The 2020-21 Amazin’ Avenue Offseason Plan Contest (AAOP)

It’s that time of year again! The offseason is upon us, and as is tradition here at Amazin’ Avenue, we turn to our community to do something that’s always a lot of fun: the Amazin’ Avenue Offseason Plan Contest—commonly referred to as the AAOP. If you’re unfamiliar, here are all of the things we’ve posted about the contest in the past. Be sure to read the full rules below, none of which are complicated but all of which are important, as you work on submitting your AAOP for consideration. A panel of Amazin’ Avenue writers and editors will select five finalists from all of the entries and put those finalists up for a community vote.

Please note that if you haven’t signed up for a username on the site, you’ll need to do so more than 24 hours before the contest ends, as there is a 24-hour waiting period before a new user can post on the site.

Rules and Guidelines

1. Submit your entry as a FanPost. The title must begin with “AAOP:” (no quotes) so that we can distinguish entries from other FanPosts.
2. The deadline for submitting your AAOP via FanPost is 5:00 PM EST on Thursday, November 12. No exceptions.
3. There are no specific requirements in terms of length or content, but try to balance brevity and readability with detailed explanations of your master plan.
4. With a new owner of the Mets in real life, we’re going optimistic here: Total 2021 payroll can’t exceed $210 million, the competitive balance tax threshold. The same goes for future years, as we don’t yet know what sort of system will be in place in the next collective bargaining agreement yet.
5. Use this spreadsheet for arbitration salaries and for current and future payroll obligations.
6. For a list of available free agents, use this list from MLB Trade Rumors.
7. As of 2020, MLB rosters expanded to 26 players, 13 of whom must be position players.
8. The league minimum for 2020 has not yet been set, so we’ll use $580,000 for the purposes of this exercise.
9. Your AAOP begins at the start of the Mets’ offseason, so you are free to ignore any decisions the Mets have already made since the season ended.
10. Make your submission as readable as possible. Use spell-check, proofread your post, and try to make it sound good. If we have to slog through reading your plan, we probably won’t like it too much.
11. Same goes for making your post look good. Sprinkle in some images, tables, and of course some Paintz (MS Paint for the uninitiated). Fun aesthetics are a great way to make your plan stand out and keep the judges interested while reading it.
12. Make your plan as realistic as possible. No one is coughing up a top of the rotation starter in exchange for David Peterson. Whether the Mets might realistically execute your plan isn’t important, but the moves do need to be at least somewhat justifiable.

And here are the prizes this year:

First place: FOCO bobblehead of Noah Syndergaard and Mr. Met high-fiving

Second place: Your choice of one t-shirt from this BreakingT collection

Third place: A signed copy of Greg Prince’s book Piazza: Catcher, Slugger, Icon, Star

All entries are subject to the official rules, found here.