Mets In The News Today
- Kyle Tucker watch is officially a three-team knife fight. Jim Duquette is calling the Mets, Dodgers, and Blue Jays the “main three teams” pushing hardest. Tucker is the kind of add that changes your lineup math overnight, because you’re not buying “a bat,” you’re buying an everyday middle-of-the-order hitter who also plays a real outfield.
- Freddy Peralta remains the Mets’ most logical “buy innings, stop the bleeding” trade target. He’s coming off a 2.70 ERA season, he’s been a strikeout machine for years, and his $8M 2026 salary is the rare “ace talent without ace payroll” situation. The catch is simple: Milwaukee’s asking price is still expected to be nasty.
- Depth signings, but they’re not pointless.
- Robinson Martínez (RHP): minor-league deal. Winter ball line is loud enough to notice (3.52 ERA, 19 K in 15 1/3 IP).
- Christian Arroyo (INF): minor-league deal + spring invite. The appeal is versatility and the hope you catch even a slice of his 2021 version.
- Starling Marte’s 2025 is the cleanest example of “good start, bad finish.” Through early July he was hitting .270/.353/.387 in 58 games and still providing value. Then the body said “we’re done here.” That’s not a roast, it’s roster reality for 2026 planning.
- Prospect pulse: Nolan McLean keeps popping up in award chatter. He reportedly pulled 11 Rookie of the Year votes (25.6%) in a recent tally. Even if you discount the “poll energy,” it’s a reminder the Mets need young, cheap production somewhere.
A Trip Around Major League Baseball
- Toronto is still circling Tucker hard, and the money angle matters: they’re already living in a big-payroll neighborhood, and Tucker pushes you deeper into the expensive part of town.
- MLB Network is running “Shohei Day” programming today (Jan 7). Baseball media never misses a chance to turn a superstar into a national holiday.
- Oakland’s trademark situation got messier with reports of their “Athletics / A’s” trademark requests being denied. Branding drama, offseason fuel.
- Clayton Kershaw joining NBC as an analyst is the rare “that actually makes sense” media move.
NL East News & Notes
- Braves: Quiet day. The division’s biggest move lately is still the sound of everyone else trying to get better around them.
- Phillies: Mattingly joining the staff as bench coach is a “serious adults in the room” add. They also grabbed Justyn-Henry Malloy in a deal, which fits their usual “add bats, sort it out later” vibe.
- Nationals: Claimed Joey Wiemer off waivers. Low-risk roll of the dice on tools.
- Marlins: Their name keeps showing up in trade conversations (Edward Cabrera rumors still floating). That front office lives on “maybe we sell, maybe we don’t.”
Mets History Today
- 1992: Tom Seaver gets elected to Cooperstown with 98.84% of the vote. Not unanimous, because baseball writers are baseball writers.
- 2019: The Mets officially release David Wright. A brutal line on a calendar for the captain era.
- 2021: The Mets acquire Francisco Lindor and Carlos Carrasco from Cleveland. Franchise-shifting trade, even if the vibes took time to settle.
- A little extra spice: Italy’s tricolor flag was adopted on this date in 1797. Somewhere, a Mets-Italian household nodded approvingly.
- Birthday roll call (Mets-adjacent): Carlos Diaz, Craig Shipley, Jorge Toca (and a few others who made the baseball rounds).
Stats You Should Know
- Kyle Tucker (career): .273/.358/.507 — that’s not “nice player,” that’s “plug him into the 2–4 spots and breathe easier.”
- Freddy Peralta (2025): 2.70 ERA, and he’s hit 200+ strikeouts in each of the last three seasons (with a 3.40 ERA across that span). Also: $8M in 2026.
- Starling Marte (through early July 2025): .270/.353/.387, 1.0 bWAR in 58 games, then the drop-off.
- Christian Arroyo (2021): 1.5 WAR, .262/.324/.445, 18 XBH — the Mets are hoping there’s still something close to that player in there.
- Nolan McLean: 11 ROY votes (25.6%) in a recent tally. Not proof, but it’s signal.
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