Korner Konfidential — Mets Hot Stove Report: Day 11
Day 11 — Monday, November 9, 2026. The GM meetings are open in Las Vegas, and the winter finally produced a transaction with the Mets' name on it — just not the kind anybody was waiting for. The Dodgers claimed Christian Cairo off waivers, which means the sign-and-designate gambit the Mets ran last week worked exactly halfway. The Skubal race, meanwhile, may be narrowing to the two-team fight we have been bracing for since Day 1, tonight Carson Benge learns whether he is the National League Rookie of the Year, and down in the winter leagues Jacob Reimer had himself a Sunday. Still no Mets signing. Sorted, as always, into what's reported and what's just talked about.
🔥 THE BIG BOARD — Reports
Tarik Skubal, dealing for Detroit. Photo: Jeffrey Hyde, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0).
Half a gambit: the Dodgers claim Cairo. The Dodgers announced Monday that they have claimed infielder Christian Cairo off waivers from the Mets, MLB Trade Rumors reports — and with that, a week of waiting on the waiver wire ends with a split decision. Cairo was claimed from the Phillies in September, re-signed last Monday to a one-year split contract, and designated for assignment the same day, the second half of the Mets' sign-and-designate plan: sign a pre-arbitration infielder to a big-league deal with guaranteed money, run him through waivers, and keep him as non-roster depth if nobody bites. Somebody bit. Los Angeles had three vacancies on its 40-man roster and needed no corresponding move. MLBTR's read on the gambit is worth carrying whole: the Mets have become the most aggressive club in the game at this maneuver — Cairo, Kyren Paris and Robert Stock all got pre-arb deals this month — and while Stock is still on the roster, Cairo is gone and Paris, designated the same day as Cairo, still has no reported resolution as the wire watch stretches to a seventh day. The Mets wanted the depth without the roster spot. They got it with Stock, lost it with Cairo, and are still waiting on Paris.
Sources: MLB Trade Rumors
The Skubal race narrows — maybe to two. The most consequential reporting of the day comes from Chicago. Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic reports the Cubs “appear unlikely to enter a bidding war” for Tarik Skubal — a notable turn, because ESPN's Jeff Passan reported just last week that the Cubs wanted him badly. Sports Illustrated's Mets desk, reading Sharma, draws the obvious conclusion: with Chicago seemingly off the board, another high-stakes Dodgers–Mets showdown looks like a foregone conclusion. Hold the other report up against it before you carve that in stone: David Vassegh of SportsNet LA said Monday, repeating what he reported last week, that “the Dodgers, the Mets and the Cubs have the strongest interest in Tarik Skubal.” Both things are in the record; interest and willingness to win a bidding war are two different currencies, and Sharma is reporting on the second one. The rest of Monday's Skubal file lines up with everything this column has tracked: Jon Heyman reports Skubal is likely to sign in November, before the December 1 CBA expiration — with no deal imminent, but the market moving (via Bleacher Report and CBS Sports); the GM meetings give David Stearns and Andrew Friedman one of their few chances to sit face-to-face with Scott Boras before the lockout, with the Winter Meetings (December 7) falling on the wrong side of the freeze; and the money still starts above Yoshinobu Yamamoto's record $325 million. Janes' shape from yesterday still stands as the best read of the Mets' posture: record AAV, hard stop on years.
Sources: Sports Illustrated (Sharma / The Athletic) · Yardbarker (Vassegh / SportsNet LA) · Bleacher Report (Heyman)
Heyman still links the Mets to Sato. A brief status-changed update, because the two reports now point in opposite directions and the Tracker should say so. In Bleacher Report's Monday rumor roundup, Jon Heyman reports the Mets, Phillies, Padres and Yankees are all linked to Japanese slugger Teruaki Sato, who has until the December 1 CBA expiration to sign or return to Hanshin. That sits against last Wednesday's reporting from Tim Britton and Will Sammon of The Athletic that the Mets' major money is earmarked for starting pitching and they are unlikely to make a big splash on Sato, with Bo Bichette returned at third base. A link is not a pursuit, and a cooled pursuit is not a closed door — both reports are credited here, and the honest status is the one in the Tracker: downgraded, not dead.
