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A Glimpse at the Mets' Offseason

After a 77-85 finish and 4th-place NL East finish, the Mets have their work cut out for them as they find an identity for 2019. There are a lot of moving pieces and plenty of room for change that should have fans excited.

Let's dive into the changes and speculation to get an idea of what to key in on for the offseason.

New GM -- What Kind of Moves Are Available?

The most recent and biggest offseason moves this past week was the hiring of Brodie Van Wagenen as the team's general manager.

There are huge free agents available, lots of room to improve and large expectations. Van Wagenen is used to dealing with big name signings, since he spent most of his career as a baseball agent CAA -- the largest agency in the world.

He played ball at Stanford. Van Wagenen was a great agent, but is moving into the challenge of running a team -- a task that he says he's up for. He says that he has a current roster that he can compete with, but there are some areas of focus that he'll likely attack first.

So what's the first order of business?

Expect the team to beef of the bullpen. They closed out the year with a 4.07 ERA and will want to improve across the board.

Some of the top pitching free agents on the market include Clayton, Patrick Corbin, Dallas Keuchel, David Robertson, and Hyun Jin-Ryu. There are also appealing options at other positions, such as J.T. Realmuto (catcher), Jose Abreu (1B), and Josh Harrison (2B).

The team hasn't been the type to make a huge trade or big name splash, but a new identity at GM means we don't know what direction Van Wagenen will take. They currently have a $92.5 million payroll and a bit of momentum after finishing the season with some key victories.

Some were thrown off by the fact that Van Wagenen came from the agent world, and the terms of his contract aren't yet clear. As the old adage goes, winning cures all, so all speculation and doubt will be a thing of the past once the young GM makes some key moves.

His first orders of business will be to figure out which pieces are a priority to build around, what immediate moves need to be made and what the direction of the team is. Either way, expect plenty of change this offseason.

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