Mets: Why Trevor Bauer is the most essential free agent to sign

The Mets will need to overpay for pitching in a trade

Because starting pitching is so hard to find, the only other alternative a team may have is to make a trade. You can always develop some arms through years of training and scouting. We’re not so patient anymore. Do those things, but buy the arms, too.

Starting pitching may be even more costly when trying to acquire it via trade. It’s rare we see a quality starting pitcher traded without at least a few pessimists wondering if the team gave up too much to land him. To get a player of Bauer’s abilities via trade, it’s going to cost the farm. The Mets don’t have a deep enough minor league system to oversell for anyone not named Mike Trout.

It doesn’t seem to matter what the financial situation is with Major League Baseball or the teams when it comes to how much it costs to acquire a starting pitcher. They are such a premium asset. Only those on expiring contracts ever seem to go to their new team at a fair price. Otherwise, you can really only hope for a salary dump.

I still believe the Mets do need to explore some trades for starting pitching help this offseason. Even if they do sign Bauer, it’s helpful to know the cost of what else is out there. It can be difficult to stash quality starting pitching on your roster which makes it a challenge to have exactly what you need plus a good backup and maybe more.

In free agency, all it costs is money. This shouldn’t be a problem for the Mets.

I’ll ask again, can someone get Trevor Bauer a pen already?