The New York Mets still aren’t good but at least they’re acting like a team that understands reality

When you’re an organization like the New York Mets that won 83 games and missed the playoffs last season, you don’t get to run it back and pretend “internal improvement” is a plan. You have to change things. Credit where it’s due, the Mets looked in the mirror and started swinging.

The Mets added Freddy Peralta, Bo Bichette, Luis Robert Jr., Luke Weaver, Jorge Polanco, Marcus Semien, and Devin Williams. That’s a full-blown roster flip. They moved on from guys like Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo, and Jeff McNeil and are going to look like a completely different team.

Mets acquire Freddy Peralta and Tobias Myers from Milwaukee

We have acquired RHP Freddy Peralta and RHP Tobias Myers from Milwaukee in exchange for RHP Brandon Sproat and minor league INF Jett Williams.

Welcome to New York, Freddy and Tobias! pic.twitter.com/2svOj1XtbY

— New York Mets (@Mets) January 22, 2026

Does that automatically make the Mets good? I have serious doubts but at least they’re trying to get better instead of selling their fans optimism.

That’s what makes this so frustrating, because the Philadelphia Phillies haven’t done shit. Yes, I understand what people are going to say. “They won 96 games.” “They won the NL East.”

Cool. None of that changes the fact that this roster has holes, the offseason has been painfully quiet, and the fanbase still treats basic criticism like you’re committing a crime.

For whatever reason, a lot of people are perfectly fine with:

• Alec Bohm hitting cleanup
• Adolis García being the only real addition to the lineup
• Nick Castellanos being run out of town like he committed a felony
• Pretending things will be different without changing anything

I’m not surprised. This fanbase has been trained to defend the logo no matter what.

The coverage around this team is a big part of it. The lack of honest, unbiased criticism is ridiculous. Look no further than beat writers doing backflips over Ranger Suárez showing up at a Celtics game and giggling about how he pronounces his name.

That’s what we’re doing? That’s the standard now?

It’s embarrassing. There’s no dignity left. Meanwhile, the Phillies are heading into February with a roster that raises more questions than it answers.

Let’s actually write it out so people stop pretending this is airtight.

Lineup concerns:

• Brandon Marsh and Otto Kemp platoon in left field
• Rookie Justin Crawford in center field
• Adolis García in right field
• J.T. Realmuto aging behind the plate
• Alec Bohm in the cleanup spot
• Bryson Stott being an offensive liability
• Nick Castellanos getting shoved out the door

Rotation questions:

• Aaron Nola bounce-back season, maybe
• Rookie Andrew Painter, talented but still a rookie
• Taijuan Walker, question marks everywhere
• Zack Wheeler returning from surgery

When you lay it out like that, how is anyone acting confident?

There are too many holes in the lineup and too many unknowns in the rotation to be walking around like this is a finished product.

It gets worse when you remember the Phillies actually tried to add Bo Bichette. He played them like a fiddle and ended up with the Mets. After that, it’s been a damage-control PR tour. Dave Dombrowski and Rob Thomson are now selling the “injection of youth” like it’s a cure-all.

Dave Dombrowski declares the Phillies offseason over, is somehow content with the current roster

Quick Note: Being “Content” in Professional Sports is a Cancer.

They want you to believe rookies and a couple intriguing names in the minors like Aidan Miller and Gabriel Rincones Jr. are going to fix an offseason that has looked like organizational malpractice.

I find that really hard to believe.

Hope is not a plan. Youth is not a shortcut. Acting like the Phillies are above criticism just because they won the division is exactly how you end up wasting another season with a roster that was begging for real upgrades.

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