This is the best possible Mets rotation for Opening Day 2024

Julio Urias is a free agent at the end of the season and would be a perfect top-of-the-rotation element for the Mets next year.
Julio Urias is a free agent at the end of the season and would be a perfect top-of-the-rotation element for the Mets next year. / Jim McIsaac/GettyImages
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No. 4 starter for the best possible New York Mets rotation in 2024: LHP José Quintana

The Mets have lost each of the three games José Quintana has pitched in so far because of poor bullpen performances and little run support. However, Quintana has demonstrated why the Mets brought him in during free agency in the first place in each start, because he is consistent and gives the Mets a chance to win, as he has gone at least five innings and given up no more than three runs in all of the starts.

Imagine how different the trajectory of the season would have been if Quintana broke camp healthy. There is every chance the Mets would still be a contender as they'd be closer in the Wild Card hunt and they'd go for it with a healthy rotation. He would have carried over the success from 2022, when he overperformed for the St. Louis Cardinals following a midseason trade and helped push the Cardinals to a division crown, and he would have looked like the steal of the offseason.

The Colombian southpaw will enter next season at 35 years old on the last year of a two-year, $26 million contract he signed last offseason, and the hope will be he doesn't deal with injuries that kept him out of the equation in the first half. He clearly has a lot left in him, so he can easily turn in 160 innings or more next season if healthy.