Remember's
Ramblings – Volume 1, Article 10
December 17, 2024
Pitching is the topic of the day
Let’s play GM for a day and build a pitching staff.
I am fairly sure that all you Mets fans out there reading this site are of the common belief that the Mets do not have enough pitching – either starting or bullpen. How would you all fix that?
A staff of Senga, Peterson, Montas, and Holmes is not going to get the job done.
The more I look at the game today, the more I think that it does not make much sense to allocate a lot of dollars to the top pitchers. The Dodgers did quite well in 2024 without a top-flight staff. They had 8 pitchers start at least 10 games, but only 2 that started at least 20. They had one that won more than 10 games (trivia: who was it? Yeah, I wouldn’t have guessed Gavin Stone).
I really like the new blueprint that David Stearns used last year by signing Sean Manaea and Luis Severino to short term ‘show-me’ contracts. For that reason, I like the Montas signing.
I also would not be opposed to re-signing Manaea, although he will command upwards of $25M per year, more than my preference for starting pitching.
There has been some chatter on this blog site recently of a made-up trade of Starling Marte for Jordan Montgomery. I would be in favor of that. Montgomery has a better history than his dreadful year of 2024 with Arizona. It seems like after the D-backs GM comments following the year, that Montgomery cannot stay there.
So with Senga, Peterson, Montas, Holmes, Montgomery, and potentially Tylor Megill, I’d be ok to start the year (as a bare minimum). I would prefer to have Megill be converted to a long-man out of the pen.
Perhaps Stearns has another diamond in the rough up his sleeve. (Lorenzen? Turnbull? others?)
There are no slam dunk prospects that look to make the opening day roster, although Dom Hamel and Blade Tidwell may knock on the door sometime in 2025. Jonah Tong looks like a longer term option – at best a late year call-up, but more likely not until 2026.
Turning to relief pitching, more help is needed in the pen as well. I really think Megill should be groomed to be a 3 or 4 inning guy. Signing Michael Soroka or Ryne Stanek as free agents would be other good options. I would love to see them bring in Tanner Scott for a lefty late inning guy. Any proposed trades for that other Diaz?
What are the options? I’ll compile stats on how many commenters think Corbin Burnes is the answer. I just feel his contract will be too long and too expensive to be a good value.
Please let me know all your opinions in the comments below!
11 comments:
Tanner Scott would be a real plus.
And I am not saying there is a parallel….but… Remember Michael Wacha who pitched poorly for the Mets? An astounding 38-14 from 2022-24. So, Montgomery might be a bounce-back-strong candidate.
I had intended to endorse the signing of Roki Sasaki as a starting solution.
Sasaki would be great, but I am not sure that he feels the "fit" in NY. I agree with the Manaea position - get him if you can. I also think that Tanner Scott and Ryan Stanek would be great adds to the pen. That's where the Mets have to outperform their division. Great starters still only give you 5-6 innings these days, so the pen must nail down wins.
I agree in that the starting pitchers only go 100 pitches which equates to 5 to 6 innings. The strength of the pitching staff, IMO, should be the bullpen. Like resigning Manaea. Like Marte for Montgomery. There was earlier rumors about O'Neill for Castillo although a prospect may be needed now. Agree Sasaki would be great. Sasaki,, Sprout, Tong, Tidwell, Scott, McLean in 2026/2027?
Don't know enough about the relief pitching market. With Diaz as the closer, need two or three shut down set up pitchers plus several that can give you a good two or three innings of long relief. Can one Burnes get you three of these relief pitches?
One Burnes can easily get you David Robertson and Michael Soroka. Robertson has remained effective as he is now over 40. Soroka pitched many games last year of 3+ innings and was more effective out of the pen.
As I've said before, I'm a believer in "if it ain't broke don't fix it". The "show me" guys of last season did just that, and if we had kept the same rotation this year, plus Senga, it would be more promising than just picking guys like Montas, Blackburn, and Montgomery.
As I've been asking for a while this Fall, where is Q? None of the media have mentioned him, and neither have the posters at various message boards. His career ERA (and this year's) is better than Montas' best year, and he'd cost less in years and $$
As far as additions go, I agree with David that long-term, big bucks deals for pitchers are not the best way to go. Better to trade for someone with 2 or 3 years left on his contract than give 8 years to Burnes.
Speaking of Burnes, there's a new twist. On BNNY last night, Sal Licata said that Ken Rosenthal (a credible source) feels that Burnes would accept a 3-year deal with high AAV, perhaps $45 mil per.
I'd rather see that than the 8 he's reportedly seeking. I wonder if it's real.
The Mets need to bring Manaea back. If that means it will cost them 100M, so be it. Sign Scott because I just don't trust Diaz.
The Mets made their beds when they signed Soto, they cannot get cheap now.
BTW, with all the minor league contracts for infielders that have been signed, they could have just brought back Jose Iglesias.
They still can (and SHOULD) bring back Iglesias.
Viper, Maybe the Mets just feel Ronny and Jett will get injured again. Keep signing pitchers to minor league contracts.
Bill, I agree that Quintana would not be their worst option for the back end of the rotation, although my preference is still Manaea and a trade for Montgomery.
Our baseline win-loss goal should be 95-67. Or higher. Build the roster accordingly.
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