The Mets have 10 players eligible for salary arbitration this offseason.

Those players are Francisco Alvarez, Brett Baty, Reed Garrett, Tylor Megill, Christopher Morel, Dedniel Núñez, Cristian Pache, Cionel Perez, Mark Vientos, and Austin Warren.

Once a player is offered arbitration, the team and that player's agent have until a set date -- usually at some point in February -- to come to terms on a new contract. If that doesn't happen, both sides submit salary proposals, and the player's salary is determined by independent arbitrators at a hearing (a timeframe that could be impacted this offseason by the expected lockout).

A team can also offer arbitration to a player and then trade him. So the Mets can tender contracts to players who might not be in their plans.

According to the MLB Trade Rumors algorithm that "looks at the player’s playing time, position, role, and performance statistics while accounting for inflation," here's what the Mets' arbitration-eligible players are projected to make in 2027...

Francisco Alvarez: $4.1 million
Brett Baty: $2.5 million
Tylor Megill: $2.5 million
Mark Vientos: $2.4 million
Christopher Morel: $2.1 million
Reed Garrett: $1.3 million
Cionel Perez: $1.2 million
Austin Warren: $1.2 million
Dedniel Núñez: $900,000
Cristian Pache: $800,000

If the Mets tender contracts to all of the above players and they receive salaries similar to the projections, it would add roughly $19 million to the payroll.

However, not every arbitration-eligible player is certain to remain with the team.

Alvarez, Baty, Megill, Garrett, Warren, and Núñez feel like close to locks to be offered arbitration. 

Garrett and Megill missed the 2026 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery, but both are expected to be valuable pitching depth in 2027 -- and Garrett is under team control through 2029. 

Meanwhile, Warren and Núñez (in his first year back from TJS) showed flashes in relief in 2026 and should be part of the calculus entering spring training. 

With the non-tender deadline set for Nov. 20, here are four Mets players who could be at risk...

INF/DH Mark Vientos

Vientos' offensive decline continued in 2026, as his OPS dipped to .652 (from .702 in 2025 and a career-best .837 in 2024). His batting average (.212) and OBP (.258) were both career worsts, and Vientos' defense remained subpar.

Getting most of his time at first base, Vientos was worth -9 OAA, via Baseball Savant. While Vientos has put in the time working on his defense behind the scenes, it just hasn't translated on the field. And his other main position on the diamond (third base) will likely be blocked by Bo Bichette, who is expected to opt in to his $42 million contract for 2027.

While Vientos could be part of the designated hitter situation for the Mets in 2027, potentially getting starts against left-handed pitching (he has a .772 OPS against lefties in his career), it kind of feels like the writing is on the wall when it comes to the end of his tenure in Queens.

Vientos still possesses serious power, but he just hasn't tapped into it enough over the last two seasons. Add to that his below-average defense, lack of positional versatility, and suboptimal speed, and it makes his inclusion on the 2027 roster a tough proposition. 

With Vientos set to earn just $2.4 million next season, it's possible a team in need of right-handed power has interest via trade. If a deal can't be reached before the non-tender deadline, though, expect the Mets to move on. 

INF/OF Christopher Morel

The Mets took a flier on Morel at the end of June after he was released by the Marlins.

Morel wound up playing in 13 games for New York over the summer, slashing just .200/.250/.333 (.583 OPS) in 32 plate appearances.

While Morel is versatile enough to play every position except catcher and pitcher, he is not a good defender at any spot. Meanwhile, his last above-average season with the bat came in 2023.

Projected to make roughly $2 million in 2027, Morel will almost certainly be a former Met by Nov. 20.

LHP Cionel Perez

During a nine-year career with the Orioles, Astros, Reds, Nationals, and Mets, Perez has shown enough to keep getting chances.

Perez had a terrific season for Baltimore in 2022 (1.40 ERA in 57.2 innings) and was also good for the O's in 2023 (3.54 ERA in 53.1 innings), but it's been tough sledding since then. Over the last three years, Perez has a 5.30 ERA and 1.55 WHIP in 120.2 innings.