Sources: Bleacher Report (Heyman)
Tonight: Benge's verdict. This one is news, not rumor — and at press time it is still a few hours from decided. The BBWAA announces the Rookie of the Year winners tonight, Monday, November 9, at 7 PM ET on MLB Network, and Carson Benge is a finalist alongside Cincinnati's Sal Stewart and St. Louis' JJ Wetherholt. The case, one more time: .282/.346/.430 with 20 home runs, 22 stolen bases and 65 RBIs — the first 20/20 rookie season in Mets history — plus a franchise rookie record 168 hits (Baseball America), 10 outfield assists and a Gold Glove finalist nod in right field. Two honest cautions: the Players Choice vote for NL Outstanding Rookie went to Stewart in October, which is a different electorate and proves nothing about tonight; and Diamond Digest's own mock ballot, published today, picked Benge over Wetherholt by a single point — their ballot, not the writers'. If Benge wins, he becomes the seventh Met to take the award, after Seaver, Matlack, Strawberry, Gooden, deGrom and Alonso. The result lands after this edition posts; it leads tomorrow's.
Vegas, open for business. The GM meetings (November 9–12, Las Vegas) are the week's engine room, and amNewYork's preview frames the Mets' brief the way the reporting has framed it all winter: Stearns must act quickly, starting pitching is the top priority, and the contender core he is building around is Juan Soto, Francisco Lindor, Bo Bichette and the young hitters who arrived this summer — Nolan McLean, Carson Benge and AJ Ewing. Stearns has never been a long-deal pitcher buyer, but he matched the Dodgers' 12-year, $325 million Yamamoto offer once, and Steve Cohen's push for Skubal is the pressure hanging over every conversation in the building. The calendar behind the meetings has not moved: qualifying-offer answers and the Rule 5 protection deadline on November 17, the tender deadline November 20, and the December 1 lockout over all of it.
Sources: amNewYork (via Briefly)
🗣️ THE SPECULATION DESK — Talk, Not News
The $400 million prediction, again — this time with a name on it. Just Baseball's Ryan Finkelstein predicts the Mets sign Skubal for nine years and $400 million, Heavy reported Monday — the same neighborhood as MLBTR's 9-year/$425 million staff prediction and The Athletic's 9-year/$405 million projection, and a very different animal from Janes' reported Mets shape of seven years and $340 million. Finkelstein's reasoning, as quoted by Heavy, is Boras reasoning: the agent “will be looking to set records with this contract, whether that be the AAV record for a pitcher, or the record for the most total guaranteed money given to a pitcher.” A prediction is a prediction. We file it here, labeled, because the gap between the prediction pages ($400M-plus, nine years) and the reported club posture (record AAV, six-to-seven years) IS the negotiation — and somebody closes that gap in the next three weeks or nobody signs before the freeze.
Sources: Heavy (Finkelstein / Just Baseball)
Rising Apple's GM meetings menu: one realistic, one bold, one mistake. Monday's Rising Apple exercise sorts three hypothetical Mets trades for the meetings, and it is a tidy map of the week's talk. The realistic one: move Mark Vientos — a non-tender candidate in their telling — for a prospect rather than cutting him loose for free. The bold one: trade Francisco Alvarez to land a starting pitcher, with an Alvarez-for-Reid Detmers framework with the Angels as the example, on the argument that the club prefers Luis Torrens behind the plate. The mistake: adding any one-and-done rental starter — Joe Ryan's name surfaces (with the Derek Falvey connection noted), and Nathan Eovaldi is named as the money-motivated trap. Their conclusion matches the reported posture: short of an absolute steal, the Mets' week is about free agency, not trades. All of it is scenario-building — no talks reported on any of the three — and it is filed here as exactly that.
Sources: Rising Apple
Beat Tweets
The beat is quiet today. A Monday sweep of the 13-handle roster — DiComo, Puma, Sammon, Britton, Martino, Gelbs, Ragazzo, Heyman, Sherman, Goodman, Albanese, Mastracco and Pantorno — produced no news-bearing posts with verifiable status IDs since yesterday's edition. The day's hard news, the Dodgers' claim of Christian Cairo, arrived via the club announcement and MLB Trade Rumors, and Sharma's Cubs reporting ran through The Athletic — all credited on the Big Board. We don't fabricate embeds; when a signing breaks with a clean, verifiable post, this section will carry the iframe itself.
