Mets are at front of the line for Juan Soto, Roki Sasaki

David Stearns is in an enviable position this offseason.

The New York Mets president of baseball operations has been given permission to pursue any available player, regardless of cost. Such is the luxury of working for Steve Cohen, the richest owner in Major League Baseball.

“It’s a great opportunity,” Stearns said last week during the MLB GM Meetings in San Antionio. “I think whenever you have access to every tier of agency and every tier available player, that’s a tremendous opportunity and it opens up doors and we have to decide which door to walk through or which doors to walk through at times.”

The Mets will be right in the middle of the bidding for Juan Soto, the top free agent on the market this winter. Cohen and Stearns will fly to California later this week to meet with the right fielder and agent Scott Boras.

Soto would be a major addition to any team, even the Mets who reached the National League Championship Series this past season before losing to the eventual World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers.

Soto would fit neatly into the Mets’ lineup as the right fielder. The Mets could then make Starling Marte their designated hitter since, as J.D. Martinez is not expected to be re-signed.

A case can be made, though, that the Stearns would be better served to bolster the pitching staff.

The Mets were 15th in the major leagues in runs allowed this year and seventh in runs scored. Furthermore, New York’s top three starting pitchers are free agents – left-handers Sean Manaea and Jose Quintana and right-hander Luis Severino.

There is also the fact that first baseman and franchise icon Pete Alonso is also a free agent.

Stearns has a policy of not commenting about individual free agents. Thus, he did not have anything else to say to Draft Nation last week about Alonso other than “Pete’s a great Mets and we’d love to have him back.”

Some Mets people believe Stearns would like to move from Alonso and signed free agent first baseman Christian Walker as a more cost-effective option, but Cohen wants the popular Polar Bear to return.

Stearns was willing to talk in general about the Mets’ free agency, including whether it’s better to spend a lot of money on free agency or spread the resources around by signing multiple players.

“Those are the types of decisions that we have to work through whenever we’re talking about trading one player for another player or trading multiple players for multiple players,” Stearns said. “A lot of these decisions don’t have a magic formula. There is a lot of thought that goes into it, a lot of dialogue, and a lot of it comes down to what makes the most sense at that particular time.”

Stearns, though, isn’t letting any secrets out when he says the Mets will be looking for starting pitchers.

“I think ‘multiple’ is kind of what I’m going for,” Stearns said. “How many multiples, I don’t know yet. We talked about this last offseason, too. You can build pitching staffs in very different ways. You can do it via adding starting pitching and going for length at the front end of games. We could structure our bullpen a little differently next year where you’ve got more multiple-inning options that can eat up innings. But certainly, we need to find some innings, and a part of that is going to be adding to the starting rotation.”

The Mets have extended qualifying offers of $21.05 million to Manaea and Severino. Manaea will almost certainly look for a multi-year deal on the open market, but the Mets believe Severino could accept and return what would essentially a one-year contract.

The Mets will certainly be in play for Japanese sensation Roki Sasaki. The 23-year-old right-hander will be posted by the Chiba Lotte Mariners, his team in Nippon Professional Baseball. Stearns flew to Japan to scout Sasaki this past summer.

Corbin Burnes, the top free agent pitcher on the market, should also draw heavy interest from the Mets along with left-handers Max Fried and Blake Snell.

“I think there are some good options there,” Stearns said. “We’re at the very front end of this whole thing, and sometimes free-agent markets move quickly, and sometimes they take a long time to sort out. We’re beginning all of those conversations. I look forward to having those conversations.

“I think we’re seeking to build another successful rotation however that occurs, and you can do it in a variety of different ways. So, I don’t feel beholden to do it in any particular one way.”