There were a few commonalities in the losing Mets clubhouse.
Players were emotional, many sharing red-tinted eyes and hugs. And players polled were optimistic about the organization’s future, even if there was no guarantee that player would be a part of it.
The 2024 Mets were a strange team for reasons beyond Grimace, “OMG” and the Playoff Pumpkin.
This season was supposed to represent a step back after Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander were shipped out at the previous trade deadline and following an offseason that imported plenty of one-year deals. Those contracts were supposed to bridge the gap between the present and future, fill-ins who would keep the Mets competitive without blocking spots from rising Mets prospects.
Instead, additions like Sean Manaea, Luis Severino and J.D. Martinez — plus under-the-radar signings such as Jose Iglesias and trade-deadline upgrades like Jesse Winker, Ryne Stanek and Phil Maton — brought the Mets to the sixth game of the NLCS.
Is this a sign that the Mets, who might lose three-fifths of their rotation in free agency and must be rebuilt, have sustainability questions? Or is this a sign that the current crop of Mets leaders are uniquely equipped to continue making strong decisions that lead to strong rosters?
“This offseason, I think David [Stearns] did a great job of putting things together, putting good people in his clubhouse, and then making additions at the trade deadline that allowed us to get to this spot,” Brandon Nimmo said after the Mets were eliminated at Dodger Stadium on Sunday.
“I really think that this is kind of the jumping off point. We want to set this as a standard now. But … it’s hard to get here.”
Nimmo is a foundational piece signed through 2030. Francisco Lindor will be back, and so will Mark Vientos, Jeff McNeil, Kodai Senga, David Peterson and Edwin Diaz.
J.D. Martinez wants to continue to play next season and likely will not be back with the Mets, but he expects the Mets to be a contender.
“They got a good core in there,” said Martinez, who acknowledged the many offseason decisions awaiting the club.
“…The fact that their core is going to be coming back, I think they’re going to be a good team. Just obviously, they got to fill the holes that they’re going to be missing next year. But I wouldn’t be surprised if they do that and the team’s back in this situation next year.”
Steve Cohen will no longer be paying down the contracts of Scherzer and Verlander (and James McCann and Omar Narvaez) next year. Somewhere around the $160 million neighborhood will fall off the Mets’ payroll ahead of next season, which will be another chance to open up Cohen’s wallet and Mets fans’ imaginations.
But also open up plenty of vacancies for a team that hit right on nearly every free agent last offseason.
“Now we raised the bar,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “Expectations now — this is what we should strive for every year, to be playing deep into October. And we showed that this year.
“I learned a lot, but the one thing is we’ve got great people here. And Steve, our owner, and Alex, first-class organization, and we’ve got great people here. I’m just proud of everyone.”
There has been widespread praise for Mendoza, a first-year major league manager who communicates well and who guided the Mets out of valley after valley.
He and Stearns seem to be the pair Cohen has been looking for.
“For the next couple of years the Mets will be good, I think, because the philosophy they have right now is really good,” Diaz said. “We want to win. Ownership, manager, everyone wants to win.
“So they push the players to perform the way they want to.”
The Mets’ greatest strength in 2024 might have been chemistry, which is difficult to fake and difficult to predict.
Iglesias, a part-time second baseman and part-time international pop star, will hit the open market. Winker, who started the eyeblack trend in painting the starting pitcher’s number underneath his rotation mates’ eyes, will be a free agent. Manaea, Severino and Jose Quintana, who joined arms and jumped after each excellent start was finished, all could be gone.
Possibly gone, too, would be the ability to sneak up on opponents.
“We definitely want to try and be here and get back and finish the job,” Nimmo said, “But there’s no surprising people. I think people are going to be a little more weary of us next year.”
Weary of whoever is on the 2025 Mets, a team that likely will look dramatically different. Players who came two wins short of a World Series appearance believe that the holdovers are positioned well.
“I truly believe that there’s something good happening here,” Lindor said.