseball to the major leagues without any professional baseball experience.

So, you can forgive Vitello for feeling overwhelmed by the frenzied nature of the Winter Meetings. But the thing is, it was impossible to tell. Vitello conducted his 30-minute managerial scrum with a relaxed tempo. He gave honest and thoughtful answers. He was energetic. He was funny. 

That being said, there were still small signs that he was new around here. He kept referring to himself as a coach rather than a manager. He was an open book in a refreshing way, not yet spurned by the inevitable negative coverage that comes with losses and poor records. 

“I’m just trying to figure out what’s going on here at both hotels that we’re occupying,” Vitello said. “With the teams in our division or that are out there in general, I don’t know what you’re supposed to say or not. It sounds like the Phillies got better today.” (Moments before Vitello sat down with the media, the Phillies re-signed slugger Kyle Schwarber to a five-year deal.)

Even as Vitello claimed he was unaware of exactly what to do or how to act, he kept saying the right things. Above all, what stood out from his first real foray into the pandemonium of professional baseball was his love of the game — be it at the college level or the big leagues. Vitello offered reminders that fresh ideas on how to improve MLB can come from anywhere, even from an unconventional hire: a self-deprecating college head coach who led Tennessee to its first-ever national title and three College World Series appearances in his successful eight-year run.

“Sorry to go on an even further tangent, but maybe this thing, and who knows if you want to call it the guinea pig, or sacrificial lamb, or if it goes well or doesn’t go well, who cares? I guess I should,” Vitello said. “I wish there was somebody, like, with a shorter haircut and more reputable up here, to say it’s time for college baseball and Major League Baseball to be married a little closer for a lot of different reasons.

“I think working together ultimately makes Major League Baseball a better product, which is great for the fans. Then, sorry, money is a big factor in the world, whether we like it or not. Ultimately, if Major League Baseball is a better product, then there’s more money being made.”

Vitello, 47, believes it took this long for someone to go straight from the college side to pro ball, without any playing, coaching, or minor-league experience, in part because of the improved talent at the college level, which has led to higher interest, which has led to greater national coverage. 

It’s all slowly closed the gap between the major leagues. 

“You don’t have to be in the SEC,” he said. “You could be out at Coastal Carolina or out on the West Coast. College baseball is now heavily covered by the media. TV is a part of the deal. There’s fans at every game, and the players are better.”

Giants president of baseball operations and former MVP catcher Buster Posey has tasked Vitello with bringing the organization back to greatness. He’s working on a three-year contract with a vesting option for a fourth year. Posey and the Giants want stability at the skipper’s position after Bob Melvin, who managed the club from 2024-25, was fired with a year left on his contract following a disappointing 81-81 finish while falling short of the playoffs again. This was the second time in three offseasons that San Francisco conducted a managerial search before choosing Vitello to lead the 26-man roster.

Vitello has solid pieces in place to help get the Giants back to the postseason for the first time since 2021. Logan Webb and Robbie Ray will lead the rotation, while Matt Chapman, Rafael Devers, and Willy Adames will provide the thump in the lineup. The rookie manager plans to lean on those veterans to help guide him through the ups and downs of his first year. For now, Vitello is viewing his roster through a college-ball lens — including a heavier emphasis on the word “recruit,” rather than “call up” or “sign.”

“I think it’s a really fun roster,” Vitello said of his Giants squad. “It’s almost got a parallel to a college team because there’s high turnover with guys graduating or getting drafted. You’ve got a solid group of guys that are solidified as, at the very least, this is their role. We expect this guy to be our everyday this or that. There’s also open competition at several spots, whether it be on the position side or the pitching side. I think the combination is good to already have a quality roster.”

Another unique aspect of Vitello’s transition from the college side will be facing players in the big leagues that he previously coached while at Tennessee. According to the University’s database, there are seven MLB players and 39 minor league players that hail from Tennessee — including Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet and Giants outfielder Drew Gilbert, whom Vitello will now be managing. 

“In the moment, there might be things you say or feelings you have, but when the moment is over, it’s kind of like UFC fighters or boxers, like an NFL game,” Vitello said. “These guys are just trying to kill each other, but afterwards, you have an appreciation because those are the people that push you the most or bring out the most intense feelings and emotions. 

“Yeah, it will be unique, and it will be interesting. The one thing about all the reps in pro baseball, they change who you are as a person and who you are as a player. That can be for the worse, certain times, and other times it’s for the better. I think each of those guys will have a different look the next time I see them.”

