The Mets have already been linked to several available starters early in the offseason, and The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports that Jameson Taillon is one of the names the club has been in touch with during its ongoing pitching search. Taillon (who just turned 31 on November 18) is a free agent for the first time in his career, and he ranks 14th on MLBTR’s list of the winter’s top 50 free agents.
The right-hander is no stranger to the Big Apple, having spent the last two seasons with the Yankees. Taillon missed most of 2019 and all of 2020 recovering from Tommy John surgery, but he rebounded to post a 4.08 ERA over 321 2/3 innings since the start of the 2021 campaign. Taillon has a below-average strikeout rate and he returned from that TJ recovery with below-average fastball velocity, but he has excellent spin rates and strong control. Taillon’s 4.4% walk rate ranked in the 94th percentile of all pitchers in 2022.
Perhaps most importantly, Taillon has been healthy over the last two seasons, apart from a three-week IL stint with an ankle injury in September 2021. Taillon has undergone two Tommy John surgeries and battled testicular cancer, so the Yankees certainly assumed some risk when they acquired Taillon in a deal with the Pirates during the 2020-21 offseason. Fortunately, Taillon has avoided any further major heath problems, and now (if anything) looks like something of a reliable veteran innings-eater that could fit into any team’s rotation.
The Yankees opted against issuing a qualifying offer to Taillon, so he was able to hit the open market without any draft compensation attached to his services. MLBTR projected Taillon for a four-year, $56MM contract, but with the caveat that the righty’s Tommy John history could make it difficult for him to land that fourth guaranteed year.
Jacob deGrom, Chris Bassitt, and Taijuan Walker are all free agents, leaving the Mets with some major holes to fill in the rotation. Max Scherzer and Carlos Carrasco will certainly fill two of the five spots, and David Peterson, Tylor Megill, and recent trade acquisition Elieser Hernandez could end up all battling for one available spot, or possibly all be depth options depending on how many pitchers are added or re-signed. As one might expect, the Mets have been aggressive in exploring the market, checking in on the top names (deGrom, Justin Verlander, Kodai Senga), more second-tier starters like Taillon or Andrew Heaney, and back-of-the-rotation depth like Hernandez.
Another fine, fantastic name!
Got it! If they pitch, the Mets are in on them
Mets getting desperate.
How? Did they sign someone that’s not good?
@DaOldDerbyBastard…
Oh my are you trying to ask a sensible question to an assinine comment lol
Taillon and Walker are the best of the SPs available behind Rodon, DeGrom and Verlander, but Heaney put himself in the discussion, I like Taillon, I thought the Yanks would have signed him already, if it werent for Judge outstanding, Taillon would likely be signed.
Bassitt much?
I don’t think Bassit liked it in NY and wants to go elsewhere. But I’d love for the Mets to bring him back. He’s a very good number 3
@Lyman Bostock With the asterisk for his end of season woes.
If he’d been just decent in only one of those games, I’d bet the Mets would be working hard to bring him back considering they need three above average starters including one superb postseason caliber starter and the pickings aren’t exactly rich if you’re looking for more than average starting pitching .
Name the last mid to back end rotation SP the Yankees signed to a multi year free agent contract
Carl Pavano or Jaret Wright or Hiroki Kuroda
JA Happ and it was a mess.
Heaney and his 72 IP aren’t in a class with those guys he’ll make considerably less. He hasn’t proven that he can be healthy so why would he get a multi-year deal from anyone? He will be a reclamation project for some poor team year after year and year after year he’ll spend most of the season on the IL.
He has the most upside out of the second tier guys mentioned here. But I wouldn’t sign him just due to injury risk. The Mets have dealt with enough injuries already.
Mets signing every starter on the market per Heyman
It’s generally that way & not the other way around. As with DeGrom, they’ll play for the Mets only if it’s a top of the market offer plus the Met tax.
Mets already have the best rotation in baseball. Why waste 30 to 40m on an injury-prone guy
They do? Scherzer, Carrasco, Megill, Peterson is not even the top rotation in their own division let alone all of baseball. Now to be fair, I fully expect the Mets to have a top rotation by the end of the offseason, but right now I don’t think it’s that scary.
