NY Mets Trade Rumors: Jim Duquette weighs in on 5 starting pitchers the team could add

Buying Kyle Gibson at the peak of his career

Kyle Gibson is 33 yet well on his way to having a career year with the Texas Rangers. His ERA sits at 2.13 after 12 starts. Undefeated on one of the league’s worst teams, he’s a guy that will get shopped heavily this summer. Will we see him appear in the many Mets trade rumors expected?

You probably know Gibson best from his seven seasons with the Minnesota Twins. While there, he was 67-68 with a 4.52 ERA. In other words, he was very average.

Last season was unkind to him in Texas. Fortunately, he has turned things around this year. Gibson has another year of control available beyond this one which could help or hurt his case to get traded to New York. Depending on what the front office plans to do with the rotation next year, Gibson could be a nice “hedge” against losing Marcus Stroman and/or Noah Syndergaard.

Gibson will land on many team’s radars because of how excellent he has been in 2021. I do think someone may end up overpaying because of the second year of control. A team with a little less pitching depth than the Mets (hey, we still have three big arms) could benefit a lot more than the ball club over in Flushing.

I wouldn’t pay much at all to acquire Gibson because of his lengthy track record. The same way we don’t buy into hitters who had atypical 2019 campaigns, I’m wary of committing to a guy who has looked significantly better on the mound through the first two and a half months of 2021.

Worth a look, for me, it all comes down to how much the Rangers actually want.