NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Mets arrived at the winter meetings in need of pitching, an outfielder and another bat. They departed in essentially the same spot.
Whether it was Shohei Ohtani’s and Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s prolonged free agencies slowing the market or other factors at play, the Mets hardly matched their last winter meetings haul, when Justin Verlander, Jose Quintana and Brooks Raley were all added.
“We’ve had 72 hours of conversations but clearly we haven’t gotten anything of significance over the finish line,” president of baseball operations David Stearns said Wednesday after the meetings concluded at the Gaylord Opryland. “We’re working on it. We continue to feel good about the progress we’ve made in our discussions and also about some of the acquisitions we have been able to make around the edges of our roster.”
Those additions included signing reliever Michael Tonkin to a split contract that carries a value of $1 million for next season if he’s on the major league roster.
Tonkin spent last season with the Braves and pitched to a 4.28 ERA in 45 appearances.
He spent five seasons with the Twins earlier in his career before pitching in Japan and Mexico. The Mets view Tonkin as a potential multiple-inning reliever.
“I think having that person in your bullpen who can pitch multiple innings, who has a resilient arm, who understands that role is important,” Stearns said. “And it’s one of the ways to insulate yourself throughout your pitching staff.”
Now Mets officials return to New York for what could be a busy few weeks.
“We’ve got a lot of offseason left and we’ll keep working at it,” Stearns said.
The Mets selected right-handed pitcher Justin Slaten from the Rangers in the Rule 5 draft and traded him to the Red Sox for left-handed pitcher Ryan Ammons.
A former Clemson reliever, the 22-year-old Ammons was selected in the 10th round of last summer’s major league draft.
“A good arm from the left side with a kind of unique look with a fastball that we like,” Stearns said.
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