6 most important Mets players who won't be back next season

2) Jose Quintana

It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. This can apply to a lot of areas of life. Included is baseball. Jose Quintana had a very up and down season. When it started to matter most at the end of August and early September, no one was better than Quintana.

As impressive as he was at times, re-signing Quintana seems like you’re asking for trouble. He’s on the other side of 35. The shaky outings, made problematic mostly by the increase in home runs allowed, are a good sign that the end of his career is nearing.

Quintana finished the regular season 10-10 with a 3.75 ERA. Not so bad considering how as late as August 20 it had risen to 4.57. As a fifth or maybe even fourth starter, he’s not so bad to have around. For the Mets, they need to build their rotation around some surer things in 2025.

Although there are a lot of unanswered questions with the Mets rotation for next season and the need for a sixth starter because of Kodai Senga, Quintana won’t be coming back. Thanks for a great last-second surge.

TLDR Version: Jose Quintana wasn’t good enough for a good portion of the year and there are better, younger investments to make.