MLB Rumors: After Roki Sasaki Snub Mets to Go Overboard for Explosive $5M Dominican Prospect

The Mets are gearing as much as make a significant splash within the worldwide market this January. Are you considering of Roki Sasaki too? Nope, it seems to be like their focus is on a 16-year-old shortstop from the Dominican Republic named Elian Peña. Experiences are circulating that the group plans to signal Peña to a $5 million deal. You’d assume that $5 million isn’t huge, however by their requirements it’s.

It is going to be the biggest bonus they’ve ever handed out to a global prospect. With about $6.2 million of their bonus pool, the Mets are clearly betting large on the younger infielder. So, what has the Mets’ entrance workplace so enthusiastic about Peña? Properly, it’s his bat, plain and easy. Scouts rave about his clean, compact left-handed swing that stays by way of the hitting zone for a very long time, serving to him sq. up pitches with ease.

Elian Peña got here to New York and have become the most costly worldwide ‘novice’ participant

A “line-drive bat” that generates laborious contact throughout the strike zone? Yeah, that’s precisely the type of offensive weapon any group goals of. Add to {that a} “thick body,” and Peña is already being in comparison with big-league sluggers like Rafael Devers of the Pink Sox. Some scouts consider his bat will outshine any potential defensive limitations—although there’s nonetheless hope he might stick at shortstop. Even when he finally shifts to 3rd base, Peña’s offensive upside would make him a significant menace in the course of the lineup. What units Peña aside, although, isn’t simply his bodily instruments. His strategy on the plate is extremely superior for his age.

If the Mets pull this off, it’ll be one other important step of their transformation as a group that’s more and more aggressive in tapping into the worldwide market. Signing Peña to a deal of this dimension indicators a shift within the franchise’s philosophy, transferring away from the old-school strategy of relying solely on the draft and searching extra towards cultivating world expertise. After final yr’s signing of catcher Yovanny Rodriguez for $2.85 million—essentially the most ever by the Mets—this transfer would solidify New York’s dedication to constructing a powerhouse farm system with expertise from all corners of the world.

The Mets received’t be including a sure famous person pitcher to their rotation anytime quickly

Roki Sasaki, the electrifying Japanese ace, is reportedly not heading to New York. Whereas the Mets might definitely use him to assist shore up their pitching employees, it’s the Yankees who appear to have missed out on him as properly. Regardless of the Mets posting an analogous ERA (3.91) to the Yankees final season, the rotation nonetheless carries some large query marks. Dropping Luis Severino to the A’s was a tricky blow, and with Frankie Montas and Clay Holmes coping with their uncertainties, the stress is on.

However hey, the Mets did make an enormous transfer by bringing again Sean Manaea, who re-signed with the group for a cool three-year, $75 million contract. Manaea, who’s coming off a strong 2024 marketing campaign with 12 wins and a career-high 181 2/3 innings, appears thrilled to be again in Queens, and for good cause. Not solely is his pitching an enormous enhance to the employees, however the Mets group’s off-field assist is a win, too.

It’s that type of consideration to element that makes a group just like the Mets really feel like the right match, each on and off the sphere. However whereas the Mets may not be touchdown Sasaki, there’s nonetheless loads of time for them to maintain making strikes as spring coaching looms. The large query on the horizon? Will Pete Alonso get a shiny new contract to maintain him in New York for the lengthy haul? Mets followers are hoping that’s the subsequent large splash on the horizon.