Two Top-Tier Starters? In This Economy??
Cohen's Billions plus Syndergaard's QO funds should allow Mets to go big on starters...
When Mets owner and CEO Steve Cohen proclaimed on Friday during general manager Billy Eppler’s press conference that, with regards to payroll, “it’s whatever they need,” naturally, every Mets fan from Montauk to Mahopac began spending Uncle Steve’s money. It’s a treasured, one-year-old pastime.
As pointed out by Eppler, team president Sandy Alderson, every talking head, blogger, die-hard fan, and casual follower of the team over the last few weeks, the Mets need to address their starting rotation this offseason. Per Eppler and Alderson on Friday, that’s where one of the Mets’ many focuses will lie.
We touched on the question marks surrounding New York’s rotation soon after 28-year-old southpaw Eduardo Rodriguez signed a five-year deal worth upward of $80 million with Detroit on Monday, pointing to recently minted free-agent Marcus Stroman as a potential benefactor of what appeared to be a lucrative starting pitching market developing.
The $21 million Noah Syndergaard received from the Angels for a season of prove-it and Justin Verlander’s two-year, $50 million re-up with Houston (after both missed nearly all of the previous two seasons following UCL surgeries, no less) only solidified those suspicions.
So just how far are the Mets willing to go? Filling out the rotation with two top-tier guys would be everyone's Plan A but that course of action will certainly not come cheap, as evidenced by the ever-evolving, increasingly expensive market for front-line starters.
Cohen’s Billions being pledged by the man himself will help that process along, as will the $18.4 million Syndergaard left on the table. As a result, the Mets have options. Always a good thing.
Stroman is about as sure a bet as there is and would be an ideal candidate to spend the next five years in Flushing. We saw his ability to go out there every five days and lead a rotation this season in Jacob deGrom’s absence. That’s precisely what you should be looking for.
But there’s another 30-year-old right-hander available that could just as easily fit the same bill in former Giants starter, Kevin Gausman.
Gausman had an incredible year in San Francisco (2.81 ERA, 3.00 FIP, 227 K, 50 BB; 33 starts, 192 IP) after accepting the Giants’ $18.9 million qualifying offer ahead of the 2021 season, just as Stroman did in New York.
And, just like Stro, the Colorado product/LSU alum parlayed that one-year deal into a world of possibility heading into what’s anticipated to be a lockout-fractured MLB offseason.
Aside from the one-sided advantage for Gausman in strikeouts, both pitchers compare remarkably well in a number of statistical categories. And not just last season, either.
Stroman relies on an arsenal of five-to-six pitches to get the job done, offering an array of manipulations on at least half of those. Gausman mostly goes four-seam/split-finger, mixing in a change and slider occasionally, and he does his thing just as consistently (.133 BA, .224 SLG, 45.9% whiff on the split last season; woof).
Knowing that what organizations say publicly — while having the right intentions — doesn’t always pan out as such, we should probably take the spending spree talk with a grain of salt.
In most of our heads, either one of Stroman or Gausman, plus, oh, I don’t know, maybe Jon Gray is a much more realistic end-game of this wrinkle to the offseason plan.
Though, if money truly is no object, why not go for broke, sign both Gausman and Stroman, filling out the starting five with a couple of gems?
Running out Stroman, Gausman, Taijuan Walker, and Carlos Carrasco (in no specific order) after deGrom is arguably a championship rotation. With Tylor Megill, David Peterson, and whoever else the Mets add for depth this winter filling things out on the chart, that’s alluring.
Is committing $50 million a season to two starting pitchers risky? Of course. Any investment of that size and nature is. Plus, there are other areas of the roster that need attention.
Though, when the funds are available and you have the opportunity to add two guys who are about as consistent as it gets, well, maybe you explore that option before settling for less.
If Cohen’s really planning on shooting for the moon, this would be a fine place to start.
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Stroman,Baez and Schawber and I’ll take my chances