3:10PM: While the Mets are looking at several free agent pitchers, the New York Post’s Mike Puma tweets that the club is also actively pursuing trade possibilities.
11:30AM: After the Mets saw Jacob deGrom leave for Texas and sign a five-year, $185MM deal with the Rangers, it seems certain they’ll move quickly to find other ways to upgrade their rotation. As Andy Martino of SNY reports, the next best pitcher available, Justin Verlander is now “front and center” for the team, and the team is “determined to land” either Verlander or Carlos Rodon.
The loss of deGrom is surely a tough pill to swallow for the Mets, but after seeing the contract he received from Texas, the opportunity to bring in Verlander on a shorter deal may well appeal to owner Steve Cohen and co. While Verlander is older, and will play the 2023 season at 40, he is coming off a dominant Cy Young-winning season which saw him hurl 175 innings of 1.75 ERA ball, striking out 220 batters in the process.
A potential signing of Verlander would likely come at a higher annual salary than the $37MM deGrom received, but only over a two or three year deal, and it does seem like that is their preferred option for older pitchers. As Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported, their offer to deGrom was around three-years, $120MM. Pivoting to Verlander on a shorter term deal would give them a bit more payroll flexibility over the long term while maintaining the 1-2 punch at the top of the rotation with Max Scherzer that the Mets covet.
While the Mets have shown their financial muscle in recent years, there are other teams interested in Verlander (such as the Yankees and Dodgers) so it’s no guarantee that they land him. In that case, it seems their next option would be Rodon. The left-hander is coming off a strong platform year in San Francisco, where he tossed 178 innings of 2.88 ERA ball with 237 strikeouts.
Rodon is a lot younger than Verlander (he turns 30 in a week) so would likely be looking at a longer term contract. MLBTR predicted he’d land a five-year, $140MM contract, which would give him an AAV of $28MM. While it seems Rodon is their second choice to Verlander, they are very much in on him and met with him on Zoom earlier this week.
While a frontline starter to pair with Scherzer looks to be the top priority for the Mets, Will Sammon of The Athletic adds that they’re looking to also add a starter from the mid-tier of options as well. Martino cites Andrew Heaney, Taijuan Walker, Kyle Gibson, Ross Stripling and Jose Quintana as the main options for the team in that category. Jon Heyman of the New York Post adds that they’ve been talking with Jameson Taillon as well.
Zach Eflin’s three-year, $40MM deal with the Rays came in one year and $18MM higher than MLBTR’s prediction, and does suggest that the market for mid-tier starting pitching could be quite lucrative this year.
The Mets currently have Max Scherzer, Carlos Carrasco, David Peterson, Tylor Megill and Elieser Hernandez penciled into the rotation. The addition of either Rodon or Verlander plus a solid, mid-tier option would give them a formidable rotation, and allow them to shift two of Megill, Peterson and Hernandez into depth/long-relief roles.
Yes signing an older pitcher like Verlander at a higher yearly amount makes so much more sense than signing DeGrom. Mets screwed up thinking he wanted to come back to NY. They only get Verlander or Rodon by overpaying. Nice move. Third place time.
Actually, understanding he might not return was partial reason why they pursued Max. So, no. They did not screw up.
DeGrom was injured at the End of 2021 which is the Reason they signed Max. DeGrom reinjured himself in ST 2022 after Max Signed and then he announced he would be opting out at the end of 2022. This is the corrected timeline.
Yes, but it doesn’t change the fact that he would possibly opt out, which I’m sure they felt was a 50/50 chance unless he injured himself.
Padam,
Having been involved with hiring the Mets were courting with a disaster regarding DeGrom when they overcompensated Max as a FA. DeGrom was actually already upset with the discount extension that he signed with Brodie Van Wagenen the Mets GM who was also his Agent ( conflict of interest ). Max’s compensation added salt to his wounds on top of the team’s lack of run support in his game starts resulting in a career W-L record of 82-57 in 209 GS .590 with many no decisions which looks bad for a HOF worthy SP.
DeGrom’s Mets stats pale in comparison to Doc Gooden’s who I have met ( check out my Twitter account picture where I shake his pitching hand while meeting Goose Gossage )
Doc Gooden as a Met 157-85 in 303 GS .649 which is Outstanding.
To be fair, they only get deGrom by overpaying. I’m happy for Texas, but let’s be real, 5 years was absolutely insane. It’s not like the Mets just let deGrom go.
Everybody has been overpaid so far except maybe Anderson. Everyone will have to overpay and Cohen has no problem going an extra $3-5M annually to get it done. So if it’s 6-180 for rodon he’ll do it. I hope they don’t do a 3-120 deal for verlander.
Overpaying for one to two years is not bad if you go all in. We know the Mets are in a win now stage so it’s not a bad idea, especially when he’s the best on the market.
