Kind of a weird set of connections here, but a relatively innocuous move like the New York Mets re-signing DH Jesse Winker might wind up having a downstream impact on the Chicago Cubs’ bullpen pursuits.
First, the signing, with Winker, 31, getting around $8 million after a bounce-back year in 2024 (.253/.360/.405/118 wRC+):
In tandem with that signing, the Mets are reportedly pivoting away from their most recent Pete Alonso talks, choosing instead to spread the money around on Winker and the bullpen:
The Mets have pivoted to plan B, post-Alonso. They now consider it the most likely outcome that Alonso will sign elsewhere. They add Winker and will add a reliever, possibly a top one.— Andy Martino (@martinonyc) January 16, 2025
Of course, the Mets could still try to re-up with Alonso – I’m sure there’s a way to coordinate the playing time just fine – but it’s possible he really does go elsewhere now. And if so, the Mets might sprint to improve their Juan-Soto-boosted roster in other ways.
When Martino says “a top one,” it’s pretty hard not to think Tanner Scott, who is by far the top reliever on the market. He’s going to cost upwards of $80 million on a four-year deal, and there were reports that he’d recently talked to the Mets. Not that the Mets don’t have PLENTY of Steve Cohen money to throw around, but Winker and Scott add up to about what the Mets were willing to offer Alonso for 2025. So there you go.
If that does wind up happening, what you will probably see is a few additional reliever moves in relatively short order. I don’t know that Scott is ENTIRELY holding up that part of the market on his own right now, but it’s not too hard to imagine someone like Kirby Yates wanting to wait until Scott lands (especially if he’s talking to teams that were otherwise hoping Scott might fall to them).
We know the Cubs are looking for an impactful veteran reliever in that later-inning pool – Yates, Tommy Kahnle, Carlos Estevez, Kyle Finnegan, Kenley Jansen, Jose Leclerc, David Robertson, and more – so if things start moving soon, we should be paying attention.