The New York Mets have thirteen players ready to enter free agency this winter. Their big free agent is Pete Alonso, who will be one of the front office’s biggest priorities in the coming months.

In addition to Alonso, there are also rumors swirling that the Mets are aggressively pursuing superstar outfielder Juan Soto, who could get a contract worth more than $550 million. With the Mets pursuing both Alonso and Soto, their offseason could become very expensive very quickly if they manage to acquire one or both of these two stars.

Because they want to throw so much money at the big names, they won’t have as much money for the middle players on their roster. Of their 13 upcoming free agents, there are several names that stand out as players who won’t be brought back in 2025.

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Right-handed reliever Ryne Stanek will become a free agent this season. Unfortunately for him, this likely means his time with the Mets will end when the Mets’ season ends.

Stanek wasn’t great during the regular season, especially after he ended up with the Mets. During his time with New York, Stanek posted a 6.06 in 16.1 innings. He wasn’t great with the Mariners either. Stanek hasn’t posted sub-4.00 ERA seasons with the Astros since 2022.

He cracked New York’s postseason roster and performed well in a limited sample size in October. Through 4.1 innings, he gave up just one earned run on two hits. Not a huge sample size, but he was effective when his number was called.

But now that he’s headed to unrestricted free agency, he won’t be at the top of the Mets’ list of priorities to bring back. That’s going to be a theme on this list of players. The reality of the situation is that the Mets are going to pay a lot of money to a few top free agents. Another team will prioritize a guy like Stanek in free agency, while the Mets will look for the best budget options for their team when it comes to building the middle of their bullpen.

Jesse Winker has completely played himself out of his current market value. He only makes $2 million a year, paid by both the Nationals and Mets, but he plays more like a $10 million or $15 million player.

On the year, he slashed .253/.360/.405 between his time with the Nationals and the Mets. He was also a net positive player for the Mets during the postseason. He has a few extra base hits and he’s gotten on base better than his batting average would indicate, thanks to a few walks he’s drawn.

Winker has brought the energy and passion to the Mets and fueled them throughout his time with the team. He’ll probably get paid this season based on how well he’s performed this year, but the Mets have bigger fish to fry than trying to bring back a platoon outfielder.

For the Mets, they need to prioritize their starting rotation and the two big free agents they want to acquire, Pete Alonso and Juan Soto. Adding the pitching rotation will also be expensive.

Money isn’t usually an issue for the Mets and Steve Cohen, but with him looking to throw hundreds of millions of dollars at the top free agents in the class, there won’t be that much money left for someone like Winker. . Winker will likely ultimately sign a one- or two-year contract worth $15 million to $25 million.

Sean Manaea has a player option worth $13.5 million through 2025 with the Mets. If you had polled the executives around the game before the season, I bet many would have expected Manaea to choose this option at the end of the year. But Manaea has played well above his salary for the 2024 season. He signed with agent Scott Boras, who is notorious for getting as much money as possible for his clients. With Boras as agent and such a successful season, I would expect Manaea to decline his option and hit the open market.

This year, Manaea posted career bests in innings pitched (181.2), ERA (3.47), H/9 (6.6) and HR/9 (1.0). He was truly a different pitcher than in the past and the left-hander has carried that into the postseason for the Mets.

After being atrocious in his first 7.2 postseason innings with the Athletics and Padres, Manaea has given the Mets starts of five innings of two-run baseball and seven innings of one-run baseball.

With such a successful season, Manaea has likely played itself straight out of the Big Apple. Boras won’t be interested in offering discounts to stay with the Mets, so with New York pursuing the likes of Alonso and Soto, I imagine Manaea will be wearing a new uniform in 2025.