The Mets surprise no one with their rumored interest in Lucas Giolito

The latest New York Mets rumors courtesy of Mike Puma of the NY Post have the team not backing down from filling out their rotation. In the aftermath of Yoshinobu Yamamoto signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers almost a week ago, the team sets their sights on a deal with free agent Lucas Giolito.

Strong interest is one thing. There are plenty of items I would’ve put on my holiday wish list I’d have strong interest in over the years. A proper boy wouldn’t ask his grandmother for one of those. He takes his expired jam she got for free from a Reader’s Digest subscription and he goes home and writes a poorly-crafted and somewhat heartless thank you letter to her.

Despite the lack of actual splashy moves made by the team this offseason, Mets rumors of them being interested in players have marched on. Giolito, unlike some of those other names, seems all-too-perfect.

The Mets rumors naming Lucas Giolito as a target come as no surprise

Having already written about Giolito and what a superb match he’d be for the Mets at this point, there isn’t much else new to say. He’s coming off of a year where he was a punching bag for three different teams that failed to make the postseason. While with the Chicago White Sox, he was effective though. At 29-years-old, he should be more than willing to take a one or maybe two-year deal to prove he’s much better than last year’s number show.

A Mets rotation with Giolito and Luis Severino does give some flashbacks to 2020 when we were sold Rick Porcello and Michael Wacha as two of the big offseason acquisitions. Following such a strong finish from the year prior aided further by another Jacob deGrom Cy Young season and Pete Alonso winning Rookie of the Year, the state of the team was much different than it currently is.

Alternatives from Giolito aren’t plentiful for the Mets. We eliminate Blake Snell because of the cost and qualifying offer penalties. Jordan Montgomery, while a solid pickup they could make, is going to receive a contract more closely matching what Zack Wheeler did when he cut a deal with the Philadelphia Phillies when he should be in the Taijuan Walker category.

Giolito, meanwhile, is the short-term rental with upside to pair alongside Severino. The team has already committed to a bullpen or “boom or bust” options. It would be wastefully irresponsible at this point to swerve in another direction and wastefully overpay for anyone else.

The Mets are at a crossroads. They can either run toward a better pitcher with a large bag of cash, jog to Giolito a short distance, or slowly walk into the year with a plan to elevate one of the internal options. Signing Giolito is safe as long as the terms are right. But this time, unlike the Severino deal, I’d like to see an option to keep him in 2025.