Naturally, Vitello’s atypical hire drew a lot of attention in the industry, with reporters, executives, and opposing managers all looking for moments to offer congratulations or advice as he sets out on an epoch-making development in baseball history. For an idea of how dream-like the experience has been for Vitello so far, look no further than what happened during and after his first Winter Meetings news conference. 

One of the earliest questions asked of Vitello was whether there was anyone in particular he was looking forward to meeting in Orlando. Immediately, he said: “Pat Murphy stands out because of the college background and having competed against him.” Murphy, who won second consecutive National League Manager of the Year honors after leading the Milwaukee Brewers to a franchise-record 97 wins in the regular season, had an extremely successful college baseball coaching career that spanned over 25 years. Vitello joked that maybe it was better to wait until after the 2026 season was over to connect with Murphy, since “he’s as competitive as it gets.”

Minutes after Vitello’s news conference wrapped up, he stepped out into the hallway at the Signia hotel and saw a beaming Pat Murphy walking up to him. A moment later, three-time Manager of the Year Dusty Baker joined them. The newcomer looked like he was doing most of the talking. There was Vitello, a fish out of water, rubbing shoulders with some of the best managers in the history of the sport, letting them learn from him for a change. 

“The college game is so good, talent-wise, mentality-wise,” Murphy said last week in Orlando. “And the Major League game is younger now, just the cultures are different. There’s less of the old-school, earn-your-stripes rookie. There’s less of that nonsense. So I think [Vitello’s] transition — and Posey knows what he’s doing — he’s going to get it so that the transition is easy. And I think he’s probably 10 times smarter than I was at the time.”

Vitello might not know what he’s doing just yet, but he’s setting the example of how a college-ball attitude might create fresh ideas in a professional league that’s finally open to more change. Ultimately, Vitello will be judged on his wins and losses with the Giants. But, for now, he represents an unprecedented opportunity to prove how college baseball and the major leagues just might make each other better. 

Deesha Thosar covers Major League Baseball as a reporter and columnist for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Deesha grew up on Long Island and now lives in Queens. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.

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The New York Yankees may be a “fully operational Death Star,” but they’re not acting like it.

Thus far this MLB offseason, New York has re-signed left-hander Ryan Yarbrough, infielder Amed Rosario and outfielder Trent Grisham accepted the $22.025 qualifying offer. In an American League East division that features the defending AL-champion Toronto Blue Jays – who have been among the most active teams in the sport this offseason – Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles – who have signed star first baseman Pete Alonso and acquired slugger Taylor Ward – the Yankees need to get busy.

Here are three MLB free agents New York should pursue.

2025 Stats: 2.45 ERA, 1.73 WHIP, 12 strikeouts, 174 ERA+, 0.2 wins above replacement (11 innings pitched)

Devin Williams signed with the New York Mets, Luke Weaver is a free agent and the Yankees were 23rd in MLB with a collective 4.37 ERA and 19th with a 1.32 WHIP last season; they need a boost in their bullpen, and Kopech is a compelling option.

Once a top starting pitching prospect who appeared to be coming into his own with the Chicago White Sox, Kopech was moved to the bullpen on a full-time basis in 2024. While he took his licks as a reliever, the Los Angeles Dodgers acquired Kopech before the 2024 MLB trade deadline, and he excelled, posting a 1.13 ERA, 0.79 WHIP and 359 ERA+ in 24 innings pitched in the regular season. Last season, Kopech was limited to 14 appearances due to shoulder and knee injuries but is expected to be full-go before the 2026 regular season. 

While Kopech leans on his four-seamer, he has mixed in a cutter and slider in recent years. He throws gas, traditionally posts strikeouts at a high rate and has been a sturdy back-end reliever of late.

Setting up David Bednar and Camilo Doval in the late innings, Kopech would be an impactful addition to New York’s bullpen and one that presents upside, with the former top pitching prospect just two seasons into being a full-time reliever. 

2025 Stats: 29 home runs, 98 RBIs, 125 OPS+, 5.1 wins above replacement, .272/.334/.480 slash line (588 at-bats)

Bellinger would fit any team that needs an outfielder, and while the Yankees have a bit of an outfield surplus with Grisham, three-time AL MVP Aaron Judge, former top prospect Jasson Dominguez and potentially Spencer Jones, Bellinger was the Yankees’ best position player not named Aaron Judge last season. Unless they plan on bringing in star outfielder Kyle Tucker, the Yankees need to re-sign Bellinger.

Bellinger is coming off arguably the best season of his career since the outfielder’s 2019 National League MVP campaign. He started at all three outfield positions for prolonged periods, slugged at a high rate, helped replace some of the production that Juan Soto‘s departure vacated and was an indispensable part of the 2025 Yankees.

