After watching Yoshinobu Yamamoto sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns stayed the course of amassing depth arms for a starting rotation that leaves plenty to be desired on paper.
Kodai Senga and Jose Quintana are the lone reliable holdovers from the 2023 season as Stearns signed a pair of project arms in Luis Severino and Sean Manaea in hopes of rediscovering former glory. He also acquired a familiar face in Adrian Houser, whom he worked with during his days with the Milwaukee Brewers.
With those five arms and a competition between David Peterson, Tylor Megill, Joey Lucchesi, and Jose Butto for a potential No. 6 role if new manager Carlos Mendoza opts to go that route, Stearns could head into the 2024 campaign with this experimental unit as the Mets try to contend for a playoff spot.
That, however, doesn’t appear to be the case.
Stearns looks as though he’s looking to add one more arm via the trade market, according to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand, but it is unclear if it will be for a top-end option or just for more depth.
If Stearns and the Mets truly want to contend for the postseason, then it has to be for a top-of-the-rotation option that could lengthen the pitching staff — most notably moving Quintana down to more of a No. 3 role while Severino and Manaea follow suit.
While the bulk of the blockbuster moves have already been completed this winter around Major League Baseball, the Mets still can fill such a need with pitchers and catchers reporting for spring training in almost one month.
Mets trade rumors: Potential starting-pitching targets
Dylan Cease, RHP, Chicago White Sox
According to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, the Mets are considering a pursuit of the 28-year-old right-hander, who is under team control via arbitration through the 2025 season. Last year was a down one for the White Sox ace, going 7-9 with a 4.48 ERA, 214 strikeouts, 79 walks, and a 1.418 WHIP. One year prior, he finished second in the American League Cy Young Award voting after going 14-8 with a 2.20 ERA and 227 strikeouts.
The Mets are going to have plenty of competition, including the crosstown-rival Yankees, who also came up empty during the Yamamoto sweepstakes are in need of adding to their rotation behind reigning AL Cy Young Award winner, Gerrit Cole.
Jesus Luzardo, LHP, Miami Marlins
The annual Miami Marlins selling sweepstakes is headlined by Luzardo, a 26-year-old southpaw who has shown promising stuff in the NL East. In a career-high 178.2 innings pitched, he went 10-10 with a 3.58 ERA, 208 strikeouts, and a 1.215 WHIP. He was in the midst of an even better showing in 2022 thanks to a 1.037 WHIP and a 3.32 ERA in 18 starts, but a forearm strain sidelined him for a significant portion of the campaign.
The Mets and Marlins held previous discussions involving a deal for Luzardo, but New York was unwilling to part ways with third baseman Brett Baty. Both franchises have new regimes at the helm, however, so the track record does not mean much the deeper we get into January.
