On Wednesday, as first reported by Metsmerized, right-handed starter Marcus Stroman accepted the New York Mets’ $18.9 million qualifying offer for the 2021 season, marking a significant first move in what’s shaping up to be quite the offseason in Flushing.
As conveyed by both Mets owner and CEO Steve Cohen and team president Sandy Alderson on Tuesday, securing a solid frontline starting pitcher to queue in behind right-hander Jacob deGrom was near the top of the team’s winter task list, and with good reason.
With Noah Syndergaard‘s timeframe to return from Tommy John surgery still unknown (April was the initial target for resuming baseball activities and he tweeted a video of him throwing on Thursday; make of that what you will), a true no.2 in Stroman solidifies the Mets’ drivers-seat position heading into the offseason.
Filling out the rest of the Mets’ starting five now becomes an exercise in patience. Waiting out the ever-expanding free-agent market appears to be the play in Alderson & Co.’s case.
And with an expected bevy of options to choose from — the wave of team options declined in recent weeks and the incoming onslaught of non-tenders later this month will leave the market quite robust — the Mets soon-to-be-filled front office can let the market develop around them and pounce.
Lest we forget about the incumbents, left-handers Steven Matz and David Peterson, as well as right-handers Robert Gsellman, Corey Oswalt, Franklyn Kilome, but for all intents and purposes, these guys will be populating back-end rotation/long-man competitions this spring.
On Thursday, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com mentioned NL Cy Young Award winner Trevor Bauer and former Tampa Bay hurler Charlie Morton, as obvious standouts among the currently available group and goes on to list a few more alluring options.
“After those two, Masahiro Tanaka, Jake Odorizzi, and Taijuan Walker seem to be the safest bets, followed by a host of pitchers either coming back from injury (Corey Kluber, James Paxton, José Quintana, Cole Hamels) or looking to rebound from a sub-par season (Mike Minor, Jon Lester, Rick Porcello).”
Where Alderson and his staff may look to fill out their rotation is anyone’s guess at this point, but the process of whittling down their options has surely begun in earnest.
As Cohen said in his presser on Tuesday, “Sandy and I share the same philosophy; we want to find great players and make them better”. Feinsand’s above-referenced list of potential additions certainly fits that description.
For instance, if the Mets’ analytics department feels Kluber or Paxton are candidates for respective returns to prominence or that Tanaka’s stuff will continue to be effective in a mid-rotation role, they’ll make those calls accordingly.
If other options pop up on the market as the offseason trudges on — like if Rangers righty Lance Lynn is indeed available via trade — one would have to assume the Mets will explore each and every possibility with an open mind and without feeling the need to make a move just for the sake of it.
Having Stroman lined up behind deGrom and Syndergaard appearing to be on track for a return at some point this season gives the Mets the luxury of perusing the market mostly pressure-free this winter.
And as Sandy said on Tuesday, the Mets will be “shopping in the gourmet section”. We’ll just have to wait and see what they come home from the store with.
