Korner Konfidential — Mets Hot Stove Report: Day 14
Day 14 — Thursday, November 12, 2026. The GM meetings closed Thursday the way they opened — with everybody talking about Tarik Skubal, and nobody signed yet. But the Mets left Las Vegas with real work done: a sit-down with Alec Bohm's representatives about first base, a fourth left-handed reliever checked in on, a veteran pitching mind added to the staff, and David Stearns saying out loud that only two men on his roster are guaranteed a rotation spot next spring. Awards night, meanwhile, belonged to the kids — both Cy Youngs were unanimous, and neither winner is old enough to rent a car in some states without a surcharge. Still no Mets signing. The meetings, though, were not nothing. 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).
First base gets a name and a meeting: Alec Bohm. Yesterday Stearns said the Mets will supplement first base. Today the supplement has a face. The Mets are among the clubs that met with Alec Bohm's representatives at the GM meetings, Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon of The Athletic report (via Metsmerized and theScore), and — this is the detail that matters — the Mets are among the clubs that would use Bohm at first base, not third, where Bo Bichette is penciled in after opting in for 2027. FanSided's Robert Murray, in his heard-vs.-believe wrap from Vegas, confirms Bohm's camp met with at least the Yankees and Mets, among others, and that teams came away intrigued by his second half: a .298/.369/.425 line with a .794 OPS, four home runs and 41 RBIs down the stretch, after a full season that still reads as the worst of his career since his first full year — a .698 OPS with 15 homers in 155 games for Philadelphia (Metsmerized). The fit case is the platoon case Stearns himself opened on Tuesday: Bohm is a right-handed bat who handles left-handed pitching, Jared Young is the left-handed incumbent Stearns called 'part of a solution,' and a right-handed timeshare partner is exactly the shape of add the club described. A meeting is not an offer, and the Yankees' interest (for third base) gives Bohm's camp leverage. But of all the first-base names in this column's Tracker — Bauers with a qualifying offer attached, France, Goldschmidt — Bohm is now the only one with a reported Mets meeting behind him.
Skubal: the Mets are 'the team to beat' — and Boras put on the show. The meetings ended with the consensus in this column hardening rather than moving. Robert Murray's Vegas wrap is the cleanest statement of it: most people he spoke to at the GM meetings believe the Mets will be the team to beat for Skubal, citing the need for an elite starter and Steve Cohen's pockets — with the Dodgers, Padres and Blue Jays confirmed for meetings next week in California, other teams interested, and Murray's own belief that a mystery team or two could still surface. The Dodgers' wrinkle is unchanged and important: Los Angeles would prefer a shorter-term, Tucker-style structure, and per ESPN that is of no interest to Skubal, who wants long term. Wednesday belonged to Scott Boras' annual GM-meetings press conference, and the Post's account is worth the price of admission: fifteen minutes in, Boras' phone rang, and he quipped to the room, 'Just another owner begging to meet with Skubal.' The puns followed — a 'dominant and strong Sku-bull market,' 'only one Tar-ot card,' teams that have 'filled their tanks' and are 'ready for the Skubal dive' — but strip the act away and the substance is the same as Tuesday's reporting: six clubs get meetings (Mets, Dodgers, Padres and Jays named), Skubal wants to sign before the December 1 lockout, and Boras intimated a pre-lockout signing is likely without guaranteeing it. Murray's sources add the calendar to watch: offers get real next week, around the Owners Meetings — 'I think next week during Owners Meetings it gets a lot of legs.' The meeting in California is next week. So is everything else, apparently.