Lol Mets they are in a delusionary lose now mode with more Holes on the Roster than Swiss Cheese and a Barren Farm System that lacks the Developmental Regimen to Properly Develop MLB quality talent. They need to stop dumping $ down into the Hole and clean House by Expunging Wilpon Holdover FO. The only Players that want to play for the Mets need to be way overpaid ( looking at you Max and Lindor ) and Home Grown Talent like DeGrom and probably Nimmo can’t run away fast enough.
Terrible take, along with illiterate level usage of capital letters. At least you tried.
I actually like Rodon more but I get that most will rank JV above him. I’m curious if the Bryan Reynolds rumors have any valildity, meaning they’re moving on from Nimmo.
Degrom will be lucky to start 40 games for Texas during the life of this contract, I’m not sure if any opt-outs but I’d almost bet he gets another bite at the apple of such opt-outs are included, lots of money for one of the best pitchers in the league, but he seems to throw at maximum velo every pitch thrown not really sure how that arm is gonna hold up, let’s hope well, Us fans Love to see high quality pitching, at least this one does..
Reality check, a 101 win team is out to replace a pitcher that had a 3.09 ERA over 11 starts in which the team only won 6. deGrom really wasn’t a significant part of the 101 win team
The contract Rangers gave deGrom is nuts. They had to over pay to lure him. Mets we’re smart being disciplined enough to pass on it. It’s not going to pay off for the Rangers.
Despite what fffbbb thinks, the Mets were wise to pass on Jacob deGrom at the cost of what the Rangers offered him. They can take their “three-years, $120MM” reported offer to deGrom and hand it to Justin Verlander. Reports suggest that was the figure and years Verlander has been looking for this offseason, one the Astros are reluctant to pay.
All things being equal, the Mets should have a leg up on the competition anyway with Verlander now residing in Jupiter, Florida instead of Beverly Hills. His new estate is a 30 minute drive from the Mets training site in Port St. Lucie. The reported suitors for Verlander, the Astros, Dodgers, Yankees and Mets, are legit World Series contenders which is also a stated priority of the future HOF pitcher this offseason. The Mets also seem to be in a better payroll spot to land Verlander than the Dodgers or Yankees in regards to the CBT.
Verlander might also like to sign on with former Tiger rotation mate Max Scherzer as the pair conclude their illustrustriuos careers while seeking an additional ring or three. They reached the 2012 Series as mates but lost out to the Giants. Verlander has two rings with the Astros (2017, 2022) while Scherzer boasts one with the Nationals, ironically earning that one over Verlander’s Astros in 2019.
Finally, Verlander ought to be the Mets top priority over Carlos Rodon simply due to the QO attached to the latter.
Would you mind elaborating on your posit that the Mets screwed up? It’s clear they knew he wanted out. 5/185 is absurd. And no other big names have been signed yet (unless you include Eflin lol) so how exactly did the Mets screw up here?
Degrom isn’t pitching a full season. Verlander will not do as well in nl east. Rondon is their answer.
Degrom contributed to 5 wins in a 101 win season.
5 years is a joke
@Mrski in 2022 the Astros interleague games were against the NL east, Verlander didn’t get in the Braves series, but he faced the Mets, Phillies, Marlins and Nationals and in 4 starts threw 32 innings giving up just 13 hits and one earned run, 4-0 with a 0.28 ERA. Why will he not perform well against the National League in 2023?
Taillon is prime to break out. He is healthy and a great arm. Will be a sleeper this free agency. Mets should sign as well as Yankees
third place time december 3.the winter meetings havnt even started and wilpon sold the team last year.what planet are you on.give it a few weeks or months and then judge
Orioles should start a Bidding War with the Mets over Verlander
Dave Hester ….. Yuuuuuuuuppppp!!!
Is Texas near his Florida home?
uvmfiji;
All MLB teams are near one of his homes.
For an encore the Mets will ship the ghost of Tom Seaver to the reds for a box of face masks
Gonna need them soon.
Who needs a mask when they have t-shirts and bandannas in the team store.
Mets should trade for White Sox’s Giolito!
What OF or 2B or C do Mets have to trade?
The most obvious candidate that would appeal to the White Sox would be lefty hitting 2B/3B/LF Jeff McNeil. Any chance of prying him from the Mets would require a lot more than Lucas Giolito and his one year of remaining arbitration eligibility.
Giolito would be an interesting addition to the Mets from the standpoint of a reunification with catcher James McCann who seemed to get more out of his pal in Chicago than what long time mentor and current White Sox pitching coach Ethan Katz has been able to muster the past two seasons. Of course, the flip side might be the White Sox actually targeting McCann themselves with Yasmani Grandal literally on his last leg/knee in Chicago in order to get the most out of Gio on the southside in 2023.