However, Perez was solid for the Mets in 24 appearances over 29.1 innings in 2026, with a 3.99 ERA (3.75 FIP) and 1.33 WHIP while walking just 2.5 per nine and striking out 10.7 per nine. 

Perez also has a fastball that can touch close to 99 mph, so perhaps the Mets roll the dice and see if they can unlock what made him a key cog for the Orioles a few years ago. 

OF Cristian Pache

Pache inked a minor league deal with the Mets last December.

He spent the majority of the 2026 season in the minors, getting just eight plate appearances for New York. 

Before 2026, Pache -- a career .181/.242/.273 hitter in parts of six big league seasons -- last played in the majors in 2024.

Pache will almost certainly be non-tendered ahead of the deadline or removed from the 40-man roster before then to create room for other players. 

Before we begin looking ahead to 2027, OTM is looking back at 2026, highlighting some of the biggest, strangest, and most memorable moments of a memorable season. Today, we look back at a statistical anomaly that says a lot about the 2026 Red Sox offense.

With the Championship Series in full swing in both the AL and NL, the 2026 season is quickly winding down. But that doesn’t mean we’re quite done with it. There are some loose ends. Some questions unanswered. Some further insights to probe. In particular, one game was still tickling my brain. September 23rd.

This was a Wednesday night game against the Cleveland Guardians. Part of the penultimate series of the year, the one right before the Cubs came to town and things went crazy with the storm. The Red Sox would win the game 1-0 with 12 hits. And they were all singles. That seems weird right? This was noted at the time as somewhat uncommon. And, yes, as you slice stats and measurements you end up with small samples. That’s how so many online accounts can make “fun fact” claims about nearly every game. But I wondered just how uncommon this actually was.

In the 2026 season, this was the only game where a team had at least 12 hits and scored up to a single run. That includes if a team had 12 hits and was shut out. The Sox are unique here.

If we expand this to the Wild Card Era (1995 onward) it has occurred just 73 times. And just five of those teams won. The 2026 Red Sox, 2015 Pirates, 2014 Angels, 2000 Rangers, and 1997 Yankees all pulled off 12 or more hits and 1 run for a win. Only the Red Sox and Yankees did the trick without an extra base hit. Although even for the other teams, the most they hit was a double.

If we look at it in the other direction, there were 252 teams that had exactly 12 hits and scored more than 1 run in 2026 alone. This included the Sox on March 26th against the Reds. Opening Day. They were the first to do it. What a world that was, starting the season with 3 hits by Roman Anthony.

But back to the original question: 12 or more hits, 1 run or fewer. If we go all the way back to 1898 on Baseball-Reference, it’s only happened 368 times. And of that total, the team with 1 run on 12 or more hits only won 22 times. The Dodgers had 20 hits (18 singles) over 22 innings on August 23, 1989 against the Montreal Expos And the only run— by either team — was scored by LA in the 22nd inning. It was a Rick Dempsey home run off Dennis Martinez.

What if we forget the number of runs and just look for teams that had at least 12 singles? That happened 5 times in 2026. The Yankees pulled if off against the Sox in the August doubleheader we don’t really want to think much about. The Rays, Astros, and Marlins each did it as well. The Sox, Yankees, and Marlins won while the Rays and Astros lost. There are 157 occurrences of this during the Wild Card Era. The team hitting all singles won 89 times. Sometimes it really is just the hits that matters. One interesting tidbit looking at all these box scores is on June 18, 2023 that Marlins and Rays had 12 hits (all singles) and 4 runs, against the Nationals and Padres, respectively. The Marlins won 4-2 and the Rays list 5-4.

So the 12 hit, 1 run game against the Guardians was uncommon. Not the most uncommon. But not the type of thing that happens often. Just a couple games per season at most. But the fact that they won? That’s not something you’re likely to see. Another weird moment in a weird season.

Good morning.