While Ben Rice is likely New York’s Opening Day first baseman, Bellinger has made 274 career starts at the position and held his own; he can play first base if Rice gets hurts or the Yankees are displeased with his performance.

Bellinger is an impact, left-handed bat in his prime whom the Yankees should seek to retain on a three-to-four-year deal. Doing so would lock in the Yankees’ starting outfield for next season but also allow them to trade one of Dominguez and Jones, among other players, if a star-caliber player at a position that could use upgrading becomes available.

2025 Stats (Japan Central League/Japan Pacific League): 24 home runs, 52 RBIs, .286/.392/.659 slash line (220 at-bats)

The Yankees need to generate upside in their positional depth chart, and Murakami fits the bill.

Murakami is coming off an injury-shortened 2025 campaign, but make no mistake about it: The dude rakes. A two-time league MVP, Muramaki possesses lethal power from the left side of the plate and has averaged 33.1 home runs per season over his eight-year career with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows of the Nippon Professional Baseball League (NPB).

While he has primarily played third base, the soon-to-be 26-year-old Murakami has made 266 career appearances at first base. The Yankees could start him at third, and if they love the bat but are worried about Murakami’s play at the hot corner, he could move to first. While third baseman Ryan McMahon is due $32 million over the next two seasons and is a stellar fielder, he hit just .214 last season and is tailor-made for a utility role, as he has been a full-time second baseman and dabbled at first base, too. Should an injury present itself to Murakami or second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr., McMahon could slide back into a starting role.

Plus, Giancarlo Stanton‘s time with the Yankees could potentially end after the 2027 season, as the team has a $15 million club option on the designated hitter for the 2028 season. In other words, New York may have the designated hitter slot open in the near future, which could sort out its potential long-term depth issue of who plays where.

Mammoth power, defensive versatility and not even in the prime of his professional career. That’s an enticing combination as is, but even more so for a Yankees team that hasn’t yet seen its former top position player prospects play up to their billing (e.g. Dominguez and shortstop Anthony Volpe). New York is the perfect landing spot for Murakami.

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Edwin Diaz won’t receive all of his $69 million from the Dodgers until 2047, with the closer’s deal raising deferred payment obligations for the two-time World Series champions to more than $1.06 billion due to nine players.

As part of the three-year contract announced Friday, Díaz gets a $9 million signing bonus payable on Feb. 1, according to terms obtained by The Associated Press.

He receives a $14 million salary next year and $23 million in each of the following two seasons. The Dodgers will defer $4.5 million annually.

Díaz’s deferred money is payable in 10 equal installments each July 1. The 2026 money is due from 2036-45, the 2027 money from 2037-46 and the 2028 money from 2038-47.

Los Angeles has a $6.5 million conditional team option for 2029 with no buyout. The option could be exercised if he has a specified injury through the end of the 2028 season and he does not end the season or postseason healthy, or if he has a specified surgery.

If the conditional option is exercised, he could earn $2.5 million in performance bonuses for 2029 based on games finished: $750,000 each for 45 and 50 games and $1 million for 55.

Díaz gets a hotel suite on road trips and will make a charitable contribution of 1% of his income.

His deferred payments raise the Dodgers’ total to $1,064,500. Their high point due in a year is $102.3 million in both 2038 and 2039.

Ohtani, Betts, Snell and Freeman among others owed deferred

Los Angeles also owes deferred payments to two-way star Shohei Ohtani ($680 million from 2034-43), outfielder/infielder Mookie Betts ($115 million in salaries from 2033-44 and the final $5 million of his signing bonus payable from 2033-35), left-hander Blake Snell ($66 million from 2035-46), first baseman Freddie Freeman ($57 million from 2028-40), catcher Will Smith ($50 million from 2034-43) and utilityman Tommy Edman ($25 million from 2037-44), reliever Tanner Scott ($21 million 2035-46) and outfielder Teoscar Hernandez ($32 million from 2030-39).

Bullpen was Dodgers’ weakness this year

A three-time All-Star who turns 32 on March 22, Díaz had 28 saves in 31 chances last season with a 6-3 record and 1.63 ERA for a disappointing Mets team that failed to reach the playoffs despite spending the second most behind the Dodgers. He struck out 98 in 66 1/3 innings.

Díaz has 253 saves in 294 chances over nine seasons with Seattle (2016-18) and New York. Díaz agreed to a $102 million, five-year contract with the Mets after the 2022 season, a deal that included deferred money payable through 2042. He gave up $38 million he would have been owed in the final two years with the Mets.

