ORLANDO, Fla.

The Mets traded Brandon Nimmo, lost Edwin Diaz to the Dodgers and could be on the brink of saying goodbye to Pete Alonso, too.

Although none of those developments precludes president of baseball ops David Stearns from building a contender in Flushing for the 2026 season, there’s reason to wonder about this winter’s strategy. And does making the Mets a serious October threat again have to come at the expense of the team’s most popular players?

Stearns had no problem sacrificing Nimmo, the longest-tenured Met, for the sake of his run-prevention mantra. But Diaz bolting Tuesday for the Dodgers came as a shock, especially due to the terms: a three-year deal worth $69 million.

If that sounds perfectly manageable for a franchise funded by Steve Cohen’s billions, you’d be right.

See Full Page