Kennedi Landry writes that, if nothing else, MacKenzie Gore was available to pitch for the Texas Rangers in 2026.

Evan Grant writes that the infield was stricken with injuries all season but it was also the most productive unit for Texas in 2026.

MLB Trade Rumors’ Mark Polishuk checks out the offseason outlook for the Rangers where Chris Young and crew will be tasked with putting together a team to return to October.

And, in other news, Jon Daniels once traded with the Tampa Bay Rays to acquire Nathaniel Lowe when he was still Nathan Lowe and Daniels was the decision maker for the Rangers. Now Jon Daniels is a senior advisor with Tampa Bay and Lowe collected the go-ahead and game-winning RBI hit against the Rays in Game 1 of the ALCS. It’s a small world, I suppose.

Have a nice day!

As we get closer and closer to the end of the 2026 MLB season, the impending lockout and CBA negotiations will begin to take center stage in the baseball world. Even now as the final four teams get the league championship series underway, we still received some drops of information regarding the negotiations between the league and the MLB player’s association.

It’s imperative to take all of these leaks and reports with an appropriate grain of salt, as both sides will likely try to use the media to negotiate in public. The proposals this far out should receive even more skepticism, as neither side will be willing to concede this early. However, one of the latest reported proposals from the league has a somewhat interesting topic of discussion, and that’s the length of MLB’s regular season.

In the proposal, MLB broached the idea of shortening the regular season from the current 162 games back to the former 154 games. The latter was the standard until the American League moved to 162 games in 1961 with the National League following the year after. Seven less games obviously mean that the regular season would be one week shorter, allowing for each week to have a built-in off day for each team. That would theoretically help keep players, especially pitchers, healthy as they would be less wear and tear on their bodies. Part of the league’s reasoning for this idea was also the ability to then extend the length of the divisional round of the postseason from a best of five to a best of seven. In addition to that, MLB proposed that the higher seeds would be able to choose their opponents for those series.

There will be many more ideas exchanged back and forth from both sides over the coming winter, but this is one of the first ones that feels like it has at least some realistically possibility of happening in some form. So, should MLB shorten the length of the regular season? Or should it stay where it is? Or does it not even go far enough for your liking?

Sticking with the rotation since there isn’t really much else to discuss…

Didier Fuentes may or may not be ticketed for the rotation in 2027, assuming there is a 2027 season. Chris Sale can’t fend off Father Time forever, but he’s done a good job of it so far. Grant Holmes exists. Bryce Elder exists. Everyone else is either injured-and-oft-injured, coming off a not-so-great MLB season, or a mix of both.

The Braves will probably add starters from outside the organization, and/or re-up with Tyler Mahle and perhaps even Martin Perez. But, unless it’s literally Mahle and Perez to go with Holmes, Elder, Fuentes, and Sale, they’ll have to make some more moves.

So, how many do you think they’ll make? No scoring, but for purposes of your guess, consider only a starter making about $8 million (or the equivalent of that if the CBA immediately curtails salaries), or a trade equivalent of such. They could add all sorts of Martin Perezes, but we wouldn’t really know whether that should count as an earnest effort or not until the proof ends up in the proverbial pudding.

Meet the Mets

Anth0ny DiComo identified three Mets prospects who could find themselves making a big impact for the 2027 squad.

Tim Britton analyzed the effect that a salary cap would have on the Mets and explored the different types of teams that the organization could build with different budgets.

Pete Sblendorio looked at the team’s biggest questions ahead of the winter.

Danny Abriano ranked the top five priorities for the Mets heading into the offseason.

The Mets could be open to a change at second base next season, but it would cost them.

Joe Patorno wondered if the Mets may have missed out on the real architect of the Brewers in Matt Arnold.

Around the National League East

Mark Bowman wrote about the Braves’ five biggest offseason questions.

Cole Weintraub identified some of the key dates for the Phillies entering an uncertain offseason.

Dillon Lawson has been named the Marlins’ hitting coach.

