The Mets had an offer on the table earlier this week to left handed reliever Wandy Peralta for two years and a club option, with a total guarantee in the $8-10 million range, according to league sources.
On Wednesday, Peralta accepted a guaranteed $16.5 million over four years, with three opt-outs, from the San Diego Padres. The Mets then pivoted to talks with a pitcher on whom they place a similar value, lefty Jake Diekman, offering Diekman, 37, one year plus a vesting option at around the same annual value as Peralta, sources say.
The Mets noticed that Diekman made a change in his delivery after a trade last season from the Chicago White Sox to the Tampa Bay Rays. That alteration caused him to throw more strikes, and appears sustainable.
If and when an agreement with Diekman becomes official -- and there is optimism that it will -- the Mets will have quite possibly completed their offseason work under new president of baseball operations David Stearns.
The team has added three starting pitchers, Luis Severino, Sean Manaea, and Adrian Houser. They signed center fielder Harrison Bader and infielder Joey Wendle. They offered free agent Yoshinobu Yamamoto $325 million before watching, with a mixture of passing disappointment and deep relief, the pitcher accept a nearly identical deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Stearns and his group have also accumulated depth pieces that might or might not bolster the offense and run prevention -- all roster moves are educated guesses, after all.
The front office continues to engage in conversations with agents and rival teams. That process never stops. But a sense is taking hold inside the organization that the roster looks quite close to what it will be when pitchers and catchers report to Port St. Lucie on Feb. 14.
Our oft-stated caveats about the designated hitter market apply: Unless a J.D. Martinez or Jorge Soler or Brandon Belt for some reason drops his contract demands significantly (and why would they?), the Mets will pass.
But given that the team wants to see if they have a keeper in Mark Vientos before 2025 -- and given the fact that the Mets are paying a luxury tax of 110 percent on every dollar -- it has long been unlikely that they would sign a DH. For now, the most prominent Soler in Metsland will remain Alay.
As Stearns told SNY last month, the Mets believe that they will contend for a playoff spot this year. They are bullish on their defense, optimistic about the upside of their offense and pitching staff -- and realistic about how far behind the Braves and Phillies they remain.
They are also holding $10-to-15 million in reserve for the trade deadline, in the event that they do in fact earn themselves a spot in the playoff race.
Will that happen? Stearns, who also spent the winter building out a culturally and intellectually diverse front office and hiring a promising manager in Carlos Mendoza, is surely realistic enough to know that even a team that has a strong process also needs a lot of luck.
For now, we can simply tell you that their offseason work is just about done. Check back in six or seven months for information on how they did.