Mets have plenty going for them as they look to land Yoshinobu Yamamoto

This past Saturday, Steve Cohen and a Mets contingent hosted Yoshinobu Yamamoto at Cohen's home in Connecticut during what was their second meeting with the star free agent.

A few weeks prior, Cohen and president of baseball operations David Stearns flew to Japan to have dinner with Yamamoto during a trip where they also met his family.

With the serious bidding now underway, we could know within the next few days where the 25-year-old ace will be pitching in 2024 -- and perhaps for the next decade -- with the Mets, Yankees, Dodgers, Giants, and Red Sox among his suitors.

For the Mets, Yamamoto is their hopeful offseason centerpiece. 

And as they look to close the deal, they have plenty in their favor.

The biggest stage in the world

Boston and San Francisco are terrific cities. Los Angeles is where many of the biggest stars in the world live, and is a sun-splashed wonderland.

None of those cities, however, is New York.

Reports have indicated that Yamamoto wants to pitch in a big city, and there is none bigger than NYC, where he would have everything at his fingertips on the world's biggest stage.

The Yankees can of course offer the same NYC experience as the Mets, but the team from Queens has something that could set them apart...

The wealthiest owner in the sport

With Cohen, the Mets have the richest owner in baseball who has shown he will do whatever it takes to win -- whether it means giving a free agent the biggest average annual value ever or having the highest payroll ever.

Every owner has a limit, and while Cohen's checkbook doesn't really have one, his appetite for paying absurdly high luxury tax penalties rightfully does. But the good news there is that the Mets don't have a single bad long-term contract on their books, and those books clear significantly after 2024 -- perhaps putting them in a unique position to be the high bidder on a deal for Yamamoto that could be in the ballpark of $300 million for 10 years.

Quite frankly, unless Cohen gets the sense he's being used to drive up Yamamoto's price, it's hard to envision the Mets not being the high bidder -- perhaps by a large margin if needed.

The Dodgers also have a ton of money to spend, the Giants have been begging a star to take their money for what seems like forever, and the Red Sox are looking to make a splash. So those teams should be viewed as serious threats.

Regarding the Yankees, while they have an appetite to cross the $300 million payroll threshold for the first time, a look at their books makes me question whether they have the stomach to be the high bidder for Yamamoto.

As things currently stand, the Yanks have $128 million committed to four players (Aaron Judge, Gerrit Cole, Giancarlo Stanton, and Carlos Rodon) through 2027. If they extend Juan Soto, that number will rise to around $170 million for five players through 2027. Pop $30 million for Yamamoto on top of that, and they're at about $200 million for six players through 2027.

Judge is going nowhere. Stanton's contract is immovable, and so is Rodon's as of now.

Perhaps the Yanks have a willingness to have a payroll well above $300 million for the next half-decade, which would mean massive yearly luxury tax penalties. Maybe they think there's a way to pay 34 players with $96 million for three years (what it would cost to stay under the top tax of $297 million if they're paying around $200 million to six players). 

Maybe they're prepared to let Cole walk if he opts out after 2024 instead of locking him in by adding a 10th year to his deal, or have already come to the conclusion that they're not keeping Soto beyond this season.

But if not, it's very hard to see the Yanks being the high bidder for Yamamoto.

Some of the best players in MLB

The Mets are coming off an incredibly disappointing 2023 season, but there are two reasons why that shouldn't matter a whole lot.

The first is that the core of a team that won 101 games in 2022 is still in place.

Second, that core features some of the very best players in baseball, including Francisco Lindor, Edwin Diaz, Pete Alonso and Brandon Nimmo. And it was added to during the lost season of 2023 with the arrivals of Kodai Senga and Francisco Alvarez.

Lindor, under contract through 2031, was the eighth-most valuable player in baseball in 2023.

Diaz, under contract through 2027, is the best closer in the sport.

Alonso, a free agent after 2024 but a good bet to sign with the Mets long-term, has hit the most home runs in baseball since making his debut in 2019.

Nimmo, under contract through 2030, is one of the most valuable center fielders in baseball -- a plus defender with a career OPS of .828.

Senga, who would've won the Rookie of the Year in 2023 if not for Corbin Carroll's absurd showing, had a 2.98 ERA in his debut season.

Alvarez, who hit 25 homers during his rookie season, has a chance to be one of the best-hitting catchers in baseball for the next decade. 

A farm system on the verge of being elite

The silver lining of the spectacular failure of the 2023 Mets was that they turned Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander into Luisangel Acuña, Drew Gilbert and Ryan Clifford.

Those trades, combined with a huge year from the emerging Jett Williams, have the Mets' farm system among the 10 best in baseball.

And that system will likely soon start to bear fruit in the majors, with Acuña, Gilbert, and perhaps even Williams making their big league debut at some point in 2024.

Cohen's main goal when he bought the Mets was to turn them into a team that is built for sustainable success. And having a farm system that churns out starting-caliber players year after year is one of the main ways to do that.

One of the best executives in baseball

With the hire of Stearns at the beginning of the offseason, the Mets added one of the best and most well-respected executives in baseball.

While he'll have to prove his mettle again after leaving the Brewers for New York, there's no reason to expect an exec who built a consistent winner in Milwaukee with a fraction of the resources he'll have in Queens won't succeed again.

Stearns might operate in a bit of a methodical way as he looks to shape the Mets, but he'll be taking big shots along the way -- including the one for Yamamoto.

And being methodical while still prepared to act aggressively when needed fits perfectly with Cohen's vision.

***

The Mets have all the ingredients in place to become a sustainable winner that contends for World Series titles yearly.

To be fair, the Dodgers are already what the Mets are trying to be. They're also one of the most storied franchises in baseball. The same can be said for the Yankees, who had a hiccup in 2023 but have an even more iconic history than Los Angeles.

The Mets can't offer the "legacy team" aspect of this.

They're not the Dodgers, who were iconic in Brooklyn and carried that with them to LA -- winning titles in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and most recently in 2020.

And they're not the Yankees, whose history goes back to old Yankee Stadium and Babe Ruth. As far as more recent history goes, since the Mets' inception in 1962, the Yanks have won eight World Series titles to the Mets' two.

The Mets can't go back in time, found the franchise in 1903, and win the 19 World Series championships the Yankees did before 1962. They can't reanimate The Babe, have him hit most of his 714 home runs for them, and then retire his No. 3.

What the Mets can do, however, is lay out what makes them the best fit for Yamamoto right now. And they can hammer their interest home by making him the biggest offer. After that, they'll simply have to wait and see if it's enough.