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If you were a New York Mets fan hoping for the front office to take the roster to the next level at the 2025 MLB Winter Meetings, you were left with much to be desired – and painful punches of heartbreak, watching homegrown first baseman Pete Alonso and star closer Edwin Diaz depart Queens.

But the Winter Meetings isn’t Spring Training: There are still plenty of impact free agents available that can improve this ballclub.

Here are three free agents the Mets should pursue.

2025 Stats: 2.59 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, 57 strikeouts, 29 saves, 165 ERA+, 2.4 wins above replacement (59.0 innings pitched)

The Mets have already lost their closer (Diaz) and a pair of reputable relievers that they acquired via trade last season (Ryan Helsley and Tyler Rogers) in free agency; they desperately need help in the back end of the bullpen, and New York would know exactly what it’s getting from Jansen.

The 38-year-old closer continues to be one of the best in the game. He’s a steady fixture in the ninth inning who seldom puts runners on base and blew just one save opportunity last season. Jansen, who primarily deploys his cutter, would give the Mets a surefire closer, allowing Devin Williams – who the Mets signed to a three-year, $51 million deal – to begin the 2026 season in a setup role after a bumpy 2025 campaign (Williams posted a career-high 4.79 ERA with the New York Yankees).

Signing Williams and potentially Jansen shouldn’t stop the Mets from adding more depth to their bullpen. Last season, New York’s bullpen was 15th in MLB in ERA (3.93) and WHIP (1.29) and tied for 16th in opponent batting average (.244).

Not having to rely on a bounce-back season from Williams would be a luxury for the Mets, and it would be coming in the form of a four-time All-Star who has made 59 career postseason appearances (Jansen), posting a 2.20 ERA across 65.1 innings pitched.

2025 Stats: 29 home runs, 98 RBIs, 125 OPS+, 5.1 wins above replacement, .272/.334/480 slash line (588 at-bats)

Bellinger checks every box for the Mets.

For starters, the Mets only have one definitive starting outfielder next season: Juan Soto. They traded homegrown outfielder Brandon Nimmo to the Texas Rangers for second baseman Marcus Semien, lost Cedric Mullins to the Tampa Bay Rays and both Starling Marte and Jesse Winker remain free agents. Bellinger, who has prominent playing time in center and right field under his belt and has dabbled in left, would likely slot into the vacant left field slot for the Mets, but he could move to center field if they add another outfielder or move Jeff McNeil to left.

Moreover, Bellinger has extensive experience at first base (274 MLB starts), which is relevant in the wake of the Mets losing Alonso to the Baltimore Orioles on a five-year, $155 million pact. Bellinger’s versatility bodes well for a New York team looking for answers at multiple spots, while adding an impactful, left-handed hitter who’s coming off arguably the best season of his career since winning the 2019 National League MVP Award.

A left-handed hitter who slugs at a high rate, can play several positions at a plausible level and has a trove of postseason experience: Who wouldn’t want that on their lineup card? The Mets need Bellinger.

2025 Stats: 3.66 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, 187 strikeouts, 114 ERA+, 3.8 wins above replacement (192.0 innings pitched)

The Mets need an ace, and Valdez is precisely that.

Yes, Valdez is coming off a down year, but the 2025 version of the southpaw would still be New York’s best starting pitcher. Valdez is among the best left-handed starting pitchers in the sport and a proven ace. He pitches deep into games, works out of trouble and finds success with a three-pitch arsenal: sinker, curveball and changeup.

Valdez, a two-time All-Star, has made 16 career postseason starts with the Houston Astros and would become the anchor of a Mets’ pitching staff that needs one. In 2025, their starting staff collapsed in the second half of the season, most notably with Kodai Senga being sent down to Triple-A and David Peterson, who was an All-Star, posting an 8.42 ERA over his last nine starts; Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas had injury-riddled seasons and struggled across the starts they made; Tylor Megill had his moments but later needed Tommy John surgery. In all, New York’s starting rotation was 16th in MLB in opponent batting average (.247), 18th in ERA (4.13) and tied for 26th in WHIP (1.35).

If Nolan McLean can build on the brief success he had at the MLB level last season (2.06 ERA in eight starts), Clay Holmes continues to be a steady force every fifth day and at least one of Senga or Peterson get back on track, Valdez would lead a respectable rotation that can guide New York back to the postseason. And maybe the Mets double-dip on the starting pitching market and sign another top-of-the-rotation arm like Ranger Suarez or Zac Gallen? Maybe make a blockbuster trade with the Detroit Tigers for back-to-back Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal?

But, first things first, they need to sign an ace, and Valdez fits the bill.

