Alonso, Díaz, Skubal: Answering Mets fans' offseason questions

This story was excerpted from Anthony DiComo’s Mets Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

NEW YORK -- By this time next week, the World Series will either be complete or very close to it. The offseason is rapidly approaching, with plenty of intrigue expected in that arena.

While we wait for everything to happen, it’s time to dig into a few Mets questions drummed up from social media. (Some queries were edited for length or clarity.)

Better chance of being a Met next year: Pete Alonso or Edwin Díaz?
@ESBPodcast via X

Look, I’m not going to rule out a return for either. Both players are unique talents who don’t really have comparables on the open market. If the Mets let Alonso head elsewhere, for example, they’re going to find it difficult to replace him and still end up a better team. Same thing with Díaz.

To answer your question though, I’ve long believed Alonso has a better chance of staying. While Alonso may find a friendlier free-agent market awaiting him this winter without a qualifying offer attached to his services, he arguably fits better with the Mets than with any other realistic suitor. Sure, president of baseball operations David Stearns is not going to love giving Alonso five, six, seven years if he can avoid it. But Alonso’s skill set, the Mets’ roster hole and Alonso’s importance to the franchise are all factors here. For those reasons, I have a bit of a hard time envisioning the two sides not coming to a mutually beneficial agreement.

Compare that to Díaz, who’s in a similar situation -- sort of. While it’s true that replacing Díaz with literally anyone would make the Mets worse, many more options exist on both the free-agent and trade markets. Díaz is also likely to have at least as many suitors as Alonso, considering just about everyone needs relief pitching. Finally, there are the realities that Stearns has never spent big on relievers, and that Díaz, who will be 32 next season, has actually only had two elite seasons over the last five years. It would very much be out of character for Stearns to give a reliever -- any reliever -- something in the ballpark of $80 million guaranteed, when he could spread that money over multiple assets.

Then again, Díaz isn’t just any reliever. I don’t want to make it seem like a Díaz reunion is impossible; it’s very, very plausible given his importance to the roster. But I do think Alonso has a better chance to return.

What is the likelihood/talk around the team on a trade for Tarik Skubal?
@fischer8113 via X

This is a fun one, if only because it shows how far the Mets’ farm system has come. Last winter, the notion around baseball was that the Mets simply didn’t have the horses to land Garrett Crochet, who ultimately went to the Red Sox in a blockbuster trade. This year, they feel like one of a few teams that not only would be motivated to land Skubal, but that could conceivably construct a prospect package worthy of the soon-to-be-two-time Cy Young Award winner.

Of course, lots of factors work against such a pursuit. Other teams have great prospects too, and the Mets’ deep pockets would not be much of a factor here. Plus, there are no guarantees the Tigers will even make Skubal available. It’s just that if they do, the Mets should have enough ammunition to make something happen.

At the Trade Deadline, the Mets showed little interest in dealing any of their top prospects for frontline rotation help. They subsequently missed the playoffs in large part due to their lack of starting pitching. Stearns is aware of that. He knows he has to do something different. Would “something different” mean using a prospect like Carson Benge or Jett Williams to land a one-year rental in Skubal? Maybe, maybe not. The point is: this sort of thing finally seems possible if the Mets wish to pursue it.

Do you think the team views Brett Baty as having showed enough last year to start the season as an incumbent infielder, or is he still in the “prove it” category?
@SpikerIsAwesome via X

It’s tough to deny Baty at this point, which is a huge credit to him considering he looked pretty lost as recently as early July, when he was batting .219 with a .664 OPS in a reasonably large sample. From the Fourth of July through the end of the year, however, Baty hit .292/.357/.479 over 213 plate appearances. More than that, Baty took a perceived weakness -- his third-base defense -- and turned it into a strength over the course of the season. Given the Mets’ issues elsewhere on the diamond (plus the young depth they still have behind Baty should something go wrong), I don’t see them tinkering much with third base.