White Sox can have McCann straight up for Giolito if they want lol, they’re not getting McNeil
DeGrom loss is sentimental. Even Cohen surely has limits. Key will be – can they move McCann contract even eating 50%. That opens up $ for more SP while still staying below more brutal tax thresholds. Nido/Álvarez is the way. Too many young talents like Baty and Vientos. ATL hit jackpot by balancing young talent with established. PHI wisely stuck with Bohm and he looks a keeper. NYM need to give these guys opps
Risky all Around. But a team like the Mets certainly has the payroll to run the risk. 3/130. Give Verlander his money.
The Mets should sign either Verlander or Rodon AND Senga
Me thinks Kodai Senga is going to be a Cubbie when all is said and done. The Cubs have a lot more payroll flexibility this offseason than most big market teams and they are making a full court press for Senga by using his pal, RF Seiya Suzuki as a lead recruiter.
Honestly I think if they were only willing to risk 120m on Degrom they are dumb. So many deals with less upside happen in the 130-160m range. Why not at least be willing to risk something like 4/140? It’s odd. These type of pitchers are going for so much.
It’s really easy to think something is dumb when you only look at upside and apparently ignore the downside.
I’m not saying I’d give him what Texas did I said I would offer 4 years 140 at 35m/aav instead of 40m. Idk why I wrote the original statement really. I just meant 120 is not the biggest commitment exactly (it’s big tho obviously). I’m more into that than the 10 year/340m type of deals
i get what you are trying to do there but even if that offer was on the table it would have been less money per year and shorter than the rangers offered him. Throw in the tax adjustment for home games for texas vs ny and it is even worse.
I would have preferred degrom over verlander imo but what he got from the rangers was a year more than i think i would have been comfortable with.. i figured 4 / 150 or 160 would do it and is a bit of an overpay but if offered before QO i think degrom would have taken it.
i like verlander 3 /100 but to get him i think reasonably 3/120 is floor. and the 3rd year will be a major reset for mets so even if he is bad that year there will be a major retool as most of your contributing arb players are fa, the only people on the books at that time is lindor marte and diaz.
I wonder if maybe 3/120 with no trade and opt out after 2 would be enough. or 3/120 with 4 yr mutual that become player if top 2-3 in cy young voting and end season healthy.
I would rather Verlander over DeGrom. Sure he missed awhile due to TJ but that was his only IL time aside from a brief stint at the end of the year. Then again three years doesn’t sound so great for him either, I would go two.
After what deGrom got from the Rangers, Verlander is a lock to get 3 years from his next and final team.
I would also prefer Verlander over deGrom but he’s definitely getting three years. imo, Verlander is a much better bet to pitch more innings over the next three years.
Luccheshi no longer an option?
I hope this is a joke. My first instinct is to flag this as abuse. 😉
Seems like the Mets chances of winning a WS just grew a lot slimmer with the loss of deGrom. If I were the Mets, I’d go after Carlos Rodon just because he is younger. Verlander is a question mark for me even though he won the Cy Young.
“Seems like the Mets chances of winning a WS just grew a lot slimmer with the loss of deGrom”
They were 65-37 without him last year and went 36-24 after his return. If they use whatever they would have spent on deGrom wisely, they’ll be fine.
There was a little bit of “luck” or “magic” to the first half team. Yea the result was a 101 season but they need 3 SP, 4 RP and a good CF just to get back to that type of quality depth.
They won 0 playoff games without deGrom.
They also won zero playoff series with him. What’s your point? They playoffs are a crapshoot.
And luck or not, this was still a playoff team without deGrom. I’ll repeat myself: if they spend wisely, they’ll be fine.
My point is simply that when it mattered most, he was the only Mets SP to step up. I think the Mets made the right decision by not going 5 years for deGrom, but I also think it’s foolish to just dismiss his contributions. The Mets are very far from those 101 wins right now because many contributing players are gone. I fully expect Cohen and co to put together another great team, but they need a lot right now. They’ll get it, but it’s going to cost a ton.
The Mets should sign Rodon and Senga
For the amount that the Mets aren’t paying for deGrom, Bassitt,Walker,Nimmo,May,Lugo is about $100 mil, they can use that on Rodon $30, Senga $15, Correa $30 (2b), Voit $5 (DH), Chafin and resign Ottavino and T. Williams for the $100 mil from the others mentioned.
No way Correa plays 2B. Best bet would be to ask him nicely if he would play 3B for 32-35m AAV over 8-10 years.
jvent;
Rotisserie League stuff.
Bassitt?
I hope they pursue Bassitt hard. He was a pretty important part of the rotation last year.
Descalfani maybe??…….
