The heat from the hot oven gets almost all the attention at the MLB Winter Meetings in Dallas, but details about the future roles of current Mets players and injury rehabs are still important after the first month of the offseason.
While pitchers and catchers are not reporting to Port St. Luis two more months and the roster still isn’t quite right — yet they signed the 26-year-old right fielder to a huge contract — Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns he was shy (he did not comment Juan Soto‘s yet-to-be-official signing) when talking about free agents, incl Pete Alonso.
Of course, of the hot stove, Stearns said he thinks there’s “potential” for these to be “pretty active winter meetings,” and that’s a “good thing.”
“Just the volume of conversations leading up to this week and the types of conversations that seem to be happening in the industry this week,” he said when asked why he thought there could be decent activity.
Still, Stearns was quite candid when asked about several Mets during his press conference in Dallas on Monday.
On Ronny Mauriciorehabilitation after injury
Last month, Stearns said he didn’t have a good answer as to why Mauricio’s rehabilitation from a torn ACL took longer than expected and the young outfielder has yet to resume baseball activities. The wording of Monday’s update was much more positive.
“He’s had a really good couple of weeks,” Stearns said this time. “I think we’re going in the right direction there. He starts with baseball activities. So it’s all really positive and this is probably the best stretch of Ronny’s progression we’ve seen in a while.”
Mauricio, who made his debut at the end of the 2023 season before suffering an injury during winter ball in the Dominican Republic, certainly has the “talent to compete for the job” in spring training, but health will be the deciding factor.
“We need the health to be in the right place and we also need to realize that he’s a player who hasn’t competed in a year,” Stearns said. “We’ve got to get him back in baseball shape, not just fully healthy.”
He called it “unlikely” that Mauricio will play in winter ball this offseason.
How much to stretch Jose Bhutto?
After starting the season as a starter, making seven starts in the first few weeks of the season before being sent down to Triple-A, Butto returned to the big leagues in July and became a reliable manager. Carlos Mendoza.
Stearns said the plan for this offseason is for Butto to prepare as if he will be used as a starter, but that may not be his role.
“For guys like Jose, the easiest thing for them in the offseason is to prepare in the offseason, like they’re stretched,” he said. “When you stretch, we can always cut you short. And so Jose will stretch during the offseason.
“We’ll probably stretch him out a little while he’s in camp and then see how our roster shapes up.”
In 2024, the 26-year-old posted a 3.08 ERA and 1.132 WHIP with 38 strikeouts in 38 innings over seven starts. After moving to the bullpen in July, he pitched to a 2.00 ERA and 1.00 WHIP with 41 strikeouts in 36 innings over 23 appearances. (He was tagged for five runs in 7.0 innings over six postseason relief outings.)
“He proved last year that he can be a strikeout weapon and he also has the experience to get deeper into the game as a starter,” Stearns continued. “So it’s a great skill set. And it gives us some versatility in our pitching staff.”
Paul Blackburn a Taylor Megill: Starters or relievers?
Along those same lines, Blackburn and Megill are set to come into spring training after being primed to start, but both could be bullpen candidates. And the former is well on his way to being ready after undergoing a repair of a cerebrospinal fluid leak in his back in October.
“He’s recovering well, obviously it’s a unique surgery, a unique injury in baseball, but so far so good,” Stearns said. “He’s on track for a relatively normal spring training and on track to be available for Opening Day.”
The president of baseball ops still envisions Blackburn as the starter, but it depends on where the Mets are as March turns into April and they decide how they want to go about setting up their rotation.
Center of the field platoon
As of now, Stearns sees it Tyrone Taylor and newly acquired Jose Siri as both see time in center field.
“With Siri and Tyrone, we have two guys who are really talented defenders. It can affect the game in different ways,” he said. “I would imagine they’ll both see some significant time there over the course of the year.” Tyrone also has the ability to move into the corners and play very quality defense in the corners.
“So we’ll see where it shakes out, but I’m really happy to have two top defensive center fielders coming into the season.
Brett Baty like useful person
While Alonso remains a free agent, Stearns said the club is still looking at it Mark Vientos as a third base. For Baty, who started as the team’s starter at the hot corner last year before issues sent him to Triple-A for the remainder of the campaign, his journey to the big leagues may be about versatility.
“Brett did a great job last year of creating some positional versatility for himself,” Stearns said. “We feel good with him at second base. I think he has the ability to bend into the outfield if we need him to.” I think Brett has done a really great job of giving himself some options in different ways that he can impact the team.”
Stearns said Baty’s ability to play multiple positions is a very valuable skill set and that he could “potentially” fill the role of a relief man on the Mets’ roster.