Sources: FanSided (Murray) · NY Post (Boras session)
Stearns, Wednesday: only McLean and Scott are guaranteed rotation spots. If Tuesday was Stearns on first base, Wednesday was Stearns on the rotation, and it was blunter. Asked at the GM meetings to name the certainties for next year's rotation, Stearns named exactly two: Nolan McLean and Christian Scott (FOX Sports' Day 2 takeaways; the Post's Stearns piece carries the same session). Everything else is open — including, by omission, Kodai Senga (whose stated plan remains building back up as a starter), Sean Manaea and the rest of a group that shuffled in and out all season. And Stearns put a number, or at least a shape, on the shopping: 'I don't know that there's a specific number. I'd say multiple. We talked yesterday about creating a complete staff and that's 1 through 10, or 12' — with the expectation, in his words, that 'there are going to be a member, or members, of our rotation who aren't members of the organization right now,' across free agency and trades, at the top of the market and in the quieter tiers. Read alongside the Skubal pursuit, the message is coherent: the ace is the headline, but the Mets are shopping for a staff, not a savior — ten to twelve starters deep, because 2026 taught them what a thin staff costs in August.
The lefty search grows to four: A.J. Minter checked in on. The bullpen reporting added a familiar name Wednesday night. The Mets have checked in on left-hander A.J. Minter, Jon Heyman of the Post reports (via MLB Trade Rumors' lefty-relief wrap) — a reunion candidate in the same mold as Brooks Raley, and for the same reason: Minter was a Met, was effective, and was moved in the deadline sell-off. His 2026 line, split between Queens and Minnesota: a 2.56 ERA with a 22% strikeout rate across 45⅔ innings (MLBTR), including a 2.35 ERA in 23 outings for the Mets before the trade and a 2.78 ERA in 25 games for the Twins after it (Post). He joins Tuesday's three — Raley, Alex Vesia and Tim Hill (Sammon, The Athletic) — as reported check-ins, and the Raley thread moved a half-step Thursday: FanSided was able to confirm Raley and the Mets have spoken, but no deal is close at this time (via Rising Apple's ranking of the linked names). Rising Apple's same wrap adds one more name to the bullpen list: right-hander Jonathan Loáisiga, the former Yankee, in whom the Mets have shown interest per the Post. Four lefties checked in on, one righty with reported interest, zero offers reported. The pattern is a front office casting the widest possible net at the position Stearns' Tuesday session left thinnest — and doing it before the December 1 freeze, while there is still time to land one.
A veteran pitching mind joins the staff: Derek Johnson, advisory role. The one Mets move of the day was a hire, not a signing. The Mets are expected to hire Derek Johnson, the longtime big-league pitching coach, in an advisory role — first reported by Bobby Nightengale of the Minnesota Star Tribune, with Will Sammon of The Athletic adding the advisory detail (via MLB Trade Rumors). Johnson has been a major-league pitching coach for a decade — three seasons running Milwaukee's staff from 2016, then Cincinnati from 2019, where he was extended and named director of pitching after 2021 and helped develop Hunter Greene, Chase Burns and Andrew Abbott. He stepped away from the Reds for personal reasons in June, and Cincinnati announced in October he would not return. In Queens he joins a largely intact staff under manager Andy Green — pitching coach Justin Willard and assistant Dan McKinney, both brought in during last season's overhaul, remain in place — which makes the Johnson hire read as what the title says: a senior set of eyes for a young staff headlined by McLean, Scott and Zac Thornton, at the exact moment Stearns is promising to rebuild that staff ten-to-twelve deep. Advisory hires do not win pennants. They are, however, the kind of move a front office makes when it knows the pitching is the whole winter.
