Adam Ottavino is BACK and I'm unusually excited about this. He was one of my favorite players last year -- the frisbee slider is just gorgeous.

Keep on spending, Steve!

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It looks like Seth Lugo is on his way to San Diego, likely in a role that will give him the opportunity to be a starting pitcher.

I hope he succeeds. (Just not when we face the Padres.)

It's hard to be a guy like Lugo, I think. You have the goods to be a back-of-the-rotation starter, clearly, but you end up as a non-closer reliever due to team need. And then you kind of get stuck in that role until/unless someone wants to take a chance on you.

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I'm disappointed that the Mets didn't bring back Justin Turner. Putting aside that he's my son's favorite player, he looked like a good fit -- RH bat, can play 3B, wasn't going to need a long-term deal.

This is the first time in a long time that I can't really predict what the Mets front office is up to. I would have never thought they'd bring in another catcher (Omar Navaraez, in this case) and thought a RH bat was a slam dunk. But so far, I'm wrong on both accounts.

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Verlander, Quintana, and Brooks Raley. That's a great week for the Mets, even though deGrom left.

But more importantly, it's NOT an exceptionally notable moment in Mets history. It's... expected? I think that's the right word. In this Mets era, we expect the team to be in on most if not all free agents, to spend the money, and to get better and better.

I'm excited for 2023.

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Losing Jacob deGrom sucks. He's the best pitcher I've ever seen pitch, and I grew up watching Doc Gooden. You can't really replace him.

The saving grace: he hasn't pitched much for us over the last two years, so we've already been missing him. The 2023 Mets will still be great. #LGM #Mets #LFGM

It looks like the Mets are going to non-tender Dom Smith.

It's the right move -- but it sucks. The old regime screwed around with his development and he just didn't perform this year. Who knows why. But he's a fun player who was easy to root for, and I really wish he had clicked. I hope he finds a home with an AL West team so we don't regret seeing him in a visiting uniform too often.

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The Mets offered qualifying offers to deGrom, Nimmo, and Bassitt -- but not Taijuan Walker. The first three are obvious. The declination on Walker was not, but I think it's the right move.

There are two budgets in baseball: the dollars one and the roster one. You only have 40 roster spots and really, only 26, and only five SP roster spots. If Walker accepts the QO, you lock up one of those five spots. You don't want to do that this early for someone of his level.

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