Mets Daily January 25, 2026

Mets In The News Today

Craig Kimbrel is in the building (sort of). The Mets agreed to a minor-league deal with an invite to big-league camp. Translation: “show us you still have bullets,” not “here’s the 9th inning.” The bullpen is officially a tryout stage with stadium lighting.
Run prevention is no longer a slogan, it’s a roster strategy. Last year’s Mets gave up too many runs, and the ugliness was mostly on the glove side, not the arm side. The front office spent the winter ripping out weak links, then the last week hit fast-forward.
Freddy Peralta extension talk gets the “not on Day 1” treatment. Stearns basically said Peralta should unpack his bags first, then they’ll talk. Spring training is where those conversations usually heat up, not January group chats.
40-man housekeeping: Vidal Bruján in, Richard Lovelady DFA’d. Bruján gives Mendoza another Swiss Army option. Lovelady becomes depth roulette, the kind where you hope nobody’s forced to spin it.
Spring Training is close enough to smell the sunscreen. Pitchers and catchers get rolling in mid-February, with the full squad right behind them. The next real argument is about roster spots, not hypotheticals.

José Ramírez locked in with Cleveland again. Big money, big deferrals, big “we’re not trading our franchise guy” energy.
Yu Darvish retirement smoke, contract-void reality. Darvish pushed back on the retirement noise while acknowledging contract mechanics could change. Rehab timelines and paperwork are having a louder offseason than his slider.
The Braves brought back utility depth. Luke Williams returns on a minor league deal, which is Atlanta doing Atlanta things: cheap, flexible, annoying.
Washington shipped MacKenzie Gore to Texas. That’s a real arm moving in January, not a rumor. The Rangers paid in prospects because pitching always costs more than fans want it to.

Braves: Luke Williams back on a minors deal. Bench flexibility is how they survive the grind without drama.
Phillies: Realmuto staying put recently was the headline. The rest feels like “tweak the edges and pray the core holds.”
Nationals: Traded MacKenzie Gore to the Rangers, then the market chatter immediately turned to who might be next.
Marlins: Quiet at the MLB level, louder in prospect-land and pipeline moves. Typical January.
Mets: Added Kimbrel as a depth play while the larger identity shift is clear: cleaner defense, more stable pitching structure, less chaos.

Jan 25, 2010: Shea Stadium’s longtime organist Jane Jarvis passed away, the soundtrack of a whole era of Mets baseball.
Jan 25, 2016: The Mets announced they would retire Mike Piazza’s #31, which still feels correct every time you see it.
Jan 25, 2025: The club leaned hard into fan experience with Amazin’ Day at Citi Field, a full-on “baseball is coming back” rally.
Jan 25 birthdays, baseball edition: The sport’s calendar always coughs up a few names worth remembering, even if the Mets angle is mostly vibe and nostalgia today.
This time of year, historically: The Mets are usually selling hope, selling tickets, and pretending everyone is “in the best shape of their life.” Some traditions deserve to live forever.

Runs allowed (2025): 715, which landed the Mets in the “too many” neighborhood league-wide.
Pitching profile, league ranks (2025): strikeout rate 15th, Statcast quality of contact allowed 16th, ground-ball rate 17th. Fine, not elite.
Defense told the uglier story: Outs Above Average 21st, Fielding Run Value 19th. That’s how “run prevention” became a winter mission statement.
Catcher defense was a bright spot: the Mets’ catching unit rated sixth-best by Fielding Run Value, one of the few places last year that didn’t feel like a tire fire.
The 2026 question that matters: can the Mets turn “fine pitching + improved gloves” into actual separation against the top of the league, instead of moral victories?