Mets Predicted to Bolster Rotation With Ace Projected for $131 Million Deal

Getty The New York Mets will need to fill out their rotation again this winter. Could free-agent hurler Blake Snell be a realistic target?

The New York Mets are enjoying a magical postseason run. But whenever it ends, questions about their 2025 roster will immediately get asked. One area that will see a lot of turnover this winter is the rotation. Could two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell be a realistic target?

Bleacher Report’s Kerry Miller shared early MLB offseason predictions on October 9. His final prediction has the Amazins making a big splash by adding Snell to the rotation.

“Snell did win the ERA title both years that he qualified for it, though. And while the first half of the 2024 season was a nightmare for him, he has a 2.57 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and 12.0 K/9 dating back to the start of 2023,” Miller said. “As such, he could be headed for the second-highest average salary among this year’s free agents, behind only Juan Soto.

“And if Soto re-signs with the New York Yankees, the New York Mets figure to take that massive amount of money they’ve earmarked for Soto and repurpose it to both re-sign Pete Alonso and get one of this year’s available aces.”

Snell owns a player option for 2025, which is part of the two-year, $62 million deal he signed last spring with the San Francisco Giants.

Does Blake Snell Fit Into the Mets’ 2025 Rotation Plans?

Snell had a roller coaster year by the Bay and his 3.12 ERA through 104 innings doesn’t even begin to tell the story.

He didn’t make his Giants debut until April 8 since he didn’t sign until March. His first six starts resulted in a 0-3 record with a 9.51 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 23.2 innings. The southpaw returned from a stint on the injured list on July 9 and completely turned his season around. Snell’s final 80.1 innings (14 starts) resulted in a 5-0 record with a 1.23 ERA and 114 strikeouts.

The Mets will have some of their 2024 rotation returning next year, but not enough. “With Luis Severino and Jose Quintana both becoming unrestricted free agents and Sean Manaea ($13.5M player option) very likely to opt for free agency, the Mets sure could use multiple starting pitchers,” Miller explained. “At this point, their 2025 rotation is Kodai Senga, David Peterson, Paul Blackburn and Tylor Megill by default and a great big unknown at No. 5.”

President of baseball operations David Stearns will likely be pursuing starting pitchers this winter. But would they throw a bag of money at Snell? Spotrac has pegged the southpaw’s market value at five years and $131 million.

The Amazins are three wins away from their first World Series appearance since 2015. They accomplished this without handing out any long-term contracts last winter. Their pursuit of Yoshinobu Yamamoto showed New York is willing and able to break the bank, but only for certain players.

Other Top Free-Agent Pitchers Outside of Blake Snell

The top of the free agent market for starting pitchers is full of hurlers viewed as frontline starters for big-league rotations. Bleacher Report’s Joel Reuter ranked his top 25 impending free agents on September 20. Five pitchers landed in the top 10: Corbin Burnes (second), Gerrit Cole (third), Jack Flaherty (fifth) and Max Fried (eighth). Snell checked in at sixth on this list.

That doesn’t include the likes of Sean Manaea and Luis Severino, who both enjoyed bounce-back years and would be much cheaper than Snell. There are also older veterans with great track records hitting the open market, like Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander.

Snell might have to wait for Burnes and Cole (who has an opt-out decision to make) to sign contracts before his market can truly heat up. One can imagine that following a horrid start to 2024 after missing most of spring training, he’ll at least want to sign much earlier than he did last offseason.