Kodai Senga (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
David Stearns’ construction of the Mets’ starting rotation is the exact opposite of what Billy Eppler and Steve Cohen did last winter.
There isn’t just a single earth-shattering contract to create a top-heavy unit as the team did by pairing Justin Verlander with Max Scherzer for the 2023 campaign.
It’s not for lack of trying, though, as they offered a record-breaking deal for Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who opted to sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers instead. Granted, Yamamoto is 25 and would be the club’s perceived ace for a decade compared to bringing on the 40-year-old Verlander.
The winter ahead of the 2024 campaign — Stearns’ first as New York’s president of baseball operations — is all about depth behind Kodai Senga while taking some significant risks.
2024 Mets projected starting rotation
Kodai Senga, RHP
Senga proved himself an ace during his debut season in Major League Baseball. Overcoming the obstacles of a heavier workload, steeper mound, and larger baseball, the 30-year-old was the Mets’ most effective pitcher in 2023 thanks to a devastating ghost forkball that befuddled North American hitters. Going 12-7 with a 2.98 ERA, Senga finished second in the NL Rookie of the Year voting and seventh in the Cy Young Award balloting. He became just the 14th rookie pitcher in the post-deadball era (1920) to record 200 or more strikeouts in a season (202).
Jose Quintana, LHP
The 34-year-old southpaw was forced to start his first season with the Mets late after undergoing rib surgery during spring training. Despite a late-July return, Quintana was effective in Queens, going 3-6 with a 3.57 ERA. Of his 13 starts, eight were quality ones (at least six innings pitched, three or fewer earned runs allowed). How much the Mets can lean on him, though, will be a question. He’s pitched fewer than 80 innings in three of the last four years.
Luis Severino, RHP
Signing a one-year, $13 million deal…
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