5 best Mets starting pitcher additions for next season ranked

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.