The Mets Keep Spending — Now They Need It to Actually Work

If hope were payroll, the Mets would win the World Series every year.

2025 was another season where New York flashed elite potential but struggled with consistency, particularly on the pitching side. Offensively, the Mets ranked top-10 in runs and on-base percentage, showing strong lineup depth and patience. But pitching volatility cost them multiple games.

The front office responded aggressively again, reinforcing both rotation depth and bullpen leverage arms. Steve Cohen is never afraid to spend money in an effort to win. To the contrary, it sometimes looks like Cohen is daring other teams to keep up with his…

But offseason effort often fails to meet on-field results. The talent is always there. The question remains chemistry and durability. It seems that year-after-year in the Cohen era, the Mets seem like one of the game’s best teams during the dog days of summer, only to fall off a cliff as the leaves begin to change.

The Mets went 28-37 in the second half of the season to finish the year 83-79 and miss the playoffs.

Biggest Need Entering 2026:
Pitching, pitching, pitching. The offense was among the league’s best in 2025, and they reloaded. Despite losing Pete Alonso, which was expected, the Mets added Bo Bichette on a 3-year deal. Luis Robert, Marcus Semien and Jorge Polanco also now call Queens home.

The Metropolitans also added several bullpen arms, but New York’s main issue was the rotation. While New York’s starting staff not as bad as, say, Baltimore’s, it did create a lot of problems for the bullpen. Was the bullpen great? No. They were 15th in the league in bullpen ERA. But when you consider that the rotation was near the bottom of the league in quality starts and one of the worst in the majors in terms of WHIP, that means that the bullpen was asked to cover a lot of ground and pitch a lot of high stress innings. With that being said, I’d say the bullpen holding steady in the middle of the pack was about all you could ask for.

Have They Addressed It?
Yes, they won the Freddy Peralta sweepstakes, getting him in a trade with the Milwaukee Brewers. I would like to see them do something else, showing commitment to fix 2025 biggest issue. Doesn’t have to be huge, like Framber Valdez, but maybe reuniting with Max Scherzer or signing someone like Walker Buehler or Lucas Giolito could help stabilize that rotation.

Our Take:
The Mets are never boring. They’re also never predictable. This roster could win 95 games…or unravel by June. Talent alone doesn’t guarantee cohesion — and that’s been their Achilles heel. Is this the year they finally put it all together, or is 2026 going to be another instance of “the Mets are gonna Met?”