The Christian Scott injury news wasn’t what the New York Mets needed. Just as Kodai Senga is getting set to return, the curveball comes and makes adding a starting pitcher at the trade deadline a greater need. It’s not something they need to bend over backward to get. Senga can immediately replace Scott on the roster.
The problem for the Mets is their depth hasn’t looked so solid this year. In the minors, there’s Tylor Megill and Joey Lucchesi as candidates to step up for starts. Many of the pitching prospects who’ve yet to debut have struggled in Triple-A and aren’t necessarily solutions.
Scott was always going to get shut down at some point this year. This accelerates the loss, maybe even beyond 2024. Regardless of how long he’ll be out, the Mets need to search high and low for some starting pitching options. A six-man rotation remains likely. These three trade options have suddenly shot up the wish list.
3) Michael Lorenzen
Michael Lorenzen is having a pretty good year for the Texas Rangers who look more like sellers than buyers this summer. An impressive pitching staff with several players on expiring contracts, Lorenzen is someone they can part ways with prior to the trade deadline.
Lorenzen is 5-5 with a 3.53 ERA in 17 starts. An experienced reliever as well, he has actually become a much better starter than he was when he last pitched in relief for a full season back in 2021.
He makes sense for the Mets as a viable Scott replacement because he won’t add much to the payroll and can fall in the back of the line of the rotation. Unlike some of the bigger names possibly available over the next week, he’s a smaller difference-maker albeit important piece many contenders should want to add.
If you’re one to scoreboard watch, hope the Rangers lose a lot in the coming days. In addition to Lorenzen, they have Andrew Heaney who’d be a nice addition for the Mets rotation plus a whole bunch of relievers including David Robertson.