What's next for Mets -- and deGrom -- this offseason?

NEW YORK -- Five days after their season came to a sudden end against the Padres in Game 3 of the Wild Card Series at Citi Field, Mets general manager Billy Eppler and manager Buck Showalter remain in a state of mourning. That’s only natural this time of year, as is what comes next: a rapid acknowledgement of the work to be done.

“You want to be the last team standing,” Showalter said. “It’s selfish. You’re jealous. We’re trying to keep a grip on reality, but turning the page and getting on the things that we’re responsible for in the offseason, because the baseball world flies.”

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For the Mets, that means drawing up plans for how to attack what should be one of the most impactful winters in recent franchise history. Only five days have passed since the Mets’ elimination, but much has changed in terms of organizational mindset.

1. No regrets

Unlike the Padres, who used the Trade Deadline to transform their team, the Mets made only incremental improvements with the acquisitions of Daniel Vogelbach, Tyler Naquin, Darin Ruf and Mychal Givens. At the time of the Aug. 2 Deadline, the Mets ranked fourth in the Majors with 4.73 runs per game. They improved that to 4.83 runs per game after the Deadline, thanks in part to Vogelbach, who produced a .393 on-base percentage and .830 OPS with the Mets.

Ruf, however, hit .152/.216/.197 and was regularly benched late in the season. Naquin did not make the Mets’ playoff roster. Givens produced a 4.79 ERA and did not provide a significant impact.

Asked multiple times if he regretted not making a splashier trade to improve his team, Eppler answered in the negative, pointing to Vogelbach’s success relative to other players (Juan Soto, Josh Bell, Trey Mancini, Willson Contreras) either traded or rumored to be available at the Deadline.

“It’s hard to pinpoint what would have been better or identify that,” Eppler said. “You’re dealing in a really short sample. No, I don’t have any regrets on it.”

Much as he did on Deadline day, when he reiterated a desire not to trade any of the organization’s top 19 prospects, Eppler defended his Trade Deadline actions as a way to build something sustainable.

“We did it without robbing the future in a significant way,” Eppler said. “Any trade hurts. You want to keep as much of your talent as possible. That’s kind of why [owner] Steve [Cohen] has said what he has said, which is we’ll use some financial strength to keep us out of that position so that we can build something long-term.”

2. The Mets will have money to burn

… speaking of financial strength, Cohen has already given Eppler the go-ahead to spend what is necessary to build another winning team over the winter. The GM declined to discuss specifics of what that will mean for the Mets, who will almost certainly need to expand their payroll well beyond $300 million just to field a comparable team next summer. But it’s clear that baseball’s richest owner won’t be shying away from investing.

“Steve’s continued to say I’ll support this cause financially,” said Eppler, who maintained the league’s largest payroll this summer without exceeding $300 million. “We can use some money to bridge ultimately where we want to take this place, which, again, is to that sustainability where we’re winning year in, year out.”

What the Mets are trying to do is mimic the blueprint that the Dodgers established early last decade, paying hundreds of millions of dollars to veteran players as a way to stay competitive while waiting for the farm system and other organizational investments to begin bearing fruit. Last offseason, that meant dishing out multiyear contracts to Max Scherzer, Starling Marte, Eduardo Escobar and Mark Canha. This year, it could mean more of the same -- with another record payroll as a result.

3. They have a lot of work to do

Late Sunday night, after Wild Card Game 3, Eppler sat down with Jacob deGrom to discuss the future. Eppler wouldn’t get into specifics of the conversation other than to say that deGrom “knows how we feel.”

On multiple occasions, deGrom has said that he plans to opt out of the final year of his contract next month. If he does, the two-time NL Cy Young Award winner will surely find suitors across the baseball landscape, many of them likely dangling short-term, high-value deals in front of him. But deGrom has also expressed his interest in remaining a Met for life.

It’s one of many pitching issues facing the Mets, who can lose four-fifths of their rotation and nearly every prominent member of their bullpen to free agency. There is a chance Eppler will need to build a new pitching staff mostly from scratch, which could cost the franchise significant money, significant prospects or both.

“I think it’s pretty safe to say we’re going to have to hit the market to fill that out,” Eppler said. “It can’t be filled entirely from internal candidates. So it’s going to be a big point of focus.”