The Mets dream lineup with and without Juan Soto

Where Juan Soto signs remains to be seen, but all signs point to a decision coming sooner rather than later. Several teams are in the mix as of this writing, but the New York Mets have a great shot at luring Soto to Queens.

Armed with Steve Cohen's money, the New York market, and a team that just took the Los Angeles Dodgers to six games in the NLCS, there isn't much that the Mets can't offer Soto. Remaining with the New York Yankees is enticing, and the other teams in the mix have things to offer as well, but the Mets have as good of a chance as any team to get him to sign the dotted line.

With Soto, an already great team would get that much better. Without him, the Mets can still be good - the only question is, how good?

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Mets dream lineup with Juan Soto is as good as any in the majors

The Mets had one of the most potent lineups in all of baseball last season, ranking seventh in the majors in runs scored, sixth in home runs, and ninth in OPS. Can you imagine how lethal that lineup would be if they added an MVP-caliber player in Soto? Having Lindor and Soto at the top of this order would give the Mets arguably the best one-two punch in franchise history.

The best part about this is that the Mets don't have to stop at just Soto. Why not re-sign Pete Alonso? Sure, he won't come cheap, but he's still one of the premier power hitters in the game. Alonso has said he wants to be a Met, and we saw in the postseason just how important he is to this team's success.

Signing Joc Pederson to fill the DH void left by Jesse Winker would make this lineup just that much deeper. Pederson might not play the field anymore and doesn't hit left-handed pitching, but he's as good as it gets against right-handers. Starling Marte can platoon against lefties, and allow the Mets to field one of the deepest lineups in baseball.

Mets can still field a strong lineup without Juan Soto — but it's not the same

As you can see, the Mets would strongly benefit by signing Juan Soto. Not only is he one of the best hitters in all of baseball, but perhaps more importantly, the options beyond him are simply underwhelming.

If the Mets miss out on Soto, re-signing Alonso becomes an absolute must. Beyond that, the Mets must bring in a corner outfielder and bring in a DH.

In an ideal world, the Mets sign a player like Teoscar Hernandez and have him play one of the corner outfield spots. It might not be super realistic to project Hernandez leaving the Dodgers, but hey, we can dream a bit, right? Hernandez is coming off one of his best seasons and was hitting in the middle of the order for the Los Angeles Dodgers team that won the World Series.

As intriguing as it'd be to see the Mets sign both Hernandez and a guy like Anthony Santander, that's probably not realistic. Money isn't the issue, but the fact that they'd both come with qualifying offers attached is. The Mets would have to forfeit two draft picks and international bonus money if they were to sign one player from another team with a qualifying offer attached, and the penalty only gets harsher if they were to sign two players with qualifying offers.

This lineup isn't nearly as good as it would be with Soto in the mix, but given the fact that Hernandez and Pederson would be replacing Starling Marte and Jesse Winker, it'd be better than it was in 2024. Given how good their offense was last season, this lineup is worth putting together if the Mets miss out on Soto.