According to new reporting this morning from Will Sammon at The Athletic, the Mets are “reluctant to hand out long-term offers to this offseason’s top free-agent starting pitchers,” according to folks familiar with the club’s thinking.
Framber Valdez, Tatsuya Imai, and Ranger Suarez are considered to be the top free agent starting pitchers available and the Mets would be interested in any of them on a shorter-term deal. Indeed, they have been connected to both Valdez and Imai this offseason. However,
all three are projected to land long-term contracts and Dylan Cease’s contract with the Blue Jays sets a precedent at the top of the market.
Though the Mets have enough depth to fill out their rotation at present with Nolan McLean, Sean Manaea, Clay Holmes, and David Peterson all on the roster and the likes of Jonah Tong, Christian Scott, and Brandon Sproat waiting in the wings to be of assistance, but one could argue they are lacking in “ace level” arms and building a quality rotation is a key cog in the focus on run prevention that David Stearns emphasized in his postseason press conference.
The Mets could choose to address this by signing one of the top arms mentioned above, but they “may miss out” if they won’t give those pitchers the number of years they are seeking, per Sammon. They may still pull off a trade for an ace like a Tarik Skubal or a Freddy Peralta or even Nationals’ MacKenzie Gore, who continues to be the subject of trade rumors. Absent a major acquisition, the Mets may take an approach similar to the past couple of offseasons where they stick with shorter term deals for mid-to-back-end rotation arms. That approach worked well for Stearns in the 2023-2024 offseason when Luis Severino and Sean Manaea made major contributions to a team that made it to the NLCS despite lacking a true “ace.” However, though Clay Holmes figures to be a key player for the 2026 Mets, the Frankie Montas signing was disastrous and injuries forced the Mets to rely heavily on their untested prospects for the stretch run with mixed results.
With the Winter Meetings taking place this week, movement on this matter will likely be significant over the course of the next few days as the Mets crystallize their plan to improve their starting rotation.
