00:00After a very quiet first few days at the winter meetings, we had a flurry of news, two big pieces in particular,
00:06Kyle Schwarber, five years, $150 million back to the Phillies, Edwin Diaz leaving the Mets, three years, $69 million to the Dodgers.
00:16Look, this is December 9th. We're doing this. Opening day for the Mets is March 26th.
00:22It's a long way away. They have a lot of work to do, but it is hard to ignore that December 9th, 2025 was a very bad, horrible, awful day for the Mets
00:32because Schwarber went back to their number one nemesis, and the Mets were in on Schwarber, though they were not apparently that close to getting him.
00:43And more importantly, they lost the best closer in their history, certainly on a short list there,
00:50somebody they wanted back to the team that Steve Cohen wants to emulate. He wants to be the East Coast Dodgers.
00:57Instead, he lost to the real thing. He lost to the real Dodgers, who were willing to do a record annual value of $23 million a year
01:05to be able to get the best closer, certainly in this free agent market and arguably the best in the sport.
01:13Long way to go again. The Mets on yesterday was a one-year exactly. They beat the Yankees for Juan Soto.
01:25The Yankees quickly pivoted and put together a team that won the same 94 games in 2025 as they had won in 2024.
01:32Pressure is now on David Stern, Steve Cohen, the institution that is the Mets, to do the same here
01:39because the Phillies are going to be good. I would assume the Braves are going to bounce back from a bad year.
01:44By the way, the Marlins are better than – I would expect them to be better,
01:49and they were kind of an interesting stealth contender almost to the end last year.
01:53And the Dodgers aren't going away in the National League and in the sport in general.
01:57So the Mets have lots and lots of work. They must get done now.
02:02Schwarber, there were nine teams in on him hard enough, which is why it is a record.
02:08For a position player 33 or over, he got more than $50 million, more than anybody guaranteed had ever gotten at that age.
02:16That's because nine teams wanted him, and they wanted him because he is a great left-hand power hitter
02:21who hit over 50 homers last year, and he is great in a clubhouse.
02:25That combination, the Phillies knew best and made sure they kept the guy, and there was real competition.
02:32The Orioles were there until the end on this player and might have been able to steal him.
02:38They didn't. The Phillies, Dave Dombrowski, a guy who's done this for a long time,
02:42in a lot of big markets, knows how to close.
02:47Forgive the pun, but the Mets needed to know how to close on Edwin Diaz, and they did not.
02:52So is that Robert Suarez now in free agency? Is it Luke Weaver? Is it multiples?
03:00Because the Mets need to find some guys.
03:02Like, it's an interesting thing. It's not the team the Yankees are going to line up with.
03:06They'll do a lot between now and opening day, but the Yankees could kind of begin the season today,
03:11and they'd have five starters, a full bullpen, all the positions filled, et cetera.
03:15The Mets have a lot of work to do to get to a team, especially in the bullpen, and they just lost their anchor.
03:21Long way to March 26, but December 9, 2025 was a bad day for the New York Mets.
Be the first to comment