LAS VEGAS – The Mets could use an asset to their rotation, but for now, president of baseball operations David Stearns is just trying to take stock.
“I don’t know how many true No. 1 starters are available right now,” Stearns said at general manager meetings on Tuesday. “I don’t know how many will actually be traded. I don’t know how many will actually be available in free agency. But you would always like to find that top guy.”
It’s a dance Stearns performed before the trade deadline last season, when the Mets failed to land a clear rotation upgrade and patrolled starting pitching.
That disappointment — and the rotation’s subsequent struggles — contributed to the team’s nosedive over the past two months, culminating in the Mets getting a win just before the playoffs.
The free agent market includes names like Dylan Cease, Framber Valdez and Ranger Suárez. Stearns, who resisted handing out a mega-deal for a starting pitcher in his first two winters with the Mets, still remains committed to the possibility of a homegrown big shot.
On the trade front, it remains unclear whether Tarik Skubal can be pried away from the Tigers before he begins his final season prior to free agency. It’s also possible that the Marlins want to make a deal with Sandy Alcantara.
“It definitely makes building the rest of the rotation, the rest of the pitching staff, a lot easier,” Stearns said of a rotation ace. “And if one of those guys happens to be available, we’ll be there with him.
“I also go back to what I’ve said many times and the way to ultimately have a real asset on your staff is to develop the asset on your staff. I think we’re on our way to doing that. I think we will, and we’ll continue to try to supplement that in any way we can.”
Nolan McLean showed glimpses that he could emerge as that potential ace during his seven starts for the club last season.
The Mets counted on Kodai Senga to fill that role, but the right-hander disappointed after returning from the injured list in July and finished the season in the minor leagues.
David Peterson, Sean Manaea and Clay Holmes are three experienced returning starters behind McLean, and Brandon Sproat, Christian Scott and Jonah Tong are relatively inexperienced pieces.
“I think we have numbers on the starting pitching staff,” Stearns said. “I remain very optimistic about the younger starters that we have, about the guys that we have, even behind the group that we saw get our feet wet at the Major League level.
“We’re certainly not going to turn away from opportunities that we think will make us better at the Major League level. And so we’ll look to start pitching in free agency and trades.”
The three-year, $75 million contract Manaea received last winter is by far the largest for a Mets starting pitcher during the Stearns era. But Manaea pitched a 5.64 ERA last season after emerging as a trusted top rotation option in 2024.
Stearns’ biggest failure was the two-year, $36 million deal Frankie Montas received. Montas missed half the season while rehabbing a lat strain and was ineffective in the rotation before tearing an elbow ligament and undergoing Tommy John surgery. Montas will recuperate next season and collect in the final year of his contract.
Stearns was asked specifically about the idea that the Mets could trade young talent for a top starting pitcher.
“There are limits to what we do, as there are for any player,” Stearns said. “But we do have the depth and quality of the farm system right now that we can have both players impact our Major League team in a real way and potentially trade some of them to get some real short-term help if it’s available.”
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