@VonPurpleHayes And that’s with Carrasco projectable to league average at best in about 20 starts, and Peterson and Megil below average in 25 starts, total. Maybe they’ll get another 12 modest starts from Lucchesi, so even with another 22 starts from Max that’s barely 80 starts with a roughly league average ERA, combined.
Rodon, Bassitt, and Walker would have to be the *worst* three starters the Mets sign for them to get close to where they were in 2022.
Not even the best rotation in their division LOL
It’s a solid rotation on paper right now. They definitely could use another starter at the least.. but it’s far from an elite rotation. Megill started 9 games last season and had a 5.13 era.. Carraco has had plenty of durability issues in the past, has had plenty of an injury history. To me they need another two quality arms in that rotation to feel somewhat comfortable going into next season..
deGrom might be gone, if that’s the case, they need an Andrew Heaney type at least to slot somewhere in that rotation, and probably resign Taijuan Walker as well. They’ll definitely add an arm or two to that rotation, because they need to imo.
@Mario93 @Yanks2 The Mets have the worst rotation in baseball right now, delusional
Andrew Heaney is a very hard pass. 200 innings in the past 3 years combined and has only been under an era of 4 twice in his career. At best he’s the 6th starter in a 5 man rotation.
I wouldn’t go that far, but they have work to do
Pirates called and they want you to take that back.
“A solid rotation on paper”?
This is their rotation, as of today:
Scherzer
Carrasco
Megill
Peterson
Lucchesi
Those 5 are barely projectable to 80 starts, combined, with an ERA right around average, the last three eating up whatever Scherzer does.
That’s not solid. That’s not even a rotation.
@JackStrawb spot on dude; rotation should be written with invisible ink becasue there is no way that group even pitches a complete season; the combined ERA is a moot point but your point is accurate. Patching it together with the likes of Heaney and Taillon well is delusional at best.
Serious regression from the Mets; 3rd place at best in the East.
The Mets are gonna have to raise payroll significantly in order to put together a legitimate pitching staff next season. They may be better off spreading the money around on guys like Taillon and Heaney rather than do another Scherzer contract (deGrom, Verlander). I could see them signing Rodon if they can’t land one of those two as well.
You realize a hefty amount has also walked out the door.
This is one signing I’d like to see then make. Solid 4th starter.
No. Just no.
Taillon made 32 starts for the Yankees this year. Bassitt made 30 for the Mets, and Walker and Carrasco each made 29. After that, the most starts the Mets got out of a pitcher was 23 from Scherzer. Neither Bassitt nor Walker is currently on the roster.
Why “just no”?
I wouldn’t mind the Yanks acquiring Bassitt…. Always liked that guy.
According to several reports, the Mets have narrowed their pitcher search down to adult males who know how to tie their own shoes and breathe oxygen. More to come.
Darn, they aren’t going to sign me then
A lot of this is posturing for negotiations. You don’t call up Boras, admit his client is your only choice and ask “pretty-please” that he doesn’t forget the lube.
There are also probably options and contingency plans being drawn up. If not deGrom than Verlander. If not Verlander than… They also need multiple pitchers so this will get complicated and tie in many names.
Mets are interested in everyone
They’d better be. They currently only have a 1,3, & 5 in the rotation and a thin bullpen outside of closer. So… yeah.
And Carrasco at 36, already declining to a 97 ERA+ in 2022, with two ERA’s over 5.25 since 2019 and just one season of the last 4 where he pitched more than 80 innings, isn’t close to a #3 on a contender.
I’d put him much closer to a contender’s #5. Peterson as a #4, maybe, if we squint a lot. They’re so hurting for pitching they’d better get the two best starters on the FA market and since payroll appears to be under $300m, hope to get by with Peterson, Carrasco, Megill, and Lucchesi in the #4 and 5 spots. That’s a lot of hoping and praying.
That’s —no— bullpen outside of closer, by the way. Good job on trading away Holderman for a spare part.
The title should really say: Mets interested in not making the playoffs
More negativity. You’re the worst.
