5 Black Friday NY Mets free agent starting pitcher deals David Stearns can buy

5) Jakob Junis

Jakob Junis is coming off yet another quality but under the radar. This time, he pitched for the Milwaukee Brewers and Cincinnati Reds rather than the San Francisco Giants like he has the past two seasons. But while Junis has mostly worked as a swingman the last three seasons, he may be able to find a gig as a starter after his strong 2024 campaign.

Like Turnbull, Junis was used as a long-reliever/spot-starter. He started six of his 24 appearances but pitched to a strong 2.59 ERA, 3.69 FIP, and 0.85 WHIP. Although the veteran right-hander saw his K% drop from 26.2% in 2023 to just 20.2% this past season, his walk rate also fell dramatically from an already low 5.7% to just 3.2%. He was tied with Nick Martinez for the fourth lowest BB% in baseball.

Junis’ 1.04 HR/9 rate was slightly better than the league average. His 90 MPH exit velo and 8.4% barrel rate, however, were worse than average and were below the 40th percentile in both statistics. Junis benefited a lot from a .224 batting average on balls in play, compared to .306 for his career. But Junis still had some decent numbers under the hood.

The 32-year-old had a 3.87 xFIP, a 3.83 xERA, and 3.72 SIERA. While these numbers were not an improvement over 2023 and fell well short of his 2.59 ERA, they still put Junis in a decent light. Most teams would gladly take a starter with an ERA around 3.70-3.80. Junis hasn’t regularly started games since 2019, but he should certainly be an option for a team in need of starters, like the New York Mets.