According to ESPN’s Buster Olney, the New York Mets have shown interest in free agent starting pitcher Jake Odorizzi.
Odorizzi had a career season in 2019 posting a 15-7 record to go along with a 3.51 ERA and career high 178 strikeouts.
Instead of cashing in on a long-term deal last year, the right-hander chose to stay with the Minnesota Twins accepting the $17.8 million qualifying offer.
Unfortunately, this decision did not pay off for Odorizzi, who suffered a slew of injuries in a shortened 2020 season.
As a result, the right-hander pitched a total of 13.1 innings and did not appear in their Wild Card series.
Despite an injury-plagued season, Odorizzi is still ranked as the 11th best player on MLB Trade Rumors’ free agent list due to a thin starting pitching market.
From 2014-2019, Odorizzi averaged a total of 165 innings per year with a 3.88 ERA, 8.7 K/9, and 2.79 K/BB ratio.
As Olney noted, the Minnesota Twins would like to re-sign Odorizzi, and the San Francisco Giants and Toronto Blue Jays have also been linked to the 30-year-old.
The Mets retained a key piece to their rotation in Marcus Stroman, who accepted his qualifying offer last week. With Noah Syndergaard on his way back from Tommy John surgery, the Amazins need additional starting pitching help and Odorizzi would help bolster this group.
It’s also worth mentioning that Mets’ pitching coach Jeremy Hefner served as the Twins’ assistant pitching coach during Odorizzi’s stellar 2019 campaign.