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DODGER STADIUM (Los Angeles, CA) — Nearly 2,800 miles away from Queens, the sound of trumpets will soon fill Dodger Stadium. 

Entering this winter, adding the best closer on the market didn’t seem like the most realistic avenue for the Dodgers to address their most glaring area of need. They knew they needed to add to the bullpen, but they sought shorter-term deals, particularly after the first year of Tanner Scott’s four-year, $72 million deal went awry. 

Edwin Diaz, one of the best closers in the sport over the past decade, figured to command at least four or five years entering his age-32 season after opting out of the final two years of a record five-year, $102 million contract with the Mets. Plus, most in the industry expected Díaz to return to the Mets, one of the few teams capable of operating in the same financial hemisphere as the reigning champions. 

And yet…

“You don’t know how things are going to play out and what ultimately is reported versus what the player is comfortable with and where he wants to be,” said Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes. “You don’t always know. It’s why you put in the work along the way.”

So the Dodgers did, checking in on the reigning National League Reliever of the Year as the closer market was thinning. The Mets had already signed Devin Williams. Ryan Helsley went to the Orioles. Raisel Iglesias returned to the Braves. The Dodgers expressed to Díaz’s representation how much they valued him. 

“It was more like, ‘Hey, we’re here if something makes sense, and we’d love to have you join our group,’” Gomes recalled. 

As it turned out, there was mutual interest. 

“That’s why you shouldn’t play the game of assumptions and just do the due diligence on the front end, and sometimes things work out and sometimes they don’t,” Gomes told me. “But having those conversations and making sure you’re doing the work that’s needed to really understand the situation is important, especially when you see situations like this play out.”

Over the last week, discussions between the Dodgers and Díaz intensified. Los Angeles offered three years and $69 million. It wasn’t the length of contract many expected Diaz to receive, but it was the highest average annual salary ever given to a reliever. 

And it was enough for Diaz to make the surprising choice to leave the Mets, where he had spent the last seven years. 

“It wasn’t easy,” Díaz said at his introductory press conference Friday. “They treat me really good. They treat me great. I chose the Dodgers because they’re a winning organization. I’m looking to win. I think they have everything to win, so picking the Dodgers was pretty easy.” 

It didn’t hurt that the Dodgers had a couple voices in their corner. 

Kiké Hernandez, a fellow native of Puerto Rico, and Díaz’s brother, Alexis, both vouched for the organization before the three-time All-Star closer made his decision. 

“I heard great things about this clubhouse,” Díaz said. “My brother played here, he told me great things about the Dodger clubhouse. They treat every single player the same. That’s something really nice. I know they have a lot of great players, future Hall of Famers here. I heard they treat the young guys like they’re the same guys.”

Díaz believes that aspect is crucial to a winning clubhouse, and it worked in favor of the Dodgers, who now have their most elite ninth-inning option since Kenley Jansen departed four years ago. 

Jansen recorded 38 saves in his final season with the Dodgers in 2021 and saved at least 30 games in each of his final seven full seasons in Los Angeles. The Dodgers, despite winning 111 games in 2022, 100 games in 2023, 98 games in 2024 and 93 games in 2025, have not had a closer with even 25 saves since Jansen’s departure. 

Last season, Scott led the club with 23 saves, but he had a 4.74 ERA and was ultimately a non-factor in October. 

There will be no closer by committee in 2026. 

“We have a high bar,” said Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman. “To name someone the closer, you have to be one of the best.”

Díaz, who’s coming off an All-Star 2025 season in which he led all qualified NL relievers with a 1.63 ERA and ranked second among all MLB relievers in strikeout rate, fits the bill. 

He won’t be taking his usual No. 39 to Los Angeles — that number is retired for Roy Campanella — and is instead switching to No. 3 in honor of his three kids. 

But he will be taking one of the most electric walk-out songs in the game. 

Díaz said he can’t wait for Timmy Trumpet to get a new crowd going as he enters in the ninth. 

“Now, we are in a new family,” Díaz said. “We’re with the Dodgers. I came here to win.”

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on X at @RowanKavner.

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The Los Angeles Dodgers are back-to-back World Series champions and just shored up a loose end, signing former New York Mets closer Edwin Díaz to a three-year, $69 million deal. So, in theory, maybe the Dodgers don’t need to sign anybody else.

But this is what Dodgers president Andrew Friedman gets paid to do: improve the roster by any means necessary.

Here are three free agents the Dodgers should still pursue after securing Díaz.

2025 stats: 2.83 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 59 strikeouts, 27 saves, 145 ERA+, 1.2 wins above replacement (60.1 innings pitched)

Díaz gives the Dodgers their new closer, but their bullpen still needs to add depth pieces capable of pitching in the ninth inning. Enter the 6-foot-6 Fairbanks. 

