Why this Mets’ preference might be hurting them

The Mets also saw another player they were linked to, Kyle Schwarber, pass on an offer from them to remain with the Philadelphia Phillies on a five-year deal worth $150 million. Schwarber reportedly recieved an offer from the Mets for three years and $120 million but opted for a longer-term deal with his previous team.

If you're sensing a pattern here, it involves the Mets' preference to keep their free agent commitments at three years or less. Pete Alonso is still a free agent and MLB.com's Mark Feinsand is reporting that the holdup on a potential deal is over the length of the contract, with the team preferring to not exceed three years on a given deal.

There was reporting the other day in The Athletic that the Mets may not go to the top of the free agent market on the pitching side due to not wanting to commit long-term to any of the available options. Pitchers like Framber Valdez and Ranger Suarez are expected to seek deals of at least five years, which would put them out of the Mets' comfort zone in that department.

David Stearns' preference for shorter-term deals may cost the Mets top talent

The short-term deal structures is a new phenomenon for the Mets, who handed out an eight-year deal to Brandon Nimmo as well as five-year contracts to both Diaz and Kodai Senga during the 2022-23 offseason, which was the last one led by former GM Billy Eppler. Stearns has only offered two players deals of longer than three years since he arrived: outfielder Juan Soto and pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who went to the Dodgers after they matched Stearns' 12-year offer worth $325 million.

This may be a team-building preference of Stearns, who has made it clear he thinks too many long-term commitments can hamper efforts to build a well-rounded roster. Short-term deals can still work if players are interested in higher annual salaries, such as the fact that the Mets' rumored Schwarber offer paid him $40 million a year, but players may opt to seek more long-term financial security in the face of an impending lockout.

While having a set organizational philosophy can help the Mets avoid some long-term mistakes, they do have to operate with more urgency for the present day than they have been. Diaz may have been willing to stay if the Mets offered him a fourth year, which could also be true with Alonso, but letting length of contract dictate value decisions is impacting the team's ability to add the necessary pieces to maximize the primes of Soto and Francisco Lindor.

There are other avenues to acquire talent, and it is possible Stearns has made a decision that he can sufficiently fill his needs on the trade market instead of paying a price he deems too high on the open market. The issue may be that refusing to overpay in dollars could result in the Mets overpaying for trades or walking away with lesser options due to value calculations.

Stearns has been willing to make unpopular decisions this winter and clearly has a plan to build the organization into a perennial winner that isn't entirely clear to the fanbase yet. It remains to be seen if the plan will be successful, but Stearns does need to show more flexibility in terms of years if he doesn't want to keep missing out on top talent like Diaz.

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