Mets desperation to contend with Braves, Phillies reaches new low

The New York Mets essentially laid low during this offseason, eschewing the additive moves one might associate with a contender in favor of resetting their finances and prepping for the future. That's fine, if a little uninspiring.

David Stearns came over from Milwaukee to run the new front office. If there was one loud concern about the hire, it was his "small-market tendencies." That always read as silly — the Brewers simply don't have the same financial capital as the Mets — but here we are. The Mets are playing a cheap game.

New York is now focused on making strides in the 2025 offseason, per USA Today's Bob Nightengale. He notes that Pete Alonso is not expected to stick around, which could mean a midseason trade for the Polar Bear in 2024.

Names mentioned as potential future targets include Juan Soto, Alex Bregman, Corbin Burnes, Walker Buehler, and... Max Fried.

Sigh...

Mets to target Braves' Max Fried in 2025 offseason

On the surface, this is a great strategy. Not even on the surface. The Mets should want Max Fried, who the Atlanta Braves are not expected to retain after the season. But, it feels a little silly to let the roster crater in 2024 while Steve Cohen's pockets recuperate from the short-lived Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer era. The Mets are capable of running up the loftiest payroll in baseball every season. Why not, you know, make serious moves every winter?

It sounds great on paper — prying a top-shelf ace away from New York's foremost NL East rival, evening the playing field by strengthening their own rotation while weakening the enemy. Fried is a West Coast kid at heart, though, and there's no real guarantee that he actually considers the Mets an option.

New York has tried multiple ways to keep up with the dominance of Atlanta atop the division, not to mention the consistently excellent second-place Philadelphia Phillies. The Mets continue to whiff on every major contract, it feels like. The Phillies run up their payroll and seldom live to regret it. The Braves are cheap by the typical juggernaut standards, expertly navigating the cap and never investing too long in declining assets.

Fried is an undeniably great pitcher. He dealt with injuries last season but still managed a 2.55 ERA and 1.133 WHIP in 14 starts. Still, it's hard not to think, maybe there's a reason the Braves won't extend him. The southpaw celebrated his 30th birthday a couple months ago and he's coming off forearm and hamstring issues that plagued his 2023 campaign.

His next contract is going to be steep. Fried doesn't have the same underlying concerns as a Blake Snell or Jordan Montgomery. That doesn't mean he is risk-free, and it doesn't mean New York should not tread carefully. It sounds great to poach an All-Star away from Atlanta, but that All-Star has to produce at the same level in New York. Furthermore, the Mets also have to build a winning team around Fried. He would form an excellent 1-2 punch with Kodai Senga atop the Mets rotation, but the offense without Alonso becomes a huge weakness. Are the Mets actually prepared to go all-out and contend, or would Fried simply represent a fruitless jab at the division frontrunners?

Only time will tell. It's way too early to get caught up in specific player-to-team speculation. That said, the Mets are clearly gearing up for a free agency push when Max Fried happens to be available. This probably won't be the last we hear of this hypothetical partnership.