NY Mets aren’t crossing up any signals with how they feel about Framber Valdez

New York Mets fans don’t need to expect Framber Valdez to wear orange and blue next season. At last week’s GM Meetings, the team didn’t even meet with him. While not a definite denial of his services, it seems to suggest their interest is hardly piqued.

Valdez is both regarded as one of the better free agent starting pitchers out there as well as one with large red flags. He ended his season poorly. If Mets fans have any individual players to blame for the Amazins failing to make the postseason, you can bet Houston Astros season ticket holders aren’t so eager for Valdez to return.

His 2025 highlight involved a cross-up controversy when he purposefully seemed to throw a fastball after his catcher called for a curveball. The sour taste it left in our perception of him is only one of the reasons why the Mets seem disinterested in him altogether.

The Astros already made Framber Valdez less desirable with his qualifying offer

The Astros wisely issued Valdez a qualifying offer which makes him a lot less desirable for a Mets club only interested in giving up a pair of draft picks and international bonus slot money for the right guy.

Coming off of a down season by his standards, it was the first time since 2021 when he didn’t garner any Cy Young votes. He would’ve been in the mix that season if not for making just 22 starts. With a lifetime 3.36 ERA, he saw it launch up to 3.66 by season’s end.

Average strikeout totals with a huge ground ball rate, Valdez is reliant on the defense behind him to get outs. The Mets infield had plenty of questions last year. Try as he may, David Stearns is bound to favor offense over defense for at least one of those positions.

After turning 32 this week, it could be his age deterring the Mets more than anything. Dylan Cease and Ranger Suarez are both two years younger. Valdez is in that unique age range where justifying a long contract is more difficult but settling on a short-term deal, from his perspective, makes little sense.

A relatively unpopular choice to become one of the new members of a revamped Mets rotation, it says a lot about their lack of meeting with him. Usually this time of year has Mets rumors connecting them to anyone who knows a baseball is round. Not Valdez. For what we can decipher as a multitude of reasons, they’re aiming elsewhere.