Manager Terry Collins didn’t hesitate to use his All-Star closer like his counterpart Buck Showalter did, but the results for New York Mets were the same as they were for the Baltimore Orioles in the Wild Card Game—an abrupt end to a promising season.
That the Mets even reached the playoffs, considering the significant injuries the team suffered over the course of the year, should be celebrated. But after being shut out by San Francisco in the National League‘s play-in game, a long offseason awaits the club.
Collins will most assuredly be back in the dugout next season. How the roster he’ll be managing will look, however, is anyone’s guess.
What follows is an overview of some of the decisions that the team will have to make—and some of the players they may look to—in order to bolster the roster for a return trip to the postseason, and perhaps the Fall Classic, in 2017.