The New York Mets haven’t made it pretty, but they’re slowly starting to cobble together a pitching staff.
With new additions Clay Holmes, Frankie Montas, and Griffin Canning, the Mets at least have enough arms to field an Opening Day starting rotation if they must. But it wouldn’t be a particularly exciting one.
Beyond Kodai Senga, the Mets don’t currently have any pitchers with number-one starter potential. They appear uninterested in spending big money to find such an arm in free agency, but a short-term deal for a high-risk, high-reward arm could be up their alley.
Especially, that is, if that arm comes from the team that knocked them out of the playoffs, the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Recently, Zach Pressnell of Newsweek predicted that the Mets would land former Dodgers two-time All-Star Walker Buehler for a three-year, $45 million contract.
“The New York Mets have made a living out of turning pitchers who are down and out back into big-league arms. They did this with Sean Manaea and Luis Severino in 2024,” Pressnell said. “Adding Buehler would be the biggest, highest-reward reclamation project for the Mets to take on.”
“If Buehler pitches to his potential, the Mets would be adding a right-hander who could receive Cy Young votes. If Buehler looks anything like the pitcher who finished the 2024 postseason run with Los Angeles, he would be a steal for $15 million a year.”
Buehler, 30, has had a fantastic career to this point, with a 43-22 record and 3.27 ERA. But his rough 2024 regular season (5.38 ERA in 14 starts after returning from Tommy John surgery) likely nixed his chances of getting a nine-figure contract.
However, Buehler showed out in the postseason, pitching 13 straight scoreless innings to end his year and shutting down the New York Yankees for the final three outs of the Major League Baseball season. He now owns a 0.48 ERA in 19 World Series innings.
If the Mets can get the playoff version of Buehler for most of the regular season, they’ll be in much better shape than the current picture their roster paints. But first, they’d have to convince him to come to Queens.
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