One place the NY Mets have leverage in starting pitcher trade negotiations

A trade is the only practical way for the New York Mets to improve their rotation. Diving into the free agent market, hoping for someone’s asking price to come down, feels like a fool’s errands. Even if some of the better options out there were to sign for a shorter deal, the sacrifice that comes with the qualifying offer penalties is a turn-off.

The Mets should be viewed as favorites to trade for any of the top starting pitchers available on the block because of how strong their farm system is and the urgency in which they need to add a legitimate ace. A bit contradictory to this point yet also true is how the Mets have a leg up because they aren’t short on bodies.

A team that needs to subtract and as well as add to the rotation this winter, the Mets have a unique advantage as long as they play out the offseason right. Too patient and they’ll miss out on opportunities. Knowing when to hold and when to raise their spears will be the difference between coming away from the offseason looking like winners or losers.

Surplus starting pitchers gives the Mets a chance to buy time in determining what they do to improve the staff

Many of the best starting pitcher free agents remain unsigned. The same is true for the players we expect could be dealt before the season begins. There really haven’t been any significant misses for the Mets. Any starting pitcher who has signed or been traded this offseason can be justified as someone who the Mets could have skipped over.

The starting pitching situation with the Mets gives them a variety of ways to approach things. First, they can hold out for longer than other teams because, in a worst-case scenario, they can go completely internal. It won’t satisfy fans nor is it what we should expect the Mets to have in Plans A, B, C, or even W.

In those earlier plans, trading away a starter (probably Kodai Senga or maybe David Peterson) followed by a separate deal to add someone better changes things up. The Mets have room to adjust two rotation spots with Nolan McLean being a lock, Clay Holmes showing enough last year to remain, and Sean Manaea being too difficult to move via trade. A player like Brandon Sproat could earn himself a fifth starter spot if he’s not traded first. Jonah Tong showed he needs more than a handful of innings in Triple-A to appear in the majors again so don’t pencil him in right away.

Flipping Peterson for a higher-salaried and better starting pitcher solves some questions as would doing the same with Senga. Senga may even give the Mets a minor edge with the extra year of team control if that’s interesting enough for ball clubs. With Senga, the issue is getting stuck with him rather than getting to keep him around so it’s not necessarily beneficial unless the Mets are paying some money.

More uncertain than a mystery flavored Dum-Dum lollipop is what the Mets rotation will look like when they break from St. Lucie next year. We’ve been shocked by the authority in which they’ve dismantled the core of the roster. Whatever it is you think they’ll do, write it in an erasable pen.

Something tells me the Mets are going to turn over every rock, searching for every option possible before making any final decisions. The only trouble they can run into is adding before they subtract and ending up with a less than satisfactory return for whomever they shoot out of the rotation cannon.