Philly Front Office

I wish there was another way to put it, but the Mets ate our lunch this winter. The double whammy of not only not signing Bo Bichette despite being the front runner and perceived only bidder but then for him to sign a mega deal with the Mets after they lost out on Kyle Tucker was a killer. It was like getting kicked in the balls by that knife boot in the original Roadhouse. Does that mean the Mets are going to run away with the NL East? Not quite.

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NL East Previews ’26

The Mets are coming from a 2025 that was not only bad, but demoralizing. After signing Juan Soto (who had an almost quietly superb first season in Queens) a solid start gave way to a total pitching collapse. From the starters to the bullpen, damn near nothing went right and no lead was safe. The trade deadline was especially bad with Ryan Helsley and Cedric Mullins becoming allergic to productivity. Following their acquisitions, the team dropped from 62-44 to 83-79. 21-35 is a brutal two months to end the season.

To purge themselves from this evil, the Mets cleaned house. The old Mets guard of Edwin Diaz, Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo, and Jeff McNeil were all kicked out the door. If you wanted to flip the leadership of the clubhouse, getting rid of those guys was the way to go. Essentially only Francisco Lindor is still here from all the previous iterations of hateable Mets teams.

Getting rid of the disease is only half the battle though. After a quiet start to the offseason, NY started making moves and didn’t stop. Not only was Bichette brought in to play 3rd base, but the Brewers sent them Freddy Peralta to head the rotation, personal favorite Luis Robert Jr is playing CF, Jorge Polanco is playing 1st/DH, Marcus Simien is playing 2nd, and Luke Weaver and Devin Williams are going to lead the bullpen. That’s a hell of a lot of turnover. Will it work? Let’s go through it…

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Lineup

Not unlike the Phillies, this lineup is VERY top heavy.

• Lindor
• Soto
• Bichette
• Polanco
• Robert?
• Brett Baty
• Semien
• Carson Benge
• Francisco Alvarez

One thing I really like about the moves they made is that they brought in guys who are good at something. Bichette might not be able to play much defense and will probably be the permanent DH by June, but he can hit. Luis Robert can’t hit righties to save his life, but he still plays a mean CF and can hit lefties just fine. Marcus Semien’s bat is in rapid decline, but he can still play a mean 2nd base. Those are skills to fall back in case everything else goes wrong.

The problem is going to be power. Brandon Nimmo and Pete Alonso combined for 68 doubles and 63 HRs last year. Bichette is going to make up for a lot of that doubles production, but the power threat Alonso brought behind Soto will simply not be replaced. While Jorge Polanco was brought in to take his place, he is one of the more inconsistent good hitters in the league. His 2025 was surprisingly good, but that was after 3 straight mediocre to bad seasons. There’s nothing negative to say about Lindor and Soto other than they were here last year and couldn’t stop the Mets bleeding. You can’t put the dreadful pitching on them though. They are two of the best players in baseball and the rest of the NL East has to deal with that.

Baty’s glove, or Bichette’s lack thereof, is going to make him the everyday 3rd baseman sooner rather than later. While Mets fans will tell you he is a future all-star, at 26 he is the owner of one slightly above league average season so far and offers little in the power department while striking out a TON. Basically, after the top 3 and boom or bust Polanco, the Mets are going to have to hope rookie Carson Benge is legit and seizes the cleanup spot in the lineup. He is probably their best chance for a breakout. That’s a lot of pressure on a 23-year-old with only 24 bad AAA games under his belt (I’m not down on the kid at all, it’s just asking a lot in 2026).

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The Rotation

Before last year, I was convinced the Mets would sign Corbin Burnes. They had several #3 type starters and no #1. Not only did no one seize that top starter position, but too many of the other pitchers under performed and by the end, they completely ran out of MLB-level pitchers. It was a mess. While they didn’t completely solve their depth problem, they might have two #1 level guys now in Freddy Peralta and Nolan McLean.

Peralta finished 5th for the NL Cy Young last year with a career best 2.70 ERA and 17 wins. He features a great strikeout rate and doesn’t walk too many batters. The one big blemish on his record is that he doesn’t go too deep into games. While he can get you 5-6 innings regularly, he only went into the 7th twice in 33 starts. Peralta looked the part of an ace last year, it was also his best season in the majors and profiles more as a #2 rather than a Bonafide ace. McLean on the other hand looked exceptional last year. In his 8 starts, he pitched 48 innings with a 2.06 ERA and completely shredded the Phillies twice. It will be interesting to see if the Mets limit him at all. He pitched 113 innings last year. Going far past 150 is a big risk with pitchers and the team might be forced to ride him as the season goes on and hits the playoffs. Just something to watch.

As for the rest? David Peterson, Clay Holmes, and Kodai Senga are all begging to be replaced by Jonah Tong by June. Peterson started the year looking like he was building off a breakout 2024, then spent the 2nd half getting wrecked. Holmes did a solid job converting from reliever to starter but his underlying numbers weren’t great. Combine that with over 100 more innings than he’s used to and that is a recipe for disaster. Senga is an older-than-you-realize 33 and despite solid ERA numbers was basically a long reliever in the second half, only making it to 6 innings once after May. By September he was demoted to the minors where he continued to struggle.

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Bullpen

The Mets saw the Yankees bullpen issues last year and decided they’ll have what they had. To be fair, that’s better than what the Mets were throwing out there after Edwin Diaz and Tyler Rodgers. So, Luke Weaver and Devin Williams are now in Queens. While Weaver was down a bit last year and HR prone, he really imploded come playoff time. The numbers are a sight to behold: 135.00 ERA in .1 innings. Excuse me??? He faced 7 batters, got one out, and gave up 5 runs. YIKES. Williams’s playoff problems are well known to the Mets considering he was the one who blew their playoff series by allowing the big home run to Alonso that ruined my life. His 2025 was an odd one. While his standard numbers were gross and got him out of the closers roll and any future in pinstripes, his underlying metrics were good as ever. The Mets need to hope he is back to where he needs to be and not Ryan Helsley 2.0.

AJ Minter is back from injury and the team needs him to be Braves AJ Minter who shined throughout his 20s. He and 37-year-old Brooks Raley are the only lefties in the bullpen which could be a problem. Luis Garcia, yes, THAT Luis Garcia from the Phillies is now 39 and was on 3 teams last year. He joins Huascar Brazoban as the first righty options ready for the call when Senga is at 90 pitches in the 4th. This bullpen is OLD.

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Reinforcements

Like the Phillies with Andrew Painter and Justin Crawford, the Mets are going to be relying on two rookies right away, Nolan Mclean and Carson Benge. As their two top prospects though, the available high level major league ready depth takes a hit. They are left with pitcher Jonah Tong and 1B/OF Ryan Clifford. Tong has a big fastball but a rough cup of coffee last year, not that the Mets did him any favors by desperately throwing him into a fading pennant race as his first action. While he might not be ready for the big leagues yet, he is one of the reasons they didn’t even consider bringing back Alonso. Clifford has big power but with serious contact issues as well. This is a big year for him to show the Mets he is their 1st baseman of the future.

Prediction

A dogfight barring injury and another Metsian level Metsing by the Mets. New York and Philadelphia are simply VERY evenly matched. The Mets have a better lineup and much better defense. The Phillies have a superior rotation and probably a better bullpen. What does that mean? It will probably come down to injuries, wildcards (someone outperforming their average by a lot), and maybe a bounce or key hit head-to-head. There is real potential for the NL East to come down to the wire with two of the best teams in baseball.

Stats: Baseball-Reference

Photo: Ishika Samant/Getty Images