The Mets’ 2023 season did not go according to plan. The Mets ended the season being ranked fourth in their division, the NL East, only won 75 games, and did not make the playoffs. Steve Cohen, the Mets’ owner, who spent about $2.4 billion to buy the organization in 2020, has shown that he was not afraid to spend as much money as needed on this team. In fact, the Mets set a record for having to pay a luxury tax of $101 million. 

In the previous season, the Mets won 100 games. During this year, Mets Manager Buck Showalter won manager of the year since he led the Mets to the wildcard series. Unfortunately, they did not make it past the wildcard series after a

disappointing loss. However, after the unsuccessful 2023 season, Buck Showalter announced he was not returning. Even though Showalter has received Manager of the Year four times, he has yet to come home with a World Series Win. Many things can be said about Showalter, he may have been a good manager in the past, but his odd obsession with playing Daniel Vogelbach as the DH does not attest to that. The Mets went with Carlos Mendoza as their new team manager. He was hired to a three year contract with a team option for 2027.

The organization’s management made additional changes, after Billy Eppler also announced he would not be returning, with the Mets teams’ first-ever President of Baseball Operations. Cohen hired David Sterns in October to be the president. He will be involved in the Mets’ budget and players’ salaries, hiring, scheduling, communications, and overall overseeing the season. Eppler is under some fire now for fabricating the injured list, so this change may have been for the best. 

Last season, the Mets made some pretty big changes to their roster. After selling Eduardo Escobar, Mark Canha, David Robertson, Max Scherzer, and Justin Verlander, who of course became a World Series Champion after being sold, the team needs to rebuild. They received a few good prospects with these trades including Luisangel Acuña INF, brother of Ronald Acuña Jr., Drew Gilbert OF, Justin Jarvis RHP, and Ryan Clifford OF. 

Also regarding prospects, throughout 2023, the Mets went back and forth between their top prospects, bringing them up and down from the minors, and inconsistently playing them. This includes Francisco Alvarez, Brett Baty, Ronny Mauricio, and Mark Vientos. Both Alvarez and Baty were brought up to the majors during the 2022 season. Alvarez made his place as the ongoing Mets catcher. He broke records for being a rookie catcher with the most home runs in Mets history, with 25 in 2023. He did end the season with an average of .209, however, his home run power, and fielding percentage of .986, make up for it. 

Baty had a big debut by hitting a home run during his first ever at bat in the majors in 2022. Since then, his playing has been a bit of a struggle. He ended the 2023 season with an average of .210, and had a total of 10 errors as a third baseman. Because of his struggle, Showalter sent Baty back down to Triple-A in August to work on playing. However while down there he hit an average of .291 with 10 home runs in just six games. An interesting thing to note is that the home runs Baty hits in the smaller minor league field tend to be just outside of the fence, which could explain why in the majors he showed to only have warning track power. 

Mauricio and Vientos both made it to the majors in 2023. However, Vientos had very little playing time since third base was taken by Baty, and DH was taken by Vogelbach. He had a total of 65 games played in 2023 and ended with an average of .211. As it goes for Mauricio, in just 26 games, he hit two home runs and ended with an average of .248. However, Mauricio’s possibility of making it to the majors this season is slim to none, due to his torn ACL and expected return to be in September. 

The bullpen within the organization is struggling as well. Their best closer, Edwin Diaz has been out with a right knee injury since the World Baseball Classic, however, he is expected to make a return this upcoming season. The Mets traded David Robertson, who was probably their second-best closer. They have re-signed Adam Ottovino, they have Brooks Raley, Phil Bickford, new addition Shintaro Fujinami, and Drew Smith. Smith had an issue as he was suspended for 10 games for cheating with “sticky stuff” in his glove in June. There may be some new faces as well as the off-season continues, and if any of the prospects get brought up. 

For their starting rotation, it looks like it will be Kodai Senga, Jose Quintana, new additions Luis Severino, Sean Manaea, Adrian Houser, and most likely Tyler Megil. Senga signed with the Mets in 2022 after playing in Japan and made his debut in April 2023. Senga made a name for himself with his signature “ghost-fork” pitch. In 29 games, he won 12, has a whip of 1.22, and has an ERA of 2.98. Quintana was out on injury for the beginning of the season due to a rib injury. In his return, he played 13 games, won 3, and had an ERA of 3.57. 

However, as of February 22, Kodai Senga will be out on injury for a few

months due to a shoulder injury. Senga hurt himself during spring training practice before he even got a chance to play in a game. So, now the Mets will need to find their starter replacement for the season. 

Now, with Spring Training games beginning, all of the minor league players will have a chance to get stronger, prove themselves to the organization, and possibly earn a spot on the team. Additionally, all the players will showcase their abilities and improve on their game.