It sure seems like the NY Mets are saving every dollar they can to sign Juan Soto

Signing a free agent reliever and converting him to a starting pitcher isn’t a bad idea. It worked brilliantly last season with Reynaldo Lopez and the Atlanta Braves. The New York Mets will try their hand at doing this with Clay Holmes.

Most known for being the New York Yankees closer, Holmes will attempt to start again after somewhat successfully revitalizing his career in the Bronx. For those scoring at home, his last start came in 2018 for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The contract can absolutely turn into a bargain if Holmes is any bit like some of the pitchers he’s replacing. Luis Severino and Jose Quintana, for example, had ERAs in the high 3.00s and contracts last season around the same AAV Holmes will receive. Of course, pitchers are getting paid a lot more this offseason with Sevy himself receiving $22.3 million per year from the Athletics.

Either the Mets are cheap or they’re saving up every penny to sign Juan Soto

Two extremes can occur with the way the Mets are handling their rotation for next season. Between Frankie Montas and now Holmes, they can either catch lightning in a bottle again the way they did with Severino and Sean Manaea or spend much of 2025 wiping egg off their face.

The Holmes signing is on-par, or at least close to, what he likely would have received as a free agent reliever any way. Maybe not quite the amount the top closers in the game are receiving, a fallback plan of moving him into the bullpen if this starting pitcher experiment fails won’t look ridiculous like when David Price floundered as a long man for years making starting pitcher ace money.

It sure does seem like with these early Mets free agent moves that they’re eager to pinch every penny they can to hand what remains over to Soto. A decision expected to hit the public any day now, the Mets have cautiously avoided spending large elsewhere while still tinkering with the roster. None of the moves they have made thus far have involved irrational spending. The downside is it probably means they are indeed out on any of the ace free agent starting pitchers and probably not about to swing a trade for one either.

As it stands, the rotation includes Montas, Holmes, Kodai Senga, and David Peterson with one spot left that we can only hope doesn’t get filled by a depth piece such as Tylor Megill.