PORT STREET LUCIE — It may be tempting for David Stearns to hit the free agent market for another bat, but the Mets’ director of baseball operations is sticking to his plans for this season.
And that plan, at least for now, continues to stick to in-house options at third base and DH.
“There’s always the temptation to get better, and when you have good players, there’s always the temptation to see how they fit on the roster,” Stearns said Monday against pitchers at Clover Park. He said this on the catcher’s report day. “There’s no perfect answer to this. … Adding established players obviously takes time away from younger players, so we have to find that balance.”
The key players Stearns mentioned are Brett Batty and Mark Vientos.
Offensive players remaining on the free agent market include JD Martinez, Jorge Soler and Matt Chapman.
But Stearns also acknowledged that the price could drop enough to force the Mets to reconsider once spring training begins.
“I don’t think that’s out of the question,” Stearns said. “You’re always evaluating opportunities, and we’re always trying to evaluate risk and reward and tradeoffs, so I don’t think that’s out of the question.”
Stearns revisited his comments on last week’s podcast in which he suggested Pete Alonso would likely not be able to reach an agreement with the club on a new contract before he becomes a free agent this offseason.
“I think that’s the most likely outcome, but I’m not going to go into specific negotiation details,” Stearns said. “I’m not going to give you an update on the conversations that exist back and forth, but if you have a really good, talented player who happens to be represented by Scott Boras, who is in his final year as club manager, These things are going to happen.”It’s common for free agency to happen eventually, and we understand that.
“This organization has been through this before with some really good players and is in a perfectly good position at the end of the day. I haven’t met Pete here yet and I haven’t even talked to him yet, but what we’re going to talk about is, “Let’s go out and have a great year.” …Let’s make it a great year as a team. That way, both the organization and Pete will be ready to go into the offseason. ” ”
Starling Marte’s play in the Dominican Republic last month was encouraging for Mets officials, including Sterns, who were in attendance to evaluate the veteran outfielder.
“Watching him play, it was obvious he was healthy,” Stearns said. “In the games I played in, he had to handle a lot of balls towards the right field line, but he got there easily. It looked like Starling Marte was moving in the outfield. So it was really reassuring.”
Marte missed most of the final two months of last season due to groin discomfort.
The Mets signed outfielder Ben Gamel to a minor league contract and invited him to spring training.
Gamel, 31, played for six teams during his eight-year major league career, including the Yankees (who drafted him in the 10th round in 2010).