WINTER BALL & FALL LEAGUE WATCH
The stove isn't the only thing still warm. A small army of Mets — big leaguers, top prospects, and a few names only the true sickos know — is playing real baseball right now in the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Arizona. This section stays in the Korner all winter, updated as the numbers move, because on the slow news days this IS the baseball. Fresh lines today, from Sunday's games, via Metsmerized's Monday recap — the freshest full update of the winter so far — and the section runs text-only: no verifiable fresh highlight embed surfaced today, so there are no embeds, per the house rule.
PUERTO RICO (LBPRC). Jacob Reimer had the weekend. The third base prospect went 3-for-4 Sunday with a home run and a double, a stolen base and a walk in Ponce's 8-4 win over San Juan — a two-run double in the first and a two-run homer to left in the eighth (World Baseball Network) — and he is 6-for-13 through four Puerto Rican Winter League games. Context that makes it better: Reimer left Thursday's game early after running out a double-play ball, was back in the lineup Saturday, and the scare was apparently minor (NBC Sports). MMO's No. 12 prospect was limited to 88 games by injuries this year (10 homers, .761 OPS, after 17 and .870 in a healthy 2025) — a healthy, loud winter is exactly the prescription. In the same game, center fielder John Bay went 1-for-5 with a double, and on the other side Mets infield prospect Antonio Jimenez had two hits including a game-tying grand slam in the second inning; Jimenez is 5-for-10 to start his winter. Eli Serrano III is the third Met on the Ponce roster. (Metsmerized · World Baseball Network)
ARIZONA FALL LEAGUE — FALL STARS GAME. It is played, and the Mets in it did their jobs. The National League beat the American League 6-4 in Sunday night's 20th annual Fall Stars Game (Metsmerized): Irving Cota threw a scoreless inning with two strikeouts, and Ryan Lambert faced two batters, striking out one and walking the other. Reds outfielder Yerlin Confidan took MVP honors with a double and a bases-loaded walk (BVM Sports). The week around it, from Grand Central Mets' review: Surprise is 16-10, tied for the league's best record, after winning four of five; Lambert closed Monday's 18-8 rout of Mesa with three strikeouts and still has not allowed an earned run all fall; Cole Mathis is getting hot (16 walks, tied for second on the club, only eight strikeouts); Boston Baro remains the best of the Mets' three AFL hitters, with an RBI single Friday; Bruin Agbayani smoked a 107.5 mph ground-rule double Wednesday and has drawn 12 walks; Brendan Girton's scoreless streak ended (ERA now 3.86); Peyton Prescott is 3-1 with a 0.92 WHIP; Calvin Ziegler strung together two good outings; and Cota's Wednesday line (one run, three hits in an inning against Glendale) is the one blemish — Grand Central notes he is Rule 5-eligible, so how he finishes could bear on the November 17 protection decisions. The AFL wraps up November 14. (Metsmerized · Grand Central Mets · BVM Sports)
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC (LIDOM). A quieter Sunday for Ronny Mauricio: 1-for-4 with a run scored for Licey, and his winter line now reads 6-for-19 with a home run in five games (Metsmerized). The rest of the LIDOM ledger carries from Wednesday's lines: Jefferson Rojas is 7-for-34 with the two second-game homers for the Gigantes; his teammate Eddinson Paulino went 0-for-3 Wednesday; Christopher Morel (Águilas) was off to a .200 start with a homer between first base and the outfield corners; Vidal Bruján (Escogido) sat at .214/.343/.464 and is now a Brave on a minor league deal; and Ofreidy Gómez has thrown scoreless innings. (Metsmerized)
VENEZUELA (LVBP). Luis Torrens keeps doing a little of everything for Magallanes: 1-for-2 Sunday with two RBIs, two runs scored and two walks, and his winter line is now 12-for-41 with three doubles in 12 games (Metsmerized). Carried from Wednesday: Francisco Alvarez went 1-for-3 as the DH (after Saturday's game-winning grand slam the weekend before); Saul García allowed his first earned run of this stretch in an inning of work; and Joander Suarez (four appearances, 5.79 ERA) rounds out the Magallanes Mets. (Metsmerized)
MEXICO (LMP). Marco Vargas found the gap Sunday: 1-for-4 with a triple, an RBI and a run scored in Obregón, and the third base prospect (MMO's No. 34) is 15-for-69 with a homer in 21 Mexican Pacific League games (Metsmerized). Carried from Wednesday: shortstop Kevin Villavicencio went 1-for-3 and is cooling from his .313 perch of Tuesday; and catcher Alejandro Urías had the week's best Mexico line on Wednesday — 3-for-5 with a double, a stolen base and three runs scored for Los Mochis. (Metsmerized)
Full winter ball stats for every Mets farmhand, updated weekly, live at Baseball America. If a Met does something down there, you'll read about it here.