So it’s gonna be like this?? Mets interested in every free agent. Judge will be next. Then Benitendi. I mean come on. Verlander sure all going to the Mets per Jon Heyman
@Fg-3 why wouldn’t the Mets or Dodgers or Yankees etc have interest and speak to every free agent? “Mets interested in every Free Agent” – well yes, I would hope so, same for Yankees, Dodgers etc. Can Verlander help all 30 teams? Yes, Judge, Yes, deGrom Yes etc. I’d be concerned at the other end, teams in Pittsburgh and Cincinnati etc that need to improve Nd won’t show interest in any of the Free Agents.
Can Max an Carlos stay injury free 😕 Big game fishing is fun, but how many aces can any team carry 😕 Build a good bullpen with a bunch of 5-6 inning guys, and score runs.
Mets should sign Rondon and Bassitt. And then open the 5th spot to spring competition.
Would like Rodon and Senga, the Mets rarely sign Japanese players, with Scherzer,Rodon,Senga,Carrasco and Peterson should be fine. They should sign a couple of non tendered players, like Bellinger, Voit to DH and Reyes for the BP
Mets / Padres interested in [insert name here]
Taillon’s been the very definition of average in 2021-22 and will probably slip a little at age 31. He also doesn’t have any upside left—Steven Matz without the risk that Matz will turn back into a pumpkin at any given moment. The Mets already have four guys who project to average and below in Carrasco, Megill, Peterson, and Lucchesi, from whom they can probably hope to get 60 starts. Do they really want to add another slightly below average 25 starts from Taillon?
If they do, where do they expect 90 wins to come from, given their sound but limited offense?
Well even if they sign Taillon, they’ll sign one of degrom verlander Bassitt rodon senga. They won 101 last year with only 34 starts between scherzer and degrom, so it can be done. Not ideal but it can happen. For some reason I see degrom and taillon as the signings but I don’t actually want that.
Ma4170 Thing is, they’re missing Nimmo, too, and they’re an old team that’s only going to be older in 2023. The offense is now only average, really.
In short, they’d have to sign Taillon and Bassitt AND Rodon to have a strong chance at the postseason and have three starters you’d actually want making postseason starts (the latter two and Scherzer, with Taillon your #4, which they’ll need in the postseason given the Braves will stroll to a division title.). AND they’ll have to bring Nimmo back or the equivalent, AND sign 3 very good bullpen arms and 3 adequate bullpen arms.
A $350m payroll will get it done, but if they keep it to $300m as Eppler directly implied in his NYPost interview, they’ll be hard pressed to hold off Philly for 2nd place.
Very wise to be in contact with all top FA arms. Cannot see NYM rolling with both Megill and Peterson in rotation. One yes, but not both
Neither one will get anywhere near 30 starts, either, so figure based on his decent showing starting in 2022 they’ll put Peterson in the rotation to begin the year. Still, if they think they need only 2 starters to fit between Scherzer and Carrasco-Peterson, it’s going to be a long, lousy year.
They don’t need 5 starters, they need a roster capable of throwing 162 starts. Scherzer-Carrasco-Peterson might project to 60 starts in 2023. Add Rodon and bring back Bassitt and you might get another 55. Where are the remaining 45-50 starts coming from?
Mets interested in Everyone ?
Guardians have zero interest
Isn’t he a little young for them?
When you are questioned about collusion with your in city rival. This happens. Thank the baseball God’s that the Wilpons are gone.
They should only post pitcher they are “not” interested in. Appears they are interested in everyone.
Apparently if you want to get an article published on this site just make up a name in FA and say the Mets are interested in them. Atta Boy. Mets will have the first Billion Dollar Payroll. Hope Cohen has tons of money to throw away. Well he does but that’s not the point is it. Real life fantasy is back.
You think they’ll definitely lose Nimmo? I was hoping that wouldn’t be the case.
At this point, an article that start with “The Mets Interested in…” feels redundant.
The Mets need to stop collecting medicre pitchers
They need to collect more pitchers on Medicare
It’s “Mets interested/considering [player name]” season!