The latest Mets free agent miss has a chance to become available again in late March

The New York Mets will put their pitching depth to the test much early with the absence of Kodai Senga. The abundance of internal options has many fans feeling confident someone can step up.

According to SNY’s Andy Martino the Mets were in pursuit of someone else recently. Veteran Julio Teheran ended up with the Baltimore Orioles on a minor league deal with a $100,000 signing bonus with an invitation to spring training. As Martino points out, it’s unorthodox to pay any extra for an addition like this. Perhaps it was all it took for the Orioles to outbid the Mets

Nevertheless, the important note from this signing is the opt out in Teheran’s deal. Able to hit free agency again on March 25, he’s a pitcher to monitor closely as another target for the Mets if they are unsatisfied with who they do have.

The Mets pursuing Julio Teheran suggests they could sign someone else, too

The slow to fade away free agent market continues to offer the Mets several other options aside from Teheran. Mike Clevenger and Michael Lorenzen are two of note mentioned by Martino. Tim Britton of The Athletic named Lorenzen as someone the Mets have “touched base” with more so to keep an open line of communication in case they lose another starter.

What about everyone else? The problem may be many of those other available names are just as talented as what the Mets already have.

A pitcher like Eric Lauer whom David Stearns knows well from their days together with the Milwaukee Brewers remains a candidate for a minor league deal. Again, he’s more parallel or below what the team already has. A pitcher such as Jake Odorizzi would probably prefer to wait for a phone call after an injury.

The only concern Mets fans should have right now should come from the doubts of the front office. Sure, it’s good to have a conversation now with Lorenzen’s camp to get a foot in the door in case of an injury. The optimistic assumption heading into the year has been that the starting pitching depth was solid enough for the first half with a few arms available by the time we get to the All-Star Break.

Between Tylor Megill, Joey Lucchesi, Jose Butto, and even Max Kranick to get them through the first two months until maybe Mike Vasil or someone else is ready, the starting pitching depth feels safe enough. The problem is they lost their ace and there’s not much to cure that other than to spend money.