📋 RUMOR TRACKER
Tarik Skubal — UPDATE Mon Nov 9: Sharma (The Athletic) — Cubs appear unlikely to enter a bidding war, narrowing it toward Mets vs. Dodgers; Vassegh (SportsNet LA) counters that Dodgers/Mets/Cubs hold the strongest interest. Heyman — likely to sign in November, no deal imminent. Janes' Mets shape stands: 7 yrs/$340M, hard stop on years. Status: unsigned; expected before Dec 1.
Christian Cairo — ✅ RESOLVED Mon Nov 9: claimed off waivers by the DODGERS (club announced; MLBTR). The sign-and-designate gambit fails on Cairo — the Mets lose the depth they tried to stash.
Kyren Paris — Designated Nov 2 in the same sign-and-designate gambit as Cairo. Status: STILL no waiver resolution reported at press time Mon Nov 9 — seventh day on the wire; Cairo's claim shows the wire is moving.
Carson Benge — NL Rookie of the Year finalist (Stewart, Wetherholt); winner announced TONIGHT, Mon Nov 9, 7 PM ET on MLB Network. .282/.346/.430, 20 HR, 22 SB — first 20/20 rookie in Mets history. Status: verdict tonight.
Jacob deGrom — Grant (Dallas Morning News) believes the Rangers will shop a highly paid star, deGrom front and center ($37M for 2027, $20M club option for 2028, full no-trade). Rising Apple argues a Mets reunion is the best Skubal backup plan (talk only). Status: availability reported; NO Mets talks reported.
Robert Stock — One-year Major League split contract; out of options, so any trip to Triple-A requires a DFA and waivers first. MLBTR (Nov 9) notes he is still on the roster — the one gambit arm who stayed. Status: depth arm on the 40-man.
Eric Wagaman — Elected free agency per his MLB.com log (MLBTR, Nov 8) — the expected outcome of his Nov 2 outright. Status: free agent; low-cost depth option on the open market.
Teruaki Sato — UPDATE Mon Nov 9: Heyman links Mets/Phillies/Padres/Yankees to Sato (via B/R) — against Britton/Sammon's reporting that the Mets are unlikely to splash, with Bichette at 3B and Benge in RF. Posted Nov 1; window to Dec 1. Status: cooled/downgraded — link reported, pursuit doubted, not closed.
Michael King — Post pricing — expected at least 3 yrs/$80M; San Diego could keep him; Ellis hire gives Mets added insight. Mets met with him last winter. Status: top consolation prize; circle back.
Clay Holmes — Post pricing — pegged at 2–3 yrs, $40–50M after declining his $12M Cubs option. SNY's Janes: both sides open to a reunion at the right price. amNY's GM-meetings preview names a Holmes reunion as the alternative plan if Skubal lands elsewhere. Status: reunion watch, price framed.
Shoki Oda — 18-year-old Japanese RHP (97 mph, fastest ever at Koshien) met with the Mets, Phillies and Rangers (Yakyu Cosmopolitan); Dodgers considered the favorites; expected $3–5M bonus as an international amateur, signable Jan 15. Status: meeting held — long-term play.
Kaima Taira — Posted Sun Nov 1; Mets among the clubs that scouted him. Status: on the market; negotiations open.
