Welcome back to the Mets Beat newsletter! Anthony DiComo has covered the Mets for MLB.com since 2007, including the past 14 seasons full-time on the beat. 

Earlier this week at the General Managers Meetings in Scottsdale, Ariz., many of the game’s highest-ranking executives gathered to tackle what tends to be mostly mundane industry business. Yet where executives go, agents tend to follow, as do the first trickles of Hot Stove rumors.

Here are four takeaways from what Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns had to say during the event, along with other reporting:

Stearns met at length on Tuesday with agent Scott Boras, whom Alonso recently hired to represent him. Whether that conversation involved any sort of extension talk isn’t public knowledge, but both Boras and Alonso are open to the concept.

“We just kind of let him know that when it comes to the Polar Bear, we’re not in contract hibernation,” Boras said, leaning on one of his trademark puns.

It’s worth noting that both sides have an incentive to wait this thing out. By betting on himself and reaching free agency in a year, Alonso can gauge his true market value through league-wide negotiation. The Mets, meanwhile, won’t gain much by signing Alonso now unless he’s willing to take a hometown discount. As they proved last offseason with another Boras client, Brandon Nimmo, the Mets are plenty capable of outbidding everyone if they’re motivated to keep one of their own free agents.

But it does feel significant that Boras, who has long been infamous for advising his players to hold out for free agency, was willing to talk so openly about the idea of an extension. Boras said Alonso instructed him to listen to whatever the Mets have to say.

In the interim, Stearns reiterated, he cannot envision a scenario in which the Mets would trade Alonso this offseason.

“We’re fortunate to have him,” the president of baseball operations said. “I’m looking forward to watching him play this season, and I’m not going to predict the future.”

Billy Eppler’s abrupt departure from the GM post in October left the Mets without a second-in-command behind Stearns, who had anticipated Eppler being a central part of the team’s offseason dealings. However, the Mets won’t immediately conduct a search to replace him.

“We have enough going on right now,” Stearns said. “I think we’ve got a front-office grouping that is working well together. We’re learning each other. And frankly, [a GM search] is a process that requires immense time, and so we’ll tackle that on a different day.”

As currently constituted, the Mets are hardly bereft of leadership under Stearns, with assistant GMs Ian Levin and Ben Zauzmer -- both holdovers from other regimes -- still in the building. Senior vice president Jonathan Strangio also remains, and a source confirmed that the Mets have hired an old Stearns lieutenant, Eduardo Brizuela, away from the Brewers. In addition, longtime Mets executive John Ricco, who has held a variety of high-ranking roles over the past two decades, has been working within the baseball operations department to help fill the void. Ricco was part of the team that interviewed and evaluated incoming manager Carlos Mendoza.

One disclaimer: now that the Mets have a president of baseball ops on board, employing a GM is not strictly necessary. What matters most is who has final say on personnel decisions, which in this case is Stearns. That will remain true the case regardless of whom else the organization eventually hires.

Earlier this week, Mendoza began calling those members of Buck Showalter’s coaching staff still under contract to discuss their status -- a group that includes pitching coach Jeremy Hefner and hitting coach Jeremy Barnes. Hefner received word that he will be back for the second season of a three-year deal, according to a source. Barnes received no such assurance.

While there’s still a chance that Barnes might return, that’s something the Mets will determine once Mendoza officially begins his offseason business.

Elsewhere on staff, bullpen coach Dom Chiti recently took a job with the Angels and third-base coach Joey Cora, according to another source, landed with the Tigers. First-base coach Wayne Kirby and catching instructor Glenn Sherlock initially came to the Mets as longtime friends of Showalter, so read into that what you will.

The Mets also must sort out the futures of bench coach Eric Chavez, assistant hitting coach Eric Hinske and assistant coach Danny Barnes. No matter what happens with those three, next year’s staff will not closely resemble the group that Showalter and Eppler constructed.

Stearns has been open about this, and for good reason. Right now, the Mets have only two rotation locks in Kodai Senga and José Quintana. Meanwhile, one of their primary back-end options, David Peterson, is slated to miss the start of the season recovering from left hip surgery. And it’s not as if the organization is swimming in additional depth.

“I don’t think it’s any secret that we’re probably a little short on pitching at the moment,” Stearns said, “and so that will be a priority this offseason.”

Pressed for specifics, Steans added he plans to make “multiple” rotation additions this winter. The Mets have long been linked with superstar Japanese free agent Yoshinobu Yamamoto and are among the favorites to land him. They’ll also canvass other market tiers in search of values in the mold of Quintana.

“We’re going to need eight to 10 [starters] over the course of a season,” Stearns said. “You don’t need to know exactly who those eight to 10 are on Opening Day, but you do need to have options to give yourself and look at your depth and say, ‘OK, I can see where we’re going to get that eight to 10 from this group.’”

Unsurprisingly, Stearns also noted that he plans to add to the bullpen, which similarly features little depth behind Edwin Díaz and Brooks Raley.

Earlier this week, Mets owner Steve Cohen revealed mockups for an $8 billion investment around Citi Field, including 20 acres of park space, five acres of community athletic fields and playgrounds, an entertainment complex featuring a Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, a food hall, infrastructure considerations and more. It was the type of vision that many have had for the area for decades, mirroring popular developments such as the Battery complex surrounding Truist Park in Atlanta.

The development is also separate from a Sterling Equities-led group that has already revealed plans to construct a Major League Soccer stadium, among other structures, across the street from Citi.

“It’s time the world’s greatest city got the sports and entertainment park it deserves,” Cohen said in a statement. “When I bought this team, fans and the community kept saying we needed to do better. Metropolitan Park delivers on the promise of a shared space that people will not only want to come to and enjoy, but can be truly proud of.”

Cohen’s plan elicited both praise and criticism, the latter from groups who do not want a casino in Queens or who worry about the effects on parking and traffic. The vision remains subject both to New York State’s Gaming Commission awarding Cohen one of three available casino licenses, as well as to Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state legislature approving construction on what is technically city parkland.

Nov. 10, 2014: The Mets made an unexpected splash early in free agency on this day in 2014, signing outfielder Michael Cuddyer to a two-year, $21 million contract despite the qualifying offer attached to him. Although Cuddyer struggled in his first season as a Met, he provided a source of leadership en route to the first World Series appearance of his 15-year career. After the season, Cuddyer negotiated a deal to retire rather than play out the final year of his contract at age 37.

• Here are more details on Peterson’s hip surgery, which should keep him out until at least June. 

• MLB.com Brewers reporter Adam McCalvy reached out to Craig Counsell, who explained his decision to leave Milwaukee for Chicago.

• MLB.com national reporter Bill Ladson writes about the Mets honoring Ozzie Virgil and Luis Alicea in their inaugural Latin American Hall of Fame class.

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