FILE – Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher Brandon Woodruff delivers during the first inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Pittsburgh, Sept. 5, 2023. Woodruff was not tendered a contract by the Brewers by the Friday, Nov. 17, 2023, deadline, making the two-time All-Star right-handed pitcher a free agent as he recovers from surgery to his throwing shoulder. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)
New York Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns has already admitted that pitching is going to be his top priority this offseason as he attempts to re-bolster a team with contending aspirations in 2024.
The free-agent market is rife with viable options that could give the Mets the boost they so desperately need after their rotation was completely overhauled at the trade deadline. Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander were dealt away, leaving the Mets with Kodai Senga and Jose Quintana as the only viable, consistent starters available for 2024.
Stearns is going to be busy — and he could take a number of different routes in free agency this winter. We picked six notable arms and ranked them into tiers of how they could impact New York’s rotation.
Aces
Yoshinobu Yamamoto
- Career stats (NPB): 967.2, 75-30, 1.72 ERA, 986 K’s, 0.915 WHIP
- 2023 stats: 171.0 IP, 17-6, 1.16 ERA, 176 K’s, 0.860 WHIP
- Market value (speculation): $25 million/season
Yamamoto is the undisputed jewel of this year’s starting-pitching free-agent class, especially with Shohei Ohtani shelved from throwing in 2024 after undergoing elbow surgery. The 25-year-old right-hander has been one of the top pitchers in Japan for almost a decade and with an upside greater than last year’s big Japanese import, Kodai Senga, he’s going to get big-time money, too. We’re talking about something in the eight-year, $200 million-plus range. Senga has already told the Mets that he wants Yamamoto as a teammate and the club has been linked with him for months, though Billy…
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