Happy 52nd birthday Justin Verlander!
deGrom did them a favor by bolting ASAP – all the names being mentioned here are still in play – Winter Meetings should be something now!
Sign Verlander, Rodon, and Turner for the money they saved on the $300 million walking cripple.
Which would cost them about $550 to $600 million for those three total……
What really is holding this team back is that they picked up Carrasco’s option. They could of easily had enough money to spend on Rodon, Bassitt, and Walker since Degrom left. Rotation could have been Scherzer, Rodon, Bassitt, Walker, Peterson. That rotation is good enough where it won’t cost an obserd amount to bring in/back those 3 guys
Did you see how much Eflin signed for? A #4 pitcher who gives you near 150IP at ostensibly 12 million due to his buyout will actually be a deal.
Mets are a joke…
Trade Scherzer for DeGrom
Should sign Rodon. Cheaper average and younger. Might not be as good but he’s still an Ace.
Very injury prone too. One season with 30 starts
Yup. Pretty ironic that there’s all this talk of deGrom’s risk, and very little about Rodon’s who has arguably had a mote injury-plagued career.
Not last two years, 54 starts. And a lefty.
I don’t understand Texas at all. Their pitching is awful. Why would they break the bank for one guy? Why not get three decent enough guys to upgrade and win by scoring runs? Of course, I also wonder if deGrom will get more than 1-2 runs when he starts for them. Seems ill advised on the part of both parties. But that’s baseball.
They have a ton of money committed to just three guys. It’s not a great strategy at all, but hey, it’s fun and it’ll sell tickets. Ranger fans should be happy in the short term.
Those 3 guys will make about 110 million, which is 50 million more then the entire Rays team. Yet the Rays will make playoffs…AGAIN., and rangers wont,stupid teams never learn
Von;
The Rangers come off like it’s 15-20 years ago, Arte Moreno owns them and is calling the shots.
Not doing anything different than Arte did.
Fangraphs has the Rangers starting pitching 7th right now, one ahead of the Mets. i think they will sign another starter this winter too!
Their pitching is awful, so you are arguing AGAINST them signing deGrom? At least they are trying to get better, unlike a lot of below .500 teams.
I’m arguing for them to spend their money more wisely than on one guy who pitches 30 out of 162 games, if he stays healthy. Healthy, he’s the best pitcher in baseball. He turns a good staff into a great staff. They DO NOT have a good staff. They better make more moves after this one. And a lot of them.
Sure. But the off season is not yet over and there are lots of free agents still available. Why complain about something that hasn’t happened yet?
Some of those untouchable prospects are about to move. Mets have a 3 year window as one of the best teams in baseball, and Cohen is going to pounce.
Mets will be hard pressed to have a better team opening day than they had last year. They already lost a lot to free agency, and the there isn’t enough out there. They would need to sign Verlander, Nimmo, Bassett, Ottavino, Lugo, and more.
Exactly, and after investing so much in older players, the Mets are going to want to stay competitive now. I think we’ll see some creative trades, including some prospects, but I fully think the Mets will make some hugw FA splashes as well.
Better go quick Mets. Rangers are double dipping in the ace free agents this year like they did with SS last year
Folks dunking on and betting against NYM impressively filling roster holes are in for disappointment. Just as you can bank on PHI landing one of the great FA SS, and truly completing their roster. 2023 NL east will be a clash of the titans and incredibly fun to watch
10centBeerNight;
Not saying you’re wrong as to what will happen, but winning teams aren’t built by “filling roster holes: in free agency.
Have to have a core. And eh Mets core seems to be leaving both last year and this year.
I only see Verlander and Rondon going to a contender, so Mets, Yanks, Phillies, Dodgers, Mariners, and Padres. I’m betting the Mets get one, and either the Yanks or Dodgers get the other. The Loser of both may turn to Bassett.
Mets should sign Verlander and trade for Otani. Go after Turner or Judge
JV on a 1 YR, high AAV deal, otherwise go after Rodon/Senga or Rodon/Bassitt.
Gallen, Burnes, Bieber, Glasnow… I’d be checking up on the asking price for all of those guys and wouldn’t be shy to pull the trigger.
You better build a package around Alverez if you want one of them
Cleveland and Milwaukee have already stated that they are not interested in trading. their aces.
Rodon makes so much more sense then Verlander. 2 aging pitchers, no matter how good, atop your rotation is a precursor for disaster. The Mets won 101 games with essentially one top tier pitcher. Scherzer and deGrom combined for 33 starts. They can win with an ace and Bassitt and pitchers like that. I know that want top tier starters for the playoffs but the price has to be right and piling old guys at the top is risky in October.
Rodon was a beast for the Giants last year. I hate to see him go, dude has that “It” factor..