Ex-MLB GM: Mets’ No. 1 priority this offseason is not Juan Soto

If there‘s one certainty about the New York Mets this offseason, it‘s that they will be “aggressive” — David Stearns’ words — in trying to augment their roster.
Where they go from there will define the 2025 roster and beyond.
While the Mets are expected to be contenders for most of the marquee free agents, it is not accurate to say that star outfielder Juan Soto is atop their wishlist nor is it inevitable that homegrown slugger Pete Alonso will return — at least according to former MLB general manager Jim Bowden.
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“But let’s be clear with what David Stearns wants to do because I keep hearing Soto and (Pete) Alonso,” Bowden said Friday on MLB Network Radio. “So Alonso, that’s not really what he wants to do. He wants (Corbin) Burnes and Soto, and he’d like to get a better defensive third baseman and move (Mark) Vientos to first. That’s what he wants. And I think that Steve Cohen’s going to listen to David Stearns. That’s why he hired him and paid him all that money.
“No. 1, he wants to build the starting rotation, right? He wants Corbin Burnes. That’s his absolute No. 1 priority. No. 2, he’d like to have Juan Soto. So if he can do anything, the first two moves are Burnes and Soto. No. 3, he would like a third baseman, and move Vientos to first base. So his preference would be: Go get Willy Adames and let him play third, or go get Alex Bregman to play third. He’s really big on defense and starting pitching.”
Stearns, the president of baseball operations, will have wide leeway to buoy the team as he sees fit, an approach created as a result of the richest owner in baseball, around $90 million coming off the books ($70 million away from first luxury tax bar) and a run to the NL Championship Series in 2024.
Where Soto falls among the team’s priorities is debatable and unimportant at this point, especially considering Cohen has a meeting date scheduled with Soto and his agent, Scott Boras, for next week in California, according to reports. Clearly, the 26-year-old outfielder who is among the best hitters in the game and still in the prime of his career is a major draw — and he should be. He batted .288/.419/.569 with 41 home runs and 109 RBIs last season with the New York Yankees.
Alonso, whose 226 home runs are the second-most in MLB since he debuted in 2019, has increasingly felt like a Mets fit only at their price because he’s a 30-year-old whose power has started to show signs of decline.
Stearns has also never signed a free agent pitcher to a deal longer than two years during his time with the Mets and Brewers. ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel predicted Burnes would get $225 million for seven years. The Mets must rebuild their rotation, which has three free agents, and that need includes an ace. Burnes, a Cy Young winner, and his career 3.19 ERA would certainly be that, and Stearns knows him well from his time in Milwaukee.
The same thing with the ex-Brewer Adames, who, reports indicate would be open to moving to third base from shortstop. He and Bregman both had a 118 OPS+ last season and they are well-rounded players, good hitters and defenders.
Signing all three of those players (Soto, Burnes and Adames or Bregman) would represent, on paper, a “winning” offseason, while costing more than $100 million per season for close to the next decade. Would Cohen be OK with that, especially as it blows the Mets past luxury tax thresholds and costs him more in penalties? He might be. Would Stearns be OK with that from a roster construction standpoint? He has stated numerous times the need to build and develop from within to sustain a winner.
Either way, Bowden said that Stearns won’t be “reckless” this offseason.
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