Awards: both Cy Youngs unanimous — and the kids take over. Wednesday night's BBWAA verdicts are in, and they were not close. Milwaukee's Jacob Misiorowski won the National League Cy Young unanimously — all 30 first-place votes — after a 16–5 season with a 1.80 ERA and 252 strikeouts for the World Series champions; Philadelphia's Cristopher Sánchez finished second and Atlanta's Chris Sale third (MLB Trade Rumors). The Yankees' Cam Schlittler was likewise unanimous in the American League — 14–6, a league-leading 1.95 ERA, 239 strikeouts in 193⅔ innings — ahead of Toronto's Dylan Cease and Cleveland rookie Parker Messick. At 24 and 25, Misiorowski and Schlittler are the youngest Cy Young pair since 1985, when 20-year-old Dwight Gooden and 21-year-old Bret Saberhagen won — a sentence Mets fans of a certain age will feel in their teeth. The inaugural BBWAA Reliever of the Year awards, the writers' first new honor since Manager of the Year in 1983, went to Toronto's Louis Varland in the AL (16 first-place votes; 1.27 ERA, 35 saves, 97 strikeouts in 78 innings) and San Diego's Mason Miller unanimously in the NL (1.67 ERA, 38 saves, 129 strikeouts in 70 innings), with Milwaukee's Trevor Megill — a name on this column's fits list — finishing third in the NL (theScore). One clarification, because two reliever honors now exist: MLB's separate Rivera/Hoffman awards, voted by a panel of retired relievers and announced the same night in Las Vegas, went to Tampa Bay's Bryan Baker (AL) and Miller again (NL). The Mets had no finalist in either Cy Young race. Awards week ends tonight: the MVPs are announced Thursday at 7 PM ET on MLB Network — after this edition's press time, so no winner is claimed here.
Sources: MLB Trade Rumors (Cy Young) · Yardbarker (Cy Young voting) · theScore (Reliever of the Year)
Housekeeping. The GM meetings wrapped Thursday, November 12, in Las Vegas, with Pagán-to-Detroit still the winter's only significant signing and Murray's sources expecting the real offers to arrive next week around the Owners Meetings. Still no Mets signing or trade by press time Thursday. The calendar from here: MVP tonight (Nov 12, 7 PM ET, after press time), the Arizona Fall League semifinal Friday and the league wrapping November 14, qualifying-offer answers and the Rule 5 protection deadline November 17, the tender deadline November 20, the Skubal meetings in California next week, and the December 1 lockout over all of it.
🗣️ THE SPECULATION DESK — Talk, Not News
The should-be-linked list. Rising Apple's Thursday ranking of the Mets' winter splits its names honestly, and the back half is pure argument: Ty France atop the should-be-linked first basemen (an everyday right-handed bat, second-best defensive first baseman in the game last season by Outs Above Average), a Clay Holmes reunion, a Shane Bieber low-risk flier (11 starts in an injury year), Michael King as Plan B, a Joe Ryan trade built on the front office's Derek Falvey connection, Emerson Hancock, Spencer Torkelson as a fallback, and Trevor Megill — whom ESPN reports Milwaukee will 'at least listen' on, per the piece — as a bullpen swing that would push Devin Williams toward setup. None of it is reporting that the Mets have called on any of these players. It is a menu, clearly labeled as one, and menus are what this desk is for.
Sources: Rising Apple
Two more moves before the lockout, one after — an argument. Rising Apple's other Thursday construction builds the winter around an assumed Skubal signing: add reliever Jason Adam and trade for Texas first baseman Jake Burger (arbitration raise coming, Rangers in a payroll crunch) before December 1, and wait until after a new CBA to chase Drew Rasmussen. The Burger idea at least argues from a real pressure point in Texas. But note what the piece assumes — Skubal signed — and what it is: an expectation column, not a report of talks with San Diego, Texas or Tampa Bay. Filed as talk.
Sources: Rising Apple
The Merrill conditional. Sportsnaut's most creative Thursday idea runs two hypotheticals deep: IF the Padres somehow win the Skubal sweepstakes, San Diego might make 23-year-old center fielder Jackson Merrill available, and IF so, the Mets should jump — an outfield of Soto, Benge and Merrill for five years. The underlying reporting is real (the Padres are a confirmed Skubal meeting team, per AP), but no part of the Merrill layer is reported: no indication San Diego would move him, no Mets inquiry. It is a fun two-step. It lives here, under the talk label, where two-steps belong.
