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J.P. Ricciardi, special assistant to New York Mets general manager Sandy Alderson, told MLB Trade Rumors earlier today that the team plans to prioritize offense over pitching this offseason. Ricciardi stated:
"I think the one thing in our favor right now is our pitching in our organization is getting closer to being big-league ready, so that makes us say that we might have some in-house options. So maybe we wouldn't even be as inclined to go out and look at that market. It's kind of a work in progress to see what is available, but I think one of the securities we have is that at least we have some guys coming through the system that can get to the big leagues a little quicker. I don't know if we'd be as willing to jump on something like that right now."
Ricciardi spoke positively about Mets pitching prospects Noah Syndergaard, Rafael Montero, and Jacob deGrom, but did not say whether any of them would be options for the Opening Day rotation. Despite having three solid starters in Jon Niese, Zack Wheeler, and Dillon Gee, the Mets have one or two openings in their rotation, depending on what they decide to do with Jenrry Mejia.
Ricciardi declined to specify where the team would plan to upgrade offensively, but he did say that the team is committed to Travis d’Arnaud, though he was reluctant to express the same level of commitment to Juan Lagares.
Ricciardi also noted that the team is willing to give up their second round pick for "the right player," but they are hardly eager to give up a pick since they are still "trying to build." Perhaps more noteworthy is the fact that Ricciardi deemed it unlikely that the team will sign two players with draft pick compensation attached. Players who have been linked to the Mets and require draft pick compensation include Curtis Granderson and Shin-Soo Choo.