It must be nice for New York Mets fans, who reportedly are just waiting for their team to choose one of the top three free agent pitchers on the market.
According to a report from Joel Sherman of The New York Post, the Mets are “information gathering” as they try to determine whether or not they’d like to shell out a big-money deal to one of the top starting pitchers on the free agent market. If they do, the reported list is down to three options — Jacob deGrom, Justin Verlander and Carlos Rodón. Not a bad class.
Sherman tweeted Tuesday that he believes New York would like to sign one of those players to a deal to link them with Max Scherzer atop the rotation.
The Mets have obviously seen what its like to have Scherzer and DeGrom atop the rotation, though the duo were rarely healthy at the same time last season. Scherzer pitched in a total of 23 games for New York, after signing a monster contract last offseason. DeGrom was even less reliable, pitching a total of 11 games for the Mets as he continued to struggle with injuries. As a free agent, teams will have to decide whether or not deGrom’s dominance (career 2.52 ERA) is worth the price it will likely cost to obtain his services, despite a long injury history.
The case to sign Verlander is a bit more straightforward. He’s still as dominant as ever, winning the 2022 American League Cy Young, but is looking for an astronomical contract in the ball park of Scherzer’s. New York just has to decide whether it is willing to allocate more than $80 million to a pair of starters nearing the age of 40.
Rodón is perhaps the most interesting case, having reportedly met with the Mets on Tuesday via Zoom, according to Sherman. He had a career year with the San Francisco Giants (2.88 ERA in 178 innings) and has reportedly drawn interest from multiple teams. The Red Sox fit will have a strong market as he’s the youngest, healthiest, cheapest option among the three players the Mets are reportedly choosing between.
The idea of choosing between three high-profile starters is similar to what the New York Yankees are reportedly doing this offseason.
No matter who the Mets choose to throw a large chunk of change at, it’s likely they’ll have competition — no matter the price.
