The Orioles are the only team publicly linked to Framber Valdez’s market this winter, and MLB Network’s Jon Morosi reports that Valdez and his reps indeed met with officials from the O’s at the GM Meetings in November. Around that same time, however, the Giants and Mets also spoke with Valdez’s camp, which fits given how both teams are known to be looking for starting pitching help.
Valdez ranked sixth on MLBTR’s list of the offseason’s top 50 free agents, with a predicted contract of five years and $150MM. This projection makes San Francisco’s interest all the more intriguing, since both GM Zack Minasian and team chairman Greg Johnson have each stated since the GM Meetings that the Giants prefer to add pitchers on shorter-term contracts. Valdez is entering his age-32 season, which may raise the risk level even further about making a big commitment to the left-hander now that he is past what are generally considered a player’s prime years.
The Giants’ stance doesn’t technically preclude a pursuit of Valdez, if the team perhaps offered the southpaw a short-term contract with a higher average annual value. That said, Valdez’s age might make such a consideration unlikely on his end, as surely he wants to strike as lengthy and lucrative a deal as possible now that he has reached the open market. Despite his age, Valdez is a workhorse who has tossed 767 2/3 innings over the last four seasons, and he has 85 more innings under his belt on his career postseason resume.
Valdez is a grounder specialist who doesn’t miss many bats, but that skillset would work just fine with Matt Chapman and Willy Adames backing him up in the San Francisco infield. More pressingly, Valdez’s ability to eat up innings with quality work is a nice fit in a Giants rotation that has plenty of question marks beyond ace Logan Webb.
Robbie Ray and Landen Roupp project as the next two starters, and Ray is a free agent next winter while Roupp had a solid 2025 season but is an overall unproven commodity over the long term. A collection of other younger and unproven arms (Hayden Birdsong, Trevor McDonald, Blade Tidwell, Carson Whisenhunt, Kai-Wei Teng, Keaton Winn) are currently in the mix for the fourth and fifth spots. Signing Valdez would do a ton to solidify this group, as the Giants would have a very strong top three of Webb-Ray-Valdez that could easily line up as a playoff rotation, and Valdez would be the replacement for Ray if the former Cy Young Award winner went elsewhere after the 2026 campaign.
That said, it could all be a moot point if the Giants aren’t willing to splurge on a long-term pitching contract. It could be that the Giants checked in with Valdez and other pitchers to get an early gauge on their expectations, and without much hope of finding a bargain, the team is now being open about its preference to stick with smaller (and presumably less-expensive) contracts.
Mets president of baseball David Stearns shares a similar view on starting pitching contracts, yet New York’s decision to stick to such deals with the likes of Sean Manaea, Frankie Montas, and Clay Holmes last winter backfired badly on the team. These three pitchers and the other members of the rotation simply seemed to break down last season, leading to the team’s collapse in the second half as an influx of pitching prospects couldn’t stop the downward spiral.
Between the veterans (Manaea, Holmes, Kodai Senga, David Peterson) and the youngsters (Nolan McLean, Jonah Tong, Brandon Sproat, Christian Scott), the Mets have plenty of pitchers on hand, yet adding a durable frontline starter like Valdez would be a huge boost to this group. In the wake of last year’s collapse, Stearns expressed regret over not doing more to reinforce the pitching staff, and owner Steve Cohen surely couldn’t have been pleased with how things played out.
The Amazins’ interest in upgrading their rotation has been evident by the many big names on their radar this winter. Valdez joins the likes of Tatsuya Imai, Michael King, Ranger Suarez, Joe Ryan, and Tarik Skubal as free agents and trade candidates who have been liked to the Mets in some fashion. It might be safe to guess at this point that the Mets will head into Opening Day with at least one big new arm at the front of their rotation, and it’s just a matter of whether the club will obtain their rotation help via trades or pricey signings.
Giants not in on top starters?
Not quite. Not in on 9 figure contracts.
Pretty sure they said long term deals for starters.
Simm; they’re also looking for less expensive contracts/deals.
Don’t want him. They have enough 3rd starters. What the Mets need is an ace. Valdez is not an ace
He’s definitely a solid two if not an ace. His numbers would also play better pitching in Citi. He actually pitches too so injury wouldn’t be always be a concern like it is with others.
There is no position in baseball called #1 starter or #2 starter. It’s just chitchat. He’d be the best starting pitcher on the Mets staff. Of course he’s not as good as Skubal or Skenes or a few others.
So you’d start your second best pitcher first in a playoff series or World Series? There’s a reason there’s an SP1, SP2, etc. aka “ace.” It’s the lineation of order.
Oy. In the post season you start the guys who give you the best chance to win beginning with the best and then down the line. You’ll generally choose a high on base guy with speed to lead off. Your best overall hitter will bat 3rd or 4th. That’s pretty obvious. But we don’t waste our breadth describing a guy as a a “#3 hitter”, another as “a cleanup hitter”. Plus, things are fluid. For a while Mets pundits spilled ink about how Peterson was the Mets new “#1”. Then he went into a tailspin and got smacked around for his last 8 starts. Hope this explains why calling pitchers 1/1a/2/ “4 or 5” is a waste of breath.
I guess you don’t follow the Astros and watch Framber pitch.
When he’s ON, he’s an ace.
When he’s OFF, he’s a rookie pitcher.
(Still a workhorse ON and OFF). HIs main problem are emotions.
No question this guy is a “workhorse” by today’s standard. But 5 years for a 32 year old who never looked like he was in the best shape seems a bit much. Is he one of these few unicorns that can be real effective in his mid to upper 30s? Hard to tell
We may not like it but that’s where the market stands these days. Hope they can sign him for four years. It’s not relevant if he’s got a bit of a belly.
O’s please, grazie.