Hiromi Itoh — Posted from Japan (Hokkaido) Sun Nov 1. Status: posting watch — no Mets link reported.
Si Hwan Roh — KBO third baseman posted by Hanwha; 30-day window ends Dec 1 (Sherman). Status: posting watch — no Mets link reported.
Drew Rasmussen — Rays exercised his $20M option — NOT a free agent; Neander reiterates he intends Rasmussen to lead Tampa Bay's 2027 rotation. Status: trade watch at a known $20M price, Rays saying not available.
Nathan Eovaldi — Grant (Dallas Morning News) — Rangers will search for trade partners for Seager and deGrom, and perhaps Eovaldi ($24M owed for 2027; turns 37 in Feb). Status: availability reported; no Mets talks reported.
Michael Soroka — Declined his mutual $10M option with Arizona (9–5, 3.41 ERA in 22 G). Status: veteran-arm tier; no Mets link reported.
Alec Bohm — Free agent since Wed Nov 4. Just Baseball's landing-spots map (Cardinals/Angels/Reds/Phillies) does not include the Mets. Status: on the market; no fresh Mets link reported.
Sonny Gray / Nick Martinez — Both free as of Fri Oct 30. Martinez also named in the Post's next tier (2 yrs/~$40M, with Gausman). Status: veteran fallback tier.
Nick Pivetta — Padres declined his $14M club option (Acee). Status: veteran-arm tier; no Mets link reported.
Emilio Pagán — Declined his $10M player option with Cincinnati (Romero); 25 saves, 3.38 ERA. Status: bullpen tier; no Mets link reported.
David Bednar / Adrián Morejón — Both received $23.15M qualifying offers. Answers due Nov 17; rejecting and signing elsewhere costs the new club a draft pick. Rising Apple argues the Mets should sign Morejón anyway (talk only). Status: bullpen market, with a QO price tag.
Kenley Jansen — Free agent after Detroit declined his club option. Status: veteran closer on the market; no Mets link reported.
Luis Robert Jr. — Orioles declined his $20M option ($2M buyout). The ex-Met is a free agent. Status: on the market; no reunion reporting.
Dustin May — Free agent: declined his $20M mutual option with Milwaukee. Status: veteran-arm tier; no Mets link reported.
Jeff McNeil — Free agent: the A's declined his option and the Mets cover the $2M buyout. Status: ex-Met on the market; no reunion reporting.
Sean Manaea — Sportsnaut predicts he's the Met dealt before Opening Day. Status: speculation only — no shopping reported.
Rafael Devers — MLBTR lists him as a trade candidate in San Francisco; the Mets link is an idea piece only. Status: watch, don't believe yet.
Devin Williams — Rising Apple argues for restoring him to a setup role with added closer competition. Status: opinion only — no club move reported.
Trevor Megill / MacKenzie Gore / Spencer Torkelson — Floated as trade fits by Rising Apple/FanSided. Status: fits list only — no talks reported.
Jack Anderson / Pierson Ohl — Claimed off waivers Mon Nov 2 (Anderson from Minnesota, Ohl from Colorado). Status: depth arms with options.
Mark Vientos / Francisco Alvarez — Rising Apple (Nov 9) floats Vientos as the realistic GM-meetings trade and Alvarez-for-pitching as the bold one. Status: scenario talk only — no talks reported.
Bo Bichette — ✅ RESOLVED. Opted in for 2027 — see the Korner column, “Bo Knows: 42 Million Reasons.” His return at 3B reshaped the Sato pursuit.
Sandy Alcantara — ✅ OFF THE BOARD: the Marlins exercised his 2027 club option. Status: staying in Miami.
Vidal Bruján — ✅ RESOLVED Sun Nov 1: signed a minor league deal with the Braves, with a spring-training invite.
40-man roster — Churn continuing: Stock added Nov 6 and still on it; Cairo claimed by the Dodgers Nov 9; Paris still unresolved (day 7). Next churn: Rule 5 protection deadline Nov 17 — Cota's AFL finish could bear on it.
That's the stove for today. Same time tomorrow — if the Mets do something at 11 PM, the Tracker hears about it first.
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