3 mistakes the NY Mets must avoid at all costs at this year's MLB Winter Meetings

2) Waiting for a bargain on starting pitching

The Mets need starting pitching. Jose Quintana, Luis Severino (who recently signed with the Athletics), and Sean Manaea are free agents. They each started 31 or 32 games with an ERA+ no lower than 105. That’s a lot of volume they could lose on the free agent market. The Mets have already made a splash by signing Frankie Montas to add some starting pitching depth, but they shouldn’t sit around and wait for the right deal to materialize.

Now is the time to get aggressive in signing or trading for a starting pitcher. Other teams are making aggressive moves, like the LA Dodgers adding Blake Snell and the Cubs signing Matthew Boyd. It’s the Mets’ turn to make another move to acquire starting pitching, and they should not be short of opportunities to do so.

On the free agent market, Corbin Burnes would be exactly the sort of arm to lead the Mets’ rotation. He’s an all-star caliber hurler who can provide a ton of innings at a time. Aside from him, they could also go after Jack Flaherty, Nathan Eovaldi, Max Fried, Nick Pivetta, a rebound candidate like Walker Buehler, an international arm like Tomoyuki Sugano, or bring Manaea or Quintana back into the fold for 2025.

There should be plenty of opportunities for the Mets to acquire a starting pitcher on the trade market. The Pittsburgh Pirates will likely look to deal from their wealth of young pitchers. The Arizona Diamondbacks have also gotten some calls about their starters. The Miami Marlins may also look to move some of their pitchers. The St. Louis Cardinals have veteran pitchers like Erick Fedde and Sonny Gray they’ll likely end up moving. Of course, there’s the big fish in the pond, that being Garrett Crochet from the Chicago White Sox.

Acquiring a starting pitcher should be one of the Mets’ top priorities during this year’s Winter Meetings, and waiting around for prices to come down and the right deal to form isn’t how they should approach solving their starting pitching depth. Time to get aggressive and make a big move.