Miami Marlins news: the New York Mets are a risky threat

As the Miami Marlins refuse to spend as we should based on our market, Steve Cohen has shown us what an owner should be doing with a team. The New York Mets owner has been spending to win and doesn’t care about the luxury tax or any other financial limitations. He just wants to win. Take a look at what his team has done this off-season so far. The Fish are yet to even do meaningful trades to improve. There is however a concern:

“Massive” spending is not the same as “smart” spending, and just like not spending is bad, so is spending without much concern.

The New York Mets may have spent themselves out of being successful rivals for the Miami Marlins.

It seems so strange to say… I’m sure that most of us Miami Marlins fans would’ve traded Bruce Sherman for Steve Cohen, yet Cohen’s massive spending may end up being as bad as our lack of spending. There is an alarming amount of risk in their roster.

Let’s start with CP Edwin Diaz, he had an amazing (pun intended) season in 2022 (1.31 ERA/0.90 FIP and 32 saves), but it was his contract year. Prior to this, he was very inconsistent for them, having 5.59 and 3.45 ERA’s in recent seasons. I suspect he won’t be as dominant in 2023.

They just extended CF Brandon Nimmo to a massive contract, despite him only managing to play over 100 games in a season twice in his 7 year career. I doubt that he’s as good and as healthy in 2023. RF Starling Marte has already declined a bit from 2021 to 2022, and there’s no reason to think that he won’t continue to do so being 34 years old.

The rotation is the biggest issue for the New York Mets and the biggest reason why the Miami Marlins have some hope. Teams typically don’t have two 40-year old aces to front the rotation. As good as they are, no one has yet been able to defeat aging. Max Scherzer was great in 2022, but he could only manage to give them 145.1 innings. Scherzer’s fastball velocity and strikeout rate have been steadily dropping since 2019. He’ll technically be 39 not 40 next season, but that’s hardly making the situation better.

Justin Verlander will be exactly 40 next season and you just have to wonder when he’ll finally crash. It never happens when you expect it. There’s also new acquisition Kodai Senga, who is completely unproven.

The New York Mets spent a lot of money, but it may not have been as wise as they thought. The Miami Marlins have legit hope that the money was not spent as smartly as Cohen thinks.