PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Our first New York Mets mailbag feature of the 2025 season attracted more than 100 questions. A grand total of zero people asked a direct question about Juan Soto — you know, the player the Mets are paying $765 million over the next 15 years. With a couple of weeks left in spring training, the focus concentrated on Clay Holmes’ transition as a starting pitcher, prospects and president of baseball operations David Stearns’ philosophy on the rotation.
(Note: Submitted questions have been edited for clarity and length.)
Why was Clay Holmes converted to starting pitcher while José Buttó went to the bullpen? What do they see differently in these two? — Alfred P.
Tim: As Will wrote back at the time, the Mets liked what they saw at the end of last season from Holmes when he started throwing a four-seamer and changeup. Combine that with the quality of his sinker and sweeper, and they think he can run through a lineup multiple times. (I don’t think it hurts that the contract for Holmes was reasonable enough that, should the starting thing not pan out, he wouldn’t be especially overpaid as Edwin Díaz’s set-up man.)
There are a few things that stand out with Buttó’s shift to the pen. First, I don’t think the Mets are closed off to him ever starting again. At the start of the offseason, the plan was for Buttó to stretch out and come to camp as a starter, even if it was likely he would end up in the pen. Second, given the shape of their rotation, the Mets are especially eager to have multiple multi-inning relievers in their bullpen — a job Buttó excelled in last year. And third, while Buttó’s primary results as a starter last season were solid, his walk rate was concerning. Only four pitchers who started as many games as Buttó had a higher walk rate than his 13.5 percent last season. You can get by as a reliever walking more than 12 percent of opposing hitters in a way you can’t as a starter.
How will they handle Holmes’ workload to make sure he can help them late in the season? — Jason S.
Will: The Mets don’t believe in imposing hard limits on their starting pitchers heading into a season. They prefer to read the situation as they go. And club officials are not overly worried about Holmes’ workload. They point to an ability to get 182 innings out of Luis Severino in the regular season last year after the veteran threw just 209 1/3 innings from 2019-23. Holmes’ durability as a reliever — he threw 63 innings in each of the last three years — is another reason why they’re confident.
It seems like there is a pattern of Mets pitching prospects fizzling at Triple A (Mike Vasil, Dom Hamel, Blade Tidwell and Brandon Sproat come to mind). From your perspective, is this just a common rate of struggle for pitchers moving to the highest level or something else? (I’ve heard the automated ball-strike system being blamed). — Kieran C.
Will: It’s probably a combination of a few things, including what you mentioned; put simply, sometimes, a player just isn’t that good. Another reason to add to the list: The ball is different in Triple A, so pitching prospects need to get used to throwing it (and sometimes certain pitches are impacted). Also, under president of baseball operations David Stearns and senior vice president of player development Andy Green, the Mets have acted more aggressively with some promotions. For instance, Sproat graduated from multiple levels in 2024. They don’t want prospects wasting their time dominating at lower levels, and they prefer their prospects to face challenges ahead of arriving in the majors. They don’t want the majors to be the first place their prospects experience some level of failure.
What would the ideal Stearns organization look like entering the 2030 season? — Eli S.
Tim: A five-time reigning World Series champion, probably.
I think we’re already getting a pretty good sense of what Stearns wants the Mets to look like. They’d be a team that churns out useful big-leaguers from the farm system, makes castoffs from other organizations better, hits on the fringe depth moves and the mid-level free agents, and makes a big-splash foray into free agency for the very best (and often youngest) players.
Jose Iglesias was a cult hero for the 2024 Mets. Who else would be on the Mets’ all-time list of cult heroes? — Matthew K.
Tim: A follow-up commenter mentioned Wilmer Flores, and that’s the first place my mind went. Flores and Bartolo Colón fit the bill from the middle of the last decade.
Otherwise, I tend to gravitate toward the 1999-2000 teams of my youth and players like Todd Pratt, Matt Franco and a personal favorite, Melvin Mora. Fans also tend to support a long reliever with the chance to become a full-time starter — it’s the closest you get to a backup quarterback in baseball — and so Cory Lidle, Pat Mahomes, Darren Oliver and Seth Lugo (and now José Buttó) have all been held in high esteem.
Who’s going to be the backup catcher for the next two months? — James S.
Will: Francisco Alvarez’s injury elevates Luis Torrens to starting catcher. The Mets will likely lean on Torrens as much as they can. Jakson Reetz is my guess if they stick internally, but the Mets also viewed Hayden Senger as one of the best defensive catchers in Triple A last year. We’ll see who becomes available in a couple of weeks. There are a handful of veterans with opt-outs elsewhere. The Mets are exploring options.
Is Stearns’ strategy of reconstructing the rotation every year sustainable over the long term? — Jay L.
Tim: My high school history teacher once assigned us an essay with the prompt “The Progressive Era wasn’t.” He argued that the Progressive Era wasn’t progressive, and it also wasn’t exactly an era.
Your question reminded me of this, Jay, because while I don’t think reconstructing the rotation every year is especially sustainable, I also don’t think it’s Stearns’ strategy. We talked about his ideal organization above, and a big part of that will be incorporating younger players into the rotation soon. (While the starters closest to the bigs had a rough go of it in 2024, Sproat, Nolan McLean and Jonah Tong all opened eyes last summer.) If the Mets are still signing three or four starters next winter and the winter beyond that, well, the plan has gone awry.
Furthermore, Stearns aggressively pursued Yoshinobu Yamamoto two winters ago to headline the rotation. I would expect that, eventually, he’ll sign a front-line starter to a nine-figure contract.
The rotation reconstruction plan could work in the short term if the Mets continue to maximize the talents of that staff. Jeremy Hefner and Co. certainly did that last year with Sean Manaea and Severino. But you can already see the perils of it this year, with Manaea and Frankie Montas on the shelf.
Who do you think will make it to the major-league team first? Sproat or Tidwell? — AK L.
Will: My guess is Sproat just because he’s the better prospect. But Tidwell impressed some club officials this spring. Tidwell struggled in Triple A last season but made some key changes. His stuff improved. In a recent outing, I heard Tidwell’s fastball sat at 97.5 mph and hit 99 mph. The added velocity — he also added 10-15 pounds of muscle — helps all his pitches. But he needs to show consistency to receive consideration at some point.
Which player is facing the biggest make-or-break season? — Rich M.
Tim: I think the easiest answer here is Brett Baty. If he plays well, he could work himself back into the Mets’ long-term plans at third base (with Mark Vientos shifting across the diamond) as soon as next season. If he doesn’t, it’s probably time to move on, and Baty would not have much trade value.
Implicit in that answer is the other obvious choice here in Pete Alonso. Last winter, Blake Snell and Matt Chapman signed the kind of shorter-term, quick opt-out deal that Alonso just did, and both earned big long-term contracts with strong seasons. That’s the blueprint for Alonso.
(Photo: Sam Navarro / Imagn Images)
