Which lefty with a no-hitter on his resume is best for the Mets this season?

NY Mets free agent candidate with a left arm and a no-hitter Clayton Kershaw

Funnier things have happened. Clayton Kershaw as the cherry on the Mets offseason sundae would be miraculous.

Kershaw pitched his no-hitter way back on June 18, 2014 versus the Colorado Rockies. Jacob deGrom was a rookie back then. An appearance for the Mets in the 2015 World Series was not something I think too many people expected only a year and a half later.

Kershaw is a gigantic free agent fish for the Mets to reel in. They already added his 2021 Los Angeles Dodger teammate Max Scherzer. What’s stopping them from doing it all over again?

For the last several years, Kershaw hasn’t been quite as reliable as he was early on. The last time he reached 180 innings in a season was 2015 when he tossed a league-leading 232.2 frames. He has continued to miss even a little bit of time. Approaching 2500 big league innings, Kershaw is an injury risk.

But if you know and understand this, he could be worth a look. Kershaw remains productive when on the mound. Although he is coming off of a 3.55 ERA season (his highest since his rookie year), he remains one of the most respected pitchers in the game; no-hitter or not.

I don’t believe there’s a match between him and the Mets, however. If Kershaw really does leave the Dodgers, I’m convinced he goes to the Los Angeles Angels or flees to his home state of Texas. There are some other big market clubs, too. The Mets already have concerns with the rotation. Adding Kershaw, a guy with some limitations at this point of his career, doesn’t seem like the direction they will go.

Eliminating him, this brings us back to Manaea vs. Rodon. Do you land Manaea in a trade or simply pay Rodon the money he wants? I think it might make more sense to pay Rodon. Money won’t run out. Prospects to trade for a player like Manaea will. So if you shell them out now, you may not have them around later at the trade deadline to fix your mistakes.

Any of the four would look good in orange and blue. Who’s your choice?