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The New York Mets are expected to be aggressive in free agency and MLB insider Jim Bowden expects them to pursue starting pitchers.
The Mets have been linked to Juan Soto, but in Bowden’s prediction article on The Athletic for the offseason, he has New York landing two of the top free-agent starters in Corbin Burnes and Max Fried.
“The Mets focus on starting pitching in free agency and manage to sign both Corbin Burnes and Max Fried to long-term contracts while also bringing back first baseman Pete Alonso, dropping more than half a billion in future salary commitments to land the trio,” Bowden wrote in his article.
If the Mets do sign Burnes and Fried it would be a great offseason for New York as it would bolster its rotation. Bowden also predicts both would sign long-term deals to keep the Mets as a legit World Series contender.
Burnes went 15-9 with a 2.92 ERA in 32 starts with the Baltimore Orioles and would be a true ace for the Mets. Fried, meanwhile, is a left-handed starter who went 11-10 with a 3.25 ERA in 29 starts with the Atlanta Braves and could be a No. 3 starter for the Mets.
Mets Focused on Sustaining Success
New York made it to the NLCS despite a slow start to the season.
After being a series away from the World Series, Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns says the goal is to now sustain the success this offseason.
“We enjoyed this run,” Stearns said. “Our fan base enjoyed this run. We have great memories from this run. It’s also time for us to begin to move forward and see what we can do to build on this to ensure we have the type of sustainable competitiveness — true sustainable competitiveness — that’s eluded this organization for a long time.”
New York started the year 22–33 but went 67–40 the rest of the way to finish with an 89–73 record and make the playoffs.
Now, after making the postseason, Stearns is looking to build off of that success and make the Mets a perennial World Series favorite.
Mets May Rebuild Rotation
New York will likely focus on pitching in the offseason.
The Mets have Sean Manaea, Luis Severino, and Jose Quintana as pending free agents who were all a key part of the rotation this season. With all three being a free agent, Stearns says the rotations and pitching will be a focus for New York.
“I really do think we have to take each individual decision looking at the individual player to determine whether we think a long-term investment is warranted, is wise, is in the best interest of the organization,” Stearns said. “If we look at the history of long-term investments in pitchers, it is not overwhelmingly a rosy picture. But there are pitchers who have gone into their mid- or late 30s and pitched very well. And so if we think we can identify that, then there could be exceptions.”
The Mets have Kodai Senga, Paul Blackburn, David Peterson, Tylor Megill, and Christian Scott as starting pitchers under contract for 2025. But, New York has no true ace which is why Burnes and Fried make a ton of sense for the Mets.