Sources: Sportsnaut
Beat Tweets
The beat is quiet today. A Thursday 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 to embed since yesterday's edition. The day's news ran through articles and on-the-record sessions: Rosenthal and Sammon's Bohm reporting, Heyman's Minter check-in, Sammon's Derek Johnson detail and Murray's Vegas wrap are all credited on the Big Board. We don't fabricate embeds; when a signing breaks with a 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. Today's lines are fresh — through Wednesday's games, from Metsmerized's Thursday recap — and the section runs text-only: no verifiable fresh highlight from games since the last edition surfaced, so there are no embeds, per the house rule.
VENEZUELA (LVBP). The headline night belonged to Francisco Alvarez, who hit his second home run in 10 Venezuelan Winter League games Wednesday, as the designated hitter in Magallanes' 7–2 win (Metsmerized). Alvarez is 8-for-32 with five walks and 10 strikeouts this winter — neither he nor Luis Torrens is expected to catch down there, and both are collecting at-bats at other spots. Torrens went 1-for-4 with a run scored and a strikeout Wednesday, again in left field, and his winter line is an even .300 — 15-for-50 with three doubles, six walks and 12 strikeouts in 14 games — having now played both corner-outfield spots and first base. Reliever Douglas Orellana added a scoreless inning and has allowed two earned runs in three winter innings, after striking out 71 in 59⅓ innings at Double-A Binghamton this year. (Metsmerized)
PUERTO RICO (LBPRC). Jacob Reimer's loud winter got louder: 2-for-4 with a home run and a double in Ponce's 4–3 win Wednesday (Metsmerized). The 22-year-old third-base prospect is 8-for-21 with two homers, three doubles and a stolen base in six games — an encouraging line after an injury-complicated season, and one this column keeps circling because Reimer has also slid over to first base this winter while the big club shops for exactly that position. In the same Ponce outfield, Eli Serrano III went 1-for-3 with two runs scored and a hit-by-pitch (2-for-7 in two games), and John Bay went 0-for-5 with five strikeouts and is 7-for-32 with a homer. And shortstop Antonio Jimenez stayed hot for San Juan: 2-for-5 with a triple, two RBIs, two runs and a walk — 9-for-19 with a homer in five games for the 22-year-old 2025 third-rounder out of UCF. (Metsmerized)
ARIZONA FALL LEAGUE. Surprise won again Wednesday, 8–4, to move to 18–10, with three Mets in the box score (Metsmerized). Bruin Agbayani went 1-for-3 with an RBI and two strikeouts at second base and is 7-for-50 with three doubles in 17 games. Boston Baro, at DH, was 0-for-3 but still filled the line — an RBI, two runs scored, a walk and a stolen base — and is 8-for-40 with a homer and four steals in 14 games. Calvin Ziegler allowed one run on one hit with two strikeouts in two-thirds of an inning, and his fall has been a hard one: 11 earned runs in 6⅓ innings. The Saguaros were off Thursday and play a semifinal game Friday, with the league wrapping November 14 — the last AFL evidence before Tuesday's Rule 5 protection deadline, where Irving Cota's case remains the one to watch. (Metsmerized)
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC (LIDOM). A quiet Wednesday for Ronny Mauricio with Licey: 0-for-4, and he is 7-for-31 with a homer in eight winter games (Metsmerized). Carried from the last full lines: Jefferson Rojas is 7-for-34 with his two second-game homers for the Gigantes, Christopher Morel was off to a .200 start with a homer for Águilas, and Ofreidy Gómez has added scoreless relief work. (Metsmerized)
MEXICO (LMP). Marco Vargas went 2-for-4 with a double, three runs scored and a walk in the Mexican Pacific League on Wednesday (Metsmerized) — the young infielder who lined up at third base earlier this week after playing up the middle for Brooklyn and Binghamton. Catcher Alejandro Urías went 1-for-4 and is 14-for-39 with three doubles in 13 games, still the steadiest Mexico line in the system. Carried from the last full lines: Kevin Villavicencio was cooling from his .313 perch. (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 Thu Nov 12: Murray (FanSided) — most people in Vegas believe the Mets are 'the team to beat,' citing need + Cohen's pockets; Dodgers/Padres/Jays confirmed for next week's California meetings, others interested, mystery team possible. Boras' Wed session (Post): 'Sku-bull market,' owners 'begging to meet,' pre-Dec 1 signing intimated, not guaranteed. Dodgers prefer short-term (ESPN) — Skubal wants long term. Janes' shape stands: 7 yrs/$340M. Status: unsigned — meetings next week.