The towering right-hander has been among MLB’s best right-handed relievers over the past six years. Fairbanks, who leans on his four-seamer and slider, traditionally logs strikeouts at a high clip and has been the Tampa Bay Rays‘ primary closer of late, but he has also thrived in a setup role. Fairbanks evades damage, is a proven commodity and would give manager Dave Roberts another pitcher with the ability to close should Díaz struggle.

What’s more, a bounce-back season from Tanner Scott – who led MLB with 10 blown saves in 2025 after signing a four-year, $72 million deal – would give Los Angeles a lethal back end of the bullpen. Mind you, this was a unit that was tied for 20th in MLB in both ERA (4.27) and WHIP (1.33) in the regular season and was assisted in the postseason by rookie starter Roki Sasaki moving to the bullpen.

Signing Fairbanks would put a turbulent 2025 campaign for the Dodgers’ bullpen in the rearview window.

2025 stats: 4.45 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 116 strikeouts, 103 ERA+, 2.3 WAR (165.2 innings pitched)

Martinez would be a slick addition to the Dodgers’ pitching staff.

The veteran right-hander, who pitched in Japan from 2018-21 after four seasons with the Texas Rangers (2014-17), has experience pitching as both a starter and reliever in MLB. Last season, Martinez was primarily a starting pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds, but he was moved to the bullpen on a full-time basis late in the season and excelled, recording a 2.35 ERA over his last 11 appearances (15.1 innings pitched); of his 40 overall appearances, 26 of them came as a reliever.

Martinez is just one season removed from posting a career-best 3.10 ERA, 1.03 WHIP and four wins above replacement in 2024. By the way, he consistently throws six pitches: cutter, four-seamer, changeup, sinker, curveball and slider. 

Martinez can begin the 2026 season out of the Dodgers’ bullpen as a long reliever, and when injuries present themselves in the starting rotation (Sasaki, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow were among those who missed time due to injury in 2025), he can take an injured starter’s spot. What team wouldn’t want that type of versatility?

2025 Stats: 17 home runs, 54 RBIs, 3.9 wins above replacement, .277/.347/.449 slash line (448 at-bats)

“Darth Bader” would be an impactful reinforcement for the Dodgers’ positional depth chart.

With Michael Conforto a free agent, Bader would fill the roster void that the former’s potential departure creates. As for what Bader brings to the table, he’s as clean as any player in the sport in the outfield grass. He covers a lot of ground, seldom commits errors and is a vacuum in center field. With the bat, Bader has a crisp swing from the right side, and he’s coming off hitting a career-high 17 home runs in 2025.

Last season was the first time that Bader, a primary center fielder, got extensive playing time at the corner outfield spots since 2018, making 57 starts in left field and five starts in right. Teoscar Hernandez is likely still in right field next season, but while Andy Pages has primarily played center field, he has also started a considerable number of games at both corner outfield positions. 

Bader could start in either center or left to open the season and, at the bare minimum, improve the Dodgers’ outfield defense by adding another credible player to the mix. On the versatility front, Hernandez is just one year removed from being the Dodgers’ starting left fielder and Tommy Edman occasionally bounces out to center field.

Of all these options, Bader and the Dodgers are a great match.

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The Braves already brought back closer Raisel Iglesias this winter. Now, they’ll pair him with the reigning National League saves leader. 

Robert Suarez will be leaving San Diego, where he was an All-Star twice in four big-league seasons, for Atlanta after agreeing to a three-year, $45 million deal with a Braves team attempting to rebound from a fourth-place finish in 2025. 

Suarez led the NL with 40 saves last season and had a major league-leading 76 saves over the last two years with the Padres, though it sounds like he will serve in a setup role in front of Iglesias in 2026. Iglesias returned on a one-year deal, so it’s possible Suarez transitions to the closer role for the final two years of his deal. 

In a disaster 2025 season, the bullpen was among the litany of problems for the Braves. Their relievers ranked 19th in both ERA and strikeouts in MLB. Now, they’ll have one of the most talented late-innings duos in the sport. Suarez brings the heat. His four-seamer averaged 98.6 mph, and opponents hit .155 with 52 strikeouts against the pitch in 2025. 

It’s the latest chapter in an incredible rise for Suarez, who didn’t make his MLB debut until his age 31 season in San Diego in 2022 after spending the majority of his professional career playing in Mexico and Japan. He’s in his mid-30s now — he will turn 35 in March — and he logged the highest hard-hit rate of his career in 2025, but he also produced his highest strikeout rate in three years. 

