Carlos Mendoza, David Stearns offer no insight at Winter Meetings after Mets acquire Juan Soto
DALLAS — If you were hoping to hear how Carlos Mendoza and David Stearns felt about Juan Soto less than 24 hours after the two parties agreed to the largest contract in professional sports history, you’ll have to wait a little longer for insight.
It’s one of the more annoying parts about offseason transactions. Until a physical is passed, the contract isn’t exactly official. And until it’s official, team personnel can’t talk about it. Technically, they could if they wanted to, but that didn’t work out very well for the Mets after owner Steve Cohen broke the news on his own two years ago that the club had signed Carlos Correa.
As you might remember, Correa’s contract with the San Francisco Giants fell apart because of a physical, and the Mets saw the same thing the Giants did and a standoff ensued. Talking about a contract or a player on record before it becomes official could open the door to renegotiations and negatively affect the outcome in the end.
So Stearns and Mendoza stayed mum on their new right fielder, with Stearns shutting down any line of questioning and Mendoza humorously trying to talk around him.
What did Stearns do Sunday?
“I flew here.”
Hypothetically, if the Mets were to acquire another right fielder, what would it mean for Starling Marte?
“I think if we were to acquire a right fielder, we’ll talk about that when we acquire a right fielder,” Stearns said.
Mendoza was a little more candid about Marte, the veteran right fielder who has one more year left on his four-year contract.
“He’s a big part of this team, especially when he’s healthy,” Mendoza said. “We saw it in the playoffs, even though he wasn’t 100 percent, this is a dynamic player. He can impact the game in a lot of different ways. He runs the bases, he’s going to give you quality at bat, he puts the ball in play, he’s got the ability to go the other way, he hits it out of the ballpark, he’s got a cannon. His defense got better throughout the year …
“So again, he is a big part of this team.”
Reading between the lines, it sounds like the Mets would like to keep Marte and use him at DH. Without J.D. Martinez and Jesse Winker, the Mets are in need of a DH platoon. Marte can spell Soto in the outfield when needed and be used late in games as a defensive replacement. While the 36-year-old Marte has been vocal about his preference to play every day in the outfield, he seems to know those days might be coming to an end. He posted a photo of Soto on his Instagram story Monday with the caption, “Welcome to our family.”
A defensive split might not be the worst idea. Soto isn’t a great defender and the Mets had to manage Marte’s workload after he returned from a knee injury last season. In 2023, he missed much of the season with a groin injury. Marte continues to work on his knee this winter.
“I spoke with him about a week ago, so he’s in a good place,” Mendoza said.
The Mets are tentatively planning to introduce Soto at Citi Field later in the week after the 26-year-old passes his physical.
Notes
Brett Baty could end up playing a utility role for the Mets next season after getting reps at second base and in the outfield with Triple-A Syracuse last season. The Mets like his positional flexibility and left-handed bat, while Baty told the Daily News in October that he would play any position that gets him on a big league field.
Ronny Mauricio recently started baseball activities, but the Mets aren’t about to pencil the infielder in for a spring training position battle just yet. After two knee surgeries and a year away from competitive baseball, they’d like to work him in slowly and see how he moves before making any decisions.
Right-hander Paul Blackburn is on track to be ready for spring training and Opening Day after undergoing a procedure to fix a spinal fluid leak in his back.
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