Alec Bohm — UPDATE Thu Nov 12: the Mets MET with Bohm's representatives at the GM meetings (Rosenthal/Sammon, The Athletic; Murray confirms Yankees/Mets at least) and would use him at FIRST base. .249, 15 HR, .698 OPS in 155 G in 2026, but .298/.369/.425, .794 OPS in the second half. Status: meeting held — first 1B name with a reported Mets meeting.
First base — UPDATE Thu Nov 12: Bohm meeting (above) is the first concrete step after Stearns confirmed the Mets will SUPPLEMENT first base — Young 'part of a solution,' regular or timeshare add expected, left-handed bat not ruled out, Soto stays in LF. Other framed names: Bauers (QO), France, Goldschmidt. Burleson = talk only. Status: declared priority; meeting held; no offer reported.
Brooks Raley / Alex Vesia / Tim Hill / A.J. Minter — UPDATE Thu Nov 12: Minter is the FOURTH lefty checked in on (Heyman, Post, Wed night) — 2.56 ERA, 45⅔ IP in 2026, traded to Minnesota at the deadline. Raley: FanSided confirms the Mets and Raley have SPOKEN, no deal close. Vesia/Hill check-ins (Sammon) stand. Status: four lefty check-ins reported; no offers reported.
Jonathan Loáisiga — NEW Thu Nov 12: the Mets have shown interest in the former Yankee right-hander, per the Post (via Rising Apple). Status: interest reported; no talks reported.
Derek Johnson (staff) — NEW Thu Nov 12: expected to be hired in an ADVISORY role (Nightengale first; Sammon adds the role). Decade as a big-league pitching coach (MIL/CIN); stepped away from the Reds in June. Status: hire expected — staff, not a roster move.
Kodai Senga — Stearns' plan remains build back up as a STARTER in camp (Puma); Senga wants to start. Notably NOT among the two rotation spots Stearns guaranteed Wed (McLean/Scott). Trade interest is buy-low; a deal likely needs the Mets to eat most of the $14M for 2027; partial no-trade. Status: starter plan stated; listening ongoing; no deal reported.
Rotation guarantees — NEW Thu Nov 12: Stearns (Wed) names ONLY Nolan McLean and Christian Scott as guaranteed 2027 rotation spots; expects 'multiple' adds, members 'who aren't members of the organization right now,' building a staff 1 through 10 or 12, via FA and trades. Status: the winter's mandate, on the record.
Emilio Pagán — ✅ RESOLVED Tue Nov 10: signed with the TIGERS — one year, ~$11.5M plus a bonus clause (Heyman; Wittenmyer). Status: off the board; was never Mets-linked.
David Bednar / Adrián Morejón — Morejón prefers to REMAIN A RELIEVER (The Athletic). Both carry $23.15M qualifying offers — answers due Nov 17; signing either costs the Mets draft picks. Status: bullpen market, QO clock running.
Devin Williams — Stearns calls Williams the closer 'right now.' The Mets are shopping the reliever market around him (four lefty check-ins + Loáisiga interest). Status: closer, conditionally; no club move reported.
Trevor Megill — UPDATE Thu Nov 12: finished THIRD in the inaugural NL BBWAA Reliever of the Year voting (Miller unanimous, Duran second). ESPN reports Milwaukee will 'at least listen' on him (via Rising Apple); Murray notes a Megill trade 'does feel possible,' Giants a sensible fit. Status: fits/trade-watch only — no Mets talks reported.
Drew Rasmussen — UPDATE Thu Nov 12: Murray — the Rays 'really prefer to keep him'; Neander: 'Our hope and expectation is that he'll be anchoring our rotation,' with extension talks floated as possible. $20M option exercised — NOT a free agent. Status: trade watch, Rays holding firmer.