What’s Next For the Closer Market

While it took a while for the top of the position player market to heat up, relievers have flown off the board early in free agency. 

Suarez’s market picked up steam after Edwin Diaz joined the Dodgers on a three-year, $69 million deal earlier this week. Now, with Díaz, Suarez, Iglesias, Devin Williams (Mets) and Ryan Helsley (Orioles) all off the board, the top of the relief market is mostly tapped out. 

Expect Pete Fairbanks, Luke Weaver and Brad Keller to draw plenty of interest. Kenley Jansen and Seranthony Dominguez are among the other top relievers also available. The Blue Jays, Mets, Yankees, Rangers and Diamondbacks are among the many contenders who could still use bullpen help. 

What’s Next For the Braves

In November, the Braves declined options on Pierce Johnson, who had a 3.05 ERA and threw the third-most relief innings on their team last year, and Tyler Kinley, who was 5-0 with a 0.72 ERA.

A month later, that bullpen suddenly looks a lot more formidable. 

Atlanta has been busy since the end of the winter meetings. The addition of Mike Yastrzemski bolsters an outfield that already included Ronald Acuña Jr., Michael Harris II and Jurickson Profar. Now with Suarez signed, the Braves’ attention should turn to the rotation, which could use another reliable arm after the club’s litany of health issues on the pitching staff in 2025. But after a year in which seemingly everything went wrong in Atlanta, it’s becoming increasingly easier to envision a return to prominence if the Braves can get a couple bounceback seasons. 

What’s Next For the Padres

Suarez is going to Atlanta, Dylan Cease is a Blue Jay, Michael King is a free agent and Yu Darvish is set to miss the 2026 season after elbow surgery. Nick Pivetta is set to lead the rotation coming off his most productive big-league season, but the Padres have a lot of work ahead to remake the pitching staff even with Joe Musgrove returning from Tommy John surgery.

They’re leaning toward keeping Mason Miller and Adrian Morejon in the bullpen, so the relief unit should remain among the best in baseball even after Suarez’s departure. But that only furthers the need for more starting pitching. 

How the Padres attempt to add there will be interesting. There should be at least some financial space to work with after all the free-agent departures, but with ownership exploring a potential sale, most of A.J. Preller’s work improving the roster might have to come via trade. Exploring that market is typically not a problem for him, though the Padres’ farm system has been depleted by acquisitions in recent years. That could necessitate a trade of a player off the big-league roster to bring in multiple pieces. 

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on X at @RowanKavner.

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In breaking up the Mets core, team president of baseball operations David Stearns and team owner Steve Cohen invited the heat. 

Over the course of these next two months until spring training, there will be a megawatt spotlight pointed directly on Mets leadership to replace the players that left New York with enhanced, proven competitors capable of taking the team to the World Series. 

Otherwise, what was the point?

The new Mets – whomever they will be – cannot miss the playoffs like they did this past season. They will try to avoid that disaster without one of the game’s best sluggers, after longtime first baseman Pete Alonso signed a five-year contract worth $155 million with the Orioles on Wednesday. 

They will try to deliver wins without Edwin Diaz, arguably the best closer in baseball, after he chose to fly west to pitch for the defending-champion Dodgers for only $3 million more than what the Mets were offering him. 

They will try to adjust to new leadership in the clubhouse without Brandon Nimmo, regarded as a co-captain alongside Francisco Lindor, after the outfielder was asked to waive his no-trade clause and, as such, departed for Texas.

The amount of turnover, both on the Mets roster and coaching staff, has been dizzying. It’s the response to a baffling 83-win season from a Mets team with a $340 million payroll that was supposed to be good enough to beat the Dodgers, if not enjoy another deep playoff run after the success of 2024’s trip to the NLCS.

At the end of the 2025 season, Cohen apologized to Mets fans. The Mets owner said the “result was unacceptable,” and promised that the organization would do better. Since then, Cohen, the richest individual owner in professional sports, has watched three long-tenured and popular players leave the organization, with two of them departing for more money than he put on the table. He’s seen the outpouring of frustration and sadness from the same fans he said he’d serve better. So how will he respond now? 

The Mets had the second-highest payroll in MLB in 2025 and, to public knowledge, Cohen hasn’t bungled away his estimated $23 billion net worth in that time. His ambitions to build the Mets into a champion as soon as possible haven’t changed either. So the money has to go somewhere, and most of the top-tier free agents are still available for the taking. 

Revamping the roster will be a challenge, but it is doable. It will take spending oodles of money on marquee players, executing blockbuster deals, and maybe even engaging in an improbable trade for the American League’s back-to-back Cy Young winner, Tarik Skubal.