Around Major League Baseball

The Brewers overcame three deficits to pick up a 7-4 win in Game 2 of the NLCS over the Dodgers and tighten their grip on the series, as they look to prevent Los Angeles from a three-peat.

The game turned on its head during a 12-pitch at-bat between Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Jake Bauers, which wore out Yamamoto and led to him being knocked out of the game in the third inning.

Paul Casella highlighted some key takeaways from Game 2 of the NLCS, including the continued struggles of the Dodgers’ superstars and William Contreras coming through for the Brew Crew.

Shohei Ohtani is one of those struggling bats, and the Dodgers will discuss benching their superstar for Game 3 of the series.

The Guardians rallied past the Rays in Game 1 of the ALCS with two runs in the eighth and three in the ninth, resulting in a 7-3 victory.

José Ramírez caused havoc on the basepaths, which was a key to helping the Guardians picked up their fourth straight win.

Will Leitch wrote about some storylines to keep an eye on in both the NLCS and in the ALCS.

Ramírez is relishing the second chance to bring Cleveland to the World Series after failing to do so in 2024.

Anthony Berry talked about the 2021 trade that sent Junior Caminero from the Guardians to the Rays, and wondered how it happened in the first place considering how much of a steal if seems to be in retrospect.

Yesterday at Amazin’ Avenue

Linus Lawrence ranked the Mets’ biggest LDS moments.

If you find yourself bored and missing baseball, or just want to connect with your fellow Mets fans in a fun way, join the Amazin’ Avenue offseason book club, beginning with The Worst Team Money Could Buy.

This Date in Mets History

Unfortunately, the Mets have not had a lot of luck on games played on October 13, having lost playoff games on this date in 2024, 2015, 2006, 1999, and 1973. The worst of which has to be Game 2 of the 2006 NLCS, which I’d still argue is the most heartbreaking loss and the biggest “what if?” game of that series.

Once again, the Braves are entering an offseason where many questions need to be answered. And unfortunately, many of those questions will be focused on how reliable talents already with the Braves will be moving forward. That of course spotlights all the injuries that some of the Braves most promising your arms have went through over the past few years, thus leading to the question of how many arms must the Braves acquire.

And then, there is the matter of the now years long issue of the Braves offense under performing. A major factor in that is the decline of Austin Riley, someone the Braves must get going again to truly get back toward contention. In an offseason where there already is so much uncertainty around the game itself, the Braves have their own questions to answer.

Braves News

While the Braves will go into Spring Training with Didier Fuentes as a starter, it will be interesting to see how they use him as the season progresses.

MLB News

In a bit of a surprise development, the Guardians defeated the Rays in Game 1 of the ALCS.

The Brewers gained early control of the NLCS as they are now up 2-0 over the Dodgers.

The NLCS now shifts to the West Coast, after the Milwaukee Brewers took the first two games of the series at home, pushing the Los Angeles Dodgers into unfamiliar territory as they trail two games to none in the series.

But more unfamiliar territory could follow.

Benching superstar Shohei Ohtani.

The slugger continues to struggle at the plate, and Ohtani endured an 0-for-4 night with two strikeouts on Monday after going 1-for-3 with a single in Game 1. Ohtani entered the NLCS having gone just 2-for-13 against the Atlanta Braves, and now sits at 3-for-20 this postseason with a trio of singles, along with three walks.

That is good for a slash line of .150/.261/.411.

Speaking after the game, manager Dave Roberts had this to say about the team’s superstar, as quoted by The Athletic:

“Yeah, I mean, obviously it hasn’t been good. He doesn’t feel great. I think for me, it’s having a conversation with him tomorrow, kind of try to figure out what’s best for him, what’s best for us. He certainly has earned that conversation and deserves it.

“I’ll have (that conversation) with him tomorrow.”

Our own Eric Stephen, who “has practice in Robertsese” as he described it, declared early Tuesday morning “that means Ohtani won’t be starting in Game 3 on Wednesday at Dodger Stadium.”

