An after-the-fact revealed New York Mets rumor we came to learn about during the previous offseason was their attempt to trade Starling Marte. They never did find a taker, which if you paid attention to Juan Soto, might’ve been a good thing for some locker room harmony. Marte received nothing but praise from his Mets teammates this offseason–erm former teammates.
Bound for free agency, one specific Mets trade rumor emerged about shopping him to the Kansas City Royals for veteran reliever Hunter Harvey. Harvey ended up missing most of this past year due to injury. But when he was on the field, he threw 10.2 scoreless innings.
A fellow free agent like Marte, he’s likely to be a name we see David Stearns connect to when free agency officially begins.
Is free agent Hunter Harvey a good fit for the Mets?
Harvey will pitch next year at 31. For a reliever, this could mean either extreme or nothing at all. Many bloom around this age. Some are absolutely cooked.
A lifetime 3.11 ERA with his two best years coming with the Washington Nationals in 2022 and 2023, he managed to be a good strikeout pitcher with favorable walk rates. In parts of three seasons with the Nats, Harvey had a walk rate of 2.3 per 9 with strikeouts at 10.1 per 9. There’s little reason to believe he can’t get back to that level again, especially if the Mets pitching lab is all it’s cracked up to be.
The lost 2025 season will cost Harvey some dollars in free agency, but not suitors. Spotrac has him earning a $5.5 million deal for a season this coming winter. Somewhat deceptive because it measures largely on the last two seasons and he didn’t pitch much at all in 2025, we can safely round this up to around $6 million as long as he has a clean bill of health.
Something the Mets haven’t seemed to do a lot of with contracts is fill them with incentives. Things like reaching a certain number of innings or games pitched can protect them from Harvey being a disastrous signing. If effective, Steve Cohen should have no problem paying him to be a quality bullpen arm for those tricky sixth and seventh inning spots.