That’s how high the Mets have set the bar for themselves after being indifferent about losing three valuable players in Alonso, Díaz, and Nimmo, and after Stearns expressed optimism about the direction of the Mets offseason. He and Cohen know they have to respond to such drastic measures with equally robust improvements. 

How will the Mets give their fans something to cheer about this winter? It starts with becoming better on-paper, and the best way to proceed might be by spreading their resources. A year ago, at this time, the Yankees pivoted from superstar Juan Soto’s decision to sign with the Mets by aggressively retooling. They signed Max Fried to the largest contract ever issued to a left-handed pitcher. They upgraded their bullpen and lineup by trading for Devin Williams and Cody Bellinger. After all of that, they didn’t miss a step. The Yankees recorded identical records (94-68) with and without Soto in the 2024 and ’25 regular seasons.

Will the Mets follow a similar blueprint after their own stars walked away? This past season, the Mets finished fifth in the major leagues in home runs, and in addition to Soto’s team-leading 43 homers, Alonso’s principal skillset was a major component of the team’s production; he hit 38 jacks en route to becoming the all-time franchise home-run leader this year. How do the Mets replace Alonso’s dingers? 

Kyle Schwarber, whom they were interested in signing, is off the board after re-signing with the Phillies. The next best free-agent slugging option is third baseman Eugenio Suarez, who crushed 49 home runs and recorded 118 RBI (fourth-most in MLB) playing for the Diamondbacks and Mariners in 2025. Suarez, entering his age-34 season, would also line up with the Mets’ preference for shorter-term deals. If Suarez plays the hot corner, where does that push Brett Baty, with Marcus Semien occupying second base? 

That’s not all. There are holes everywhere. First base. Left field. Center field. The bullpen. Most crucially, starting pitching. 

There are so many roster decisions to be made, and the work Stearns needs to do is only mounting. Evidently, he enjoys operating under an overwhelming amount of pressure. Otherwise, it would’ve been easier to spend Cohen’s money and bring back Alonso on a contract that outbid Baltimore’s offer. But the Mets were not willing to match the length of Alonso’s contract with the O’s. Instead, they preferred the blank slate. 

The unknown of the Mets offseason can be exciting, but it requires trust. The Mets owner trusts his head of operations to get this right, even at the expense of parting ways with fan favorites. Stearns was Cohen’s white whale for years before he finally plucked the top executive from the Brewers ahead of the 2024 season. Stearns is signed through the 2028 season, and his marching orders involve building a sustainable World Series contender. 

By taking a wrecking ball through the Mets core, months after the team missed the playoffs in one of the most disappointing seasons in franchise history, he is sending the message that mediocrity will not be tolerated. Of course, a large chunk of their poor results came from unpredictability and ineffectiveness in the starting rotation, a weaker area of the roster that has not yet been addressed. 

But, as an offense, the Mets failed to record even a single comeback win when trailing after the eighth inning in 2025. They went 0-70. It was unfathomable. At the end of the season, Stearns said he couldn’t make sense of it. The lack of late-game heroics had to be a factor when he decided to break up the core. 

There are also rumblings within the industry that the Mets had clubhouse issues this year. When asked about it at the Winter Meetings in Orlando this week, Stearns attempted to address that topic by saying: 

“I think we had a pretty good clubhouse last year, and I know a lot of you were in our clubhouse regularly, and maybe some of you would disagree with me, but I don’t know that many of you would walk in there on a daily basis and feel like this was not a good clubhouse. We have good people who play really hard, who want to win. We didn’t play well for the last two months of the year. 

“And when you don’t play well for the last two months of the year, people get frustrated, as we should. People hold each other accountable, as we should. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good group. That doesn’t mean it was a group that didn’t care about each other. I think we did. We just didn’t play well for the last two months of the year, and everyone was very frustrated by it.”

Stearns and the rest of Mets leadership have channeled that frustration by breaking up the band. In the seven seasons that Alonso, Diaz, and Nimmo played together, the Mets recorded eight playoff wins in two trips to the postseason. It wasn’t good enough. It has to be better. The Mets need to stack wins. In order for that to happen, sentimentality has taken a back seat to business only. 

OK, who are the Mets kidding? Sentimentality has been removed from the ride altogether. It’s an approach that might take a while to get used to, but time marches on. 

First came the disappointment. Then came the frustration. Next came the intrigue about what the Mets will look like on Opening Day. 

Now, it’s time for the pivot.

Deesha Thosar covers Major League Baseball as a reporter and columnist for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Deesha grew up on Long Island and now lives in Queens. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.

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