How did we get here, with the Dodgers contemplating sitting none other than Shohei Ohtani in a must-win playoff game?

Ohtani has been dealing with several injuries this season, starting with a left knee issue which caused him to miss some starts on the bump in the summer, and to miss the All-Star Game together as he sought treatment for the knee ailment.

But a right bicep issue followed, and he was eventually put on the IL in September with that issue, and the team shut him down as a pitcher on September 7.

Yet, Ohtani’s performance at the plate had begun to dip well before September. he began the year hot at the dish, slashing .293/.403/.549 with 22 home runs ahead of the All-Star break.

Over the second half of the season, Ohtani slashed just .245/.325/.447 with eight home runs. And when you dive into those numbers a bit more, the dip in performance looks even steeper. After slashing .273/.330/.557 in July, with six home runs, he slashed .241/.322/.472 in August, with six more homers.

Over eight regular season games in September and October, he slashed just .200/.333/.233, without a home run. His last homer came back in the middle of August, a blast against the Colorado Rockies on August 18. In that three game series at Coors Field, Ohtani went 5-for-14 with three home runs and five RBI.

However, since that game Ohtani has gone 14-for-90 without a home run, and with just a single RBI. That is good for an average of .156, and an OPS under .490.

Digging into Ohtani’s numbers a little more, and watching his at-bats, you can see the struggles at the plate. His swing speed has dipped — according to data from FanGraphs his bat speed on line drives is 74.8 miles per hour, down from 76.0 last year and a high of 77.7 during the 2023 season — as has his exit velocity. After averaging an EV of 93.3 mph this season, his lone hit in the NLCS came off the bat at just 74 mph:

And his approach on this single helps tell another part of the story.

As noted by The Athletic, Ohtani has tried to shorten his swing, and take balls to the opposite field rather than trying to pull or drive balls to the right side. That is because he’s struggled to catch up to fastballs and pull them, as you can see on this strikeout from the first inning Monday night, when he swings through a 95-mph four-seam fastball up in the zone from Logan Henderson:

That approach leads to moments like this from Monday night, when Ohtani tries to go the other way on a ball off the plate and looks … unlike the Ohtani we are used to seeing:

At the start of that at-bat? Ohtani actually showed bunt, something else we are not used to seeing from the slugger.

Speaking ahead of the NLDS Ohtani, through team interpreter Will Ireton, had this to say about his swing:

“It feels really good overall. I do feel like my swing is in a better place, feels smooth, and just a little tweaks here and there, and I’ll be ready for tomorrow.”

And on the injuries:

“I haven’t been able to get a good grasp of the root cause of all this. I think that process is going to happen during the off-season when I’m going to have a little bit more time to be able to address it. But as of now, it’s something I’m just going to have to manage.”

However, he also talked about “transparency,” regarding how he is feeling physically:

“ I think the discussion became more about like what’s best for the team. Is it something that I can play through, and if that’s best for the team, sure. But I think we both came to an understanding where the decision to be on the IL came from the fact that it’s probably best for the team for me to recover and be able to focus on the postseason.”

And that might be the focus of the upcoming discussion with Roberts. As noted by Stephen early Tuesday morning, there’s “been an open question of how forthcoming Ohtani has been with his injuries as well.” But the player we have seen so far this postseason has been struggling at the plate, and with the Dodgers facing a two-game hole in the series, that could lead to a difficult decision for Roberts and the rest of the organization.

If Ohtani is indeed out of the lineup to start Game 3, Josue De Paula is likely the “top candidate” to replace him, according to The Athletic. De Paula, who was called up from Double-A Tulsa in mid-September, went 10-for-31 with a home run in limited action for the Dodgers, slashing .323/.500/.581. That was good enough for the team to add him to the postseason roster and he has a pair of walks in three plate appearances, including one on Sunday night in Game 1.

The Dodgers are set to meet the media later today during the off day before Wednesday’s pivotal Game 3.

Meaning we might learn more about Ohtani’s status in a few hours.