NY Mets: Five biggest challenges facing the Mets this offseason

3) How will the Mets rebuild their rotation behind Jacob deGrom?

If there ever was one person in baseball who you would want to assist in fixing the disaster that was the Mets starting rotation in 2020, that person would be Mets President Sandy Alderson. It’s no question that besides ace Jacob deGrom and rising rookie David Peterson the Mets rotation was an unmitigated disaster. The biggest challenge for the Mets in terms of the on-field product will be rebuilding the starting rotation with three potential spots available this offseason.

Noah Syndergaard who underwent Tommy John Surgery in March will be back at some point next season, but the Mets can’t afford to put all of their marbles on a dominant return after a one-year layoff. The Mets will certainly need to be active in the free agency as well as the trade market to upgrade their starting rotation.

With starting pitchers Trevor Bauer, Marcus Stroman, Taijuan Walker, Jake Odorizzi, among others hitting the open market there will be no shortage of options for the Mets to build depth behind Jacob deGrom. The Texas Rangers will also be dangling Lance Lynn this offseason which could be another solid option for the Mets to consider adding this offseason.

The Mets also will need to build depth this offseason in terms of starting rotation options. After the losses of Syndergaard and Marcus Stroman, the trio of Rick Porcello, Michael Wacha, and Steve Matz were largely ineffective, which led the Mets having to patch the rotation with options who also weren’t effective. Those options included Corey Oswalt, Ariel Jurado, and a double-dip into the bullpen with Seth Lugo and Robert Gsellman.

There may be no bigger challenge this offseason for the Mets than revamping the starting rotation back to the caliber we’ve come to expect over previous seasons.