Evan: Mets magical run masked fact that team has to have huge offseason

On Tuesday night, Jerry Seinfeld surprised Chris McMonigle by calling into his show to talk Mets, and the celebrity superfan expressed his hesitancy to add big pieces like Juan Soto due to the risk of disrupting the "magic" that was in the clubhouse during the 2024 season.

Evan Roberts respectfully called Seinfeld's take "dead wrong," and says the magical run to the NLCS actually masked the reality that the Mets need to make big moves this winter to remain competitive.

"When you look closer, the Mets were not that good last year," Evan said. "They have to have a huge offseason. The idea that the Mets can run it back, or even run it back slightly, that's nuts."

The Mets had one of their more special seasons in recent memory because it was so out of nowhere, as a club with low expectations fell to 11 games below .500 before storming back and coming just two wins shy of a pennant. Surprise seasons from the likes of Jose Iglesias, Sean Manaea, and Luis Severino helped New York reach the NLCS, and Evan says some of those out-of-nowhere seasons can't be counted on to be repeated. Meanwhile, many of those big contributors, particularly in the starting rotation, are now free agents, and Evan wants to see Steve Cohen filling those voids with established stars that don't need to be counted on to have uncharacteristically productive seasons.

"They had magic last year. They also had seasons that may not be replicated," Evan said. "The Mets need to do damage. They need to do serious, serious damage."

So, Evan wants to see the Mets make legit pushes for Soto, Corbin Burnes, and other big-name free agents to make sure there are more deep playoff runs in the near future.

"I think we're being blinded by the fact that, when you look back at what they accomplished," Evan said. "A lot of it was done with mirrors."