Dream Mets starting rotation for the 2023 season

The New York Mets had what felt like a dream rotation in 2022. Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer were seen as two of the top five pitchers in the game by virtually everybody. Chris Bassitt was a great third starter to have and with Taijuan Walker and Carlos Carrasco rounding things out with David Peterson and Tylor Megill as depth pieces, the Mets looked like they were in great shape.

Unfortunately, things did not go as planned. deGrom and Scherzer both missed substantial time with injury and faltered down the stretch. Bassitt was the only starter to make 30 starts.

The Mets have another chance to build a dream rotation. With Scherzer and Carrasco as the only guaranteed starters, the Mets have a lot of room to build what we hope will be the best rotation in baseball.

Dream NY Mets starting rotation ace: Jacob deGrom

In my dream rotation, Jacob deGrom returns to Flushing on a very large contract. The Mets have an owner who can afford it, and with the other good options on the market coming with various risks, deGrom makes the most sense.

When healthy, he's the best pitcher on the planet. The problem is, he's made 26 starts combined in his last two seasons. However, deGrom ended 2022 healthy and looked good in his postseason start.

Carlos Rodon and Justin Verlander are the only pitchers who come close to deGrom's level who are available in free agency right now. Rodon has one 30-start season in his career and Verlander will be 40 on Opening Day and just missed two seasons before this one after getting Tommy John Surgery.

deGrom should be a career Met and I hope Steve Cohen and Billy Eppler agree. Hopefully, he is the one to take the ball on Opening Day in Miami.

Dream NY Mets starting rotation #3 starter: Shane Bieber

I think the Mets have the prospect depth to make one blockbuster trade this offseason. With Shohei Ohtani unavailable, Shane Bieber is my number one target. I'm not too fond of most of the starting pitching options on the market for a variety of reasons, but Bieber is extremely intriguing to me.

The Mets have made a massive trade with Cleveland before and we saw it pay massive dividends for New York this season after the season Francisco Lindor had.

Hopefully, the Mets can find a way to create an even better three-headed monster than they had in 2022 and make a trade for Shane Bieber.

After missing half of the 2021 season, Bieber posted a 2.88 ERA in 31 starts this season. The 2020 AL CY Young Award winner has been healthy for most of his career outside of the 2021 season and 2023 should be no different.

Even with losing a tick in velocity Bieber was one of the better pitchers in the American League, and he was even great in the postseason, allowing just one run in 5.2 innings pitched.

Bieber being a free agent after the 2024 season and with the Guardians being unwilling to pay most of their players when they hit free agency, it's possible they trade him now to get the most value that they can. Waiting until the final year of his deal lessens his value.

I don't know if he will get traded or where he'd get traded to, but Bieber in Flushing sounds amazing to me.

Dream NY Mets starting rotation #4 starter: Kodai Senga

Kodai Senga looks like the next Japanese phenom and he's going to be available for all 30 teams to sign this offseason. With so many teams in the running, I'm not sure how likely it is that he ends up in Flushing, but it's likely he'd want to be in a big market like New York on a team that wants to win like the Mets.

Billy Eppler has had success signing Japanese players in the past, as he was the one who brought Shohei Ohtani to the Angels. Ohtani seems to be unavailable for the Mets this offseason, but maybe they can find a way to pair him with Senga in Queens one day?

Senga posted a 1.89 ERA in 23 starts this season in the Japanese league. He has electric stuff headlined by a fastball that can reach triple digits and a wipeout slider.

Senga is filled with potential and at 29 years old he should be in his prime right away. He's probably better than every fourth starter in the game right now and would be so fun to watch.

Senga has a label of an unknown commodity just because he hasn't pitched in the US yet, but with the stuff he has and with the success he had in Japan, I have very little doubt he'll be a solid pitcher at this level at the very least.

Dream NY Mets starting rotation #5 starter: Carlos Carrasco

Carlos Carrasco isn't really my dream fifth starter. I believe David Peterson is better than Cookie right now. However, the Mets didn't pick up his $14 million dollar club option to be a swingman. Cookie will be expected to take the ball every fifth day in 2023 and honestly, it could be worse.

Carrasco has had a rocky tenure as a Met. He missed substantial time in 2021 and never seemed right. He was much better this past season but still wasn't quite the pitcher I thought the Mets were getting.

However, at $14 million dollars with the Mets in desperate need of starting pitching help, you can do much worse than Carlos Carrasco.

You know what you're going to get most starts out of Carrasco. He'll give you five or six innings and give you a chance to win. There's an occasional start where he'll look very rough out there but for the most part, he was solid in 2022 and I don't expect anything different in 2023.

With hopefully some added power in the lineup and a strong bullpen, the Mets will only need Carrasco to go five innings in most starts and keep them in games. His 3.97 ERA suggests he's more than capable of doing that.

As far-fetched as this may seem, Max Scherzer signing with the Mets also seemed crazy. This dream can very easily become reality. Make it happen, Billy.