Alec Burleson — Rising Apple/FanSided hearing: Cardinals 1B as a potential Mets trade target — .279/.343/.473, 26 HR, 116 RBIs, two years of arb control. No named sourcing, no corroboration, unknown if St. Louis would move him. Status: watch-list talk only.
Carson Benge — ✅ RESOLVED Mon Nov 9: finished SECOND in NL Rookie of the Year voting (Stewart won). Status: award closed; Benge still holds RF.
Kyren Paris — ✅ RESOLVED Mon Nov 9: cleared waivers, outrighted to Triple-A Syracuse. Status: non-roster depth.
Christian Cairo — ✅ RESOLVED Mon Nov 9: claimed off waivers by the DODGERS. Status: gone.
Robert Stock — One-year Major League split contract; out of options. Still on the 40-man. Status: depth arm — the Mets' only signing so far.
Jacob deGrom / Nathan Eovaldi — Grant (Dallas Morning News) believes the Rangers will shop a highly paid star — deGrom ($37M, full no-trade) front and center, perhaps Eovaldi ($24M owed). Status: availability reported; NO Mets talks reported.
Eric Wagaman — Elected free agency (MLBTR, Nov 8). Status: free agent; low-cost depth option.
Teruaki Sato — Heyman links Mets/Phillies/Padres/Yankees — against Britton/Sammon's cooling report and Stearns' supplement-not-splurge 1B framing. Posted Nov 1; window to Dec 1. Status: cooled/downgraded — not closed.
Michael King — Post pricing — at least 3 yrs/$80M; San Diego could keep him; Padres also interested in a King reunion per Murray. Mets met with him last winter. Status: top consolation prize; circle back.
Clay Holmes — Post pricing — 2–3 yrs, $40–50M after declining his $12M Cubs option. Status: reunion watch, price framed.
Shoki Oda — 18-year-old Japanese RHP met with the Mets, Phillies and Rangers; Dodgers considered favorites; expected $3–5M bonus, signable Jan 15. Status: meeting held — long-term play.
Kaima Taira / Hiromi Itoh / Si Hwan Roh — All posted Nov 1; Taira scouted by the Mets; Roh's window ends Dec 1 (Sherman). Status: posting watch — no new Mets link reported.
Sonny Gray / Nick Martinez / Nick Pivetta / Michael Soroka / Dustin May — All free agents in the veteran-arm tier. Status: no Mets link reported for any.
Kenley Jansen — Free agent after Detroit declined his option; his Detroit closer job now belongs to Pagán. Status: veteran closer on the market; no Mets link reported.
Luis Robert Jr. / Jeff McNeil — Both ex-Mets are free agents (Robert: Orioles declined $20M; McNeil: A's declined, Mets cover $2M buyout). Status: no reunion reporting for either.
Sean Manaea — Sportsnaut predicted he is the Met dealt before Opening Day (talk only). Notably not a guaranteed rotation spot per Stearns Wed. Status: speculation only — no shopping reported.
Rafael Devers — MLBTR trade candidate in San Francisco; the Mets link is an idea piece only. Status: watch, don't believe yet.
Jack Anderson / Pierson Ohl — Claimed off waivers Mon Nov 2. Status: depth arms with options.
Mark Vientos / Francisco Alvarez — Rising Apple (Nov 9) scenario talk only — Vientos the realistic trade, Alvarez-for-pitching the bold one. Alvarez is playing winter ball (see above), not reported in any talks. Status: talk only.
Bo Bichette — ✅ RESOLVED. Opted in for 2027. His return at 3B is why Bohm would be a first baseman here.
Sandy Alcantara — ✅ OFF THE BOARD: Marlins exercised his 2027 club option. Status: staying in Miami.
Vidal Bruján — ✅ RESOLVED Sun Nov 1: minor league deal with the Braves, with a spring-training invite.
40-man roster — Next churn: Rule 5 protection deadline Nov 17 — Cota's AFL finish this week 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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