5 best Mets starting pitcher additions for next season ranked

The New York Mets enter the offseason with a clear goal to fill roster vacancies with the best possible talent at the best feasible cost. Among these needs presented on the team's roster, pitching looks like the area that will require the most work, especially in the rotation where the Mets could be looking for two to three starting pitchers this winter.

The team's President of Baseball Operations, David Stearns, argued that the organization's priority is pitching. In this sense, the Mets can go to both free agency and the trade market to look for the options that best suit the team, with these five candidates being the ones that best fit Stearns and Steve Cohen's plan.

5) Jordan Montgomery

No pitcher has had a greater spotlight in these playoffs than Jordan Montgomery. The Texas Rangers left-hander led, along with Nathan Eovaldi, the run on the Texas Rangers starting pitching staff to achieve the franchise's first championship.

Montgomery is known to many New York City residents from his time with the Yankees. The 30-year-old veteran has been an efficient pitcher in recent seasons, posting an ERA below 3.50 since 2021.

Montgomery has been a pitcher with good control and command of his pitches, finishing the 2023 season in the top 20% of the league in percentage of walks granted. The recent World Series champion has achieved great results despite not being a pitcher with an explosive fastball thanks to the effectiveness of his breaking pitches, such as the sinker, change-up, and curveball, which he uses almost 70% of the time.

Montgomery has two aspects in his favor that make him attractive to the Mets team. The first is his experience pitching in New York City, and the second is that because he was traded during the season, he cannot be linked to a qualifying offer, so the Mets would not lose a compensation draft pick if they reached sign it, something that fits with David Stearns' long-term sustainability plan.

3) Tyler Glasnow

The Mets don't have to fill every vacancy in their starting pitching rotation in free agency. The trade market may even have more striking figures than free agency itself, with pitchers with high potential and performance at a lower contractual cost.

Among the pitchers who would be available this offseason to be traded, Tyler Glasnow is one of the most relevant names. Glasnow enters the final year of his contract with the Tampa Bay Rays, after signing for $30.5 million for two years in 2023.

The $25 million salary obligation on Glasnow that the Rays have made him a pitcher subject to being traded since Tampa's small market team does not have the financial freedom or income to retain a contract of this type. This represents an opportunity for the deep pocket of Steve Cohen and the intelligence of David Stearns.

Because Glasnow would be a rental, the cost of returning prospects would not be high, giving the Mets a potential ace pitcher that they could extend as soon as he is traded. The Rays ace continues to be an effective pitcher, with great swing-and-miss ability and good speed on his fastball (96.4 mph), with a high strikeout percentage (top 3% in the league) of his pitches.

2) Corbin Burnes

Corbin Burnes enters the final year of his contract with the Milwaukee Brewers as the most coveted pitcher among those available this offseason. The 2021 National League Cy Young continues to be a dominant and effective pitcher despite the slight regression in 2023.

Over the past two seasons, Burnes has averaged around 200 innings pitched, with a high strikeout rate and a low WHIP. In 2022, Burnes led the league in game starts and total strikeouts, while in 2023 he was the MLB leader in WHIP.

Burnes was one of the pitchers who induced the least contact strength in the league, measured through exit velocity, and his cutter, which he uses more than 50% of the time, managed to limit hitters to a batting average of .209 and a .340 slugging percentage.

One of the aspects that stands out the most in his arsenal is the curveball, which manages to generate a swing and miss of more than 49%, being top 10 in this category in the pitchers with the greatest dominance with the curve. Likewise, it is among the top positions in the league in inducing expected quality contact (xwOBA) among the lowest in all of baseball.

The cost of Burnes, despite being a rental, would not be entirely low, but if anyone can get him at the lowest possible cost it is David Stearns. The comparative advantage of the Mets in negotiations for Corbin Burnes is the complete knowledge that Stearns would have about the pitcher and the state of the Brewers' farm system, making him a possible match for the Mets.

1) Yoshinobu Yamamoto

Six or seven months ago there was little talk about Yoshinobu Yamamoto and today he is the most famous and coveted free agent after Shohei Ohtani. The Japanese pitcher finished another season where he won the Triple Crown for the third consecutive time and the Eiji Sawamura Award (the equivalent of MLB's Cy Young), for the third time in his career.

Yamamoto's value as a pitcher is unquestionable. His stuff and arsenal can make him the best Japanese pitcher in MLB history.

Yamamoto once again dominated the Nippon Professional Baseball League in 2023 where he managed to throw the second no-hitter of his career. Additionally, Yoshinobu has managed to be dominant in the most pressure scenarios such as his performance in the last World Baseball Classic and his incredible performance in the elimination game of the Japanese baseball final when he managed to throw a complete game of 138 pitches with a record for the Japan Series with 14 strikeouts, where he only allowed one run and did not walk.

Within Yamamoto's arsenal, his curveball is the pitch that stands out from the rest. Yamamoto's "Yo-Yo" curveball has a style and dominance similar to what Kodai Senga has achieved with his famous forkball splitter, with a unique "Ginoza" grip, with a 12-6 movement and a speed of 77 mph that gets any hitter out of rhythm.

Additionally, his fastball reaches 97 mph and has an above-average cutter and splitter. A complete pitcher and future star who is just 25 years old.

Due to Yamamoto's dominance, stuff, arsenal, and age, the war for his services will be huge, especially against the New York Yankees. The Mets have the financial means to win the battle for his services and although the team has multiple needs in its rotation, Yoshinobu Yamamoto should be the number one target of the organization since with his young age he could be the strength of the rotation from 2024 and beyond.