MLB Insider Just Revealed The Mets Offseason Plan...

A Mets insider just revealed the Mets' offseason plan. David Stearns is going to be a busy man as he is looking to make a similar type of trade that he made last year for Freddy Peralta, going after veteran starting pitchers such as Joe Ryan or Drew Rasmussen in what could be a deal in which the Mets are looking to acquire a veteran starter who is about a year or two away from free agency and is unlikely to be played by the team he is currently on. That, as well as more updates about how the Mets look to improve the roster, specifically the rotation, all included and coming up on today's edition of Mets Digest. Guys, I'm Josh Byrne, and thank you for joining me today. Really appreciate all the support and engagement, especially on the shorts. You guys have been amazing. I really do appreciate that. And there will be many, many more along the way. Free agency begins in just five days. You're already seeing news such as Clay Holmes has officially... Opted out of his contract with the Chicago Cubs. News that we expected to hear. And we're going to hear more kind of reports and updates such as that. But Chelsea Janes' Mets insider. Provided insight into how the New York Mets are going to go about improving and adding to this rotation. And it's going to start with a very similar route to what they took last year. And that is the Freddy Peralta blueprint. Now, we know that Freddy Peralta did not exactly work out as a New York Met. He was a guy that severely disappointed during his time in Queens. That being said. The actual trade made sense for the team, and most people were high on him. There was not much reason to believe that things wouldn't work out, and I wouldn't mind the Mets making another move such as that to acquire a proven commodity, an established name from a team that is probably smaller market and is probably less inclined to give that pitcher a large contract. You look at Joe Ryan, who Chelsea Jane's name's first, and you look at a guy like Drew Rasmussen, a guy on the Tampa Bay Rays who just lost the World Series, and yeah, they're going to be looking to compete, but also, they're not going to be ponying up the money for him, most likely. So let's get into some quotes here, starting off with... Chelsea Janes via SNY, I think even if Scoobles signs with the Mets, another big-ish name starter could be on the way. So that's very important to clarify here. Scoobles might not be the end of the plan. What Chelsea Janes is providing context on is that, yes, Tariq Scoobles is the 1A option for the New York Mets. But, that is not going to preclude them from making significant additions to the rotation. Which, to me, fires me up. Because... Yes, the Mets have a few arms in Nolan McLean, who's just 25 and is coming off a really good season with almost 200 strikeouts. Yes, they have Christian Scott, who looked really good coming off of Tommy John surgery. Yes, they have Zach Thornton, who if he pitched a full season, we'd be talking about him as a potential rookie of the year candidate, as crazy as that seems. And yeah, even Jonah Tung provided some really, really encouraging starts at the latter half of this season, very latter half. But despite that, the Mets are not messing around. This is a team that is desperate to win. They need to win. They cannot allow another disaster to occur in 2027. And you can never have enough pitching because despite the fact that seemingly everything went wrong for the New York Mets in 2026, they really didn't deal with a lot of pitcher injuries. I mean, yeah, Clay Holmes got hurt and then he got traded, obviously. And, you know, Senga had a couple injury stints, but he was just, that was a whole other thing with him because he couldn't even be efficient as a starting pitcher in the first place. But you look holistically, and the Mets didn't really have many starting pitcher injuries. Not saying you should expect that to change in 2027, but knowing how starting pitching is today, you probably should expect that to change, unfortunately. Now, let's get into more quotes here. If the Mets signed Scooble and still need to add, I could see them pursuing a similar deal to the one they made for Peralta this year. Another tweet here. Could the Mets pursue rotation additions this season beyond Derek Shoebel? That basically answers that question. So if we take a look at the pulse of the New York Mets. Right now. Again, they're coming off a disastrous year. Was their exponential record a little bit better than their overall? Yeah, but is that really going to excite you? No. The Mets need to win, in my eyes, at least 15 more games next year in order for it to be a success. That shouldn't be asking too much for a team that is yet again going to have, guaranteed by the way, A top three payroll in the sport. I mean, the fact is, is that $150 million are going to Simeon, Marcus Simeon, Sean Manaea, Kodai Senga, and Bo Bichette, who we believe is going to opt into his deal. Those guys combined for negative two wins above replacement. That's pitiful. That shows this team has money. This team has not spent it well. But you know what? The past is the past. That's a sunk cost. And one thing I respect about Steve Cohen is at least he's not going to stop trying. And the Mets will pick up, through free agency, perhaps the biggest contract for any starting pitcher ever. And then additionally, they're not going to stop there. They're going to trade for a veteran-liable, veteran-suitable starter that has established credibility as a respectable option. Uh, you know, I would say that Drew Rasmussen is the biggest upside swing here, and there's some reasons why that may end up being a legitimate possibility for the New York Mets, because Chelsea Jaynes also said, should the Rays somehow decide playoff hero Drew Rasmussen 20 million, his 20 million dollar option for next year is too expensive, the Mets could could try to pull off a deal for him because remember it's not just about These teams not wanting to sign or re-sign their guys long-term. It's also about the fact that the way the contract structure works in Major League Baseball with arbitration, once these really solid players even get close to signing a new deal, they're already getting paid near top dollar. Obviously, not quite full top dollar, and he's not linked to a long-term deal, but for a team like the Tampa Bay Rays, that has generally never paid Anybody on their team, $20 million. Meanwhile, the Mets have afterthoughts getting paid $20 million. No disrespect to Marcus Simonet and a guy like Sean Manaea, but they're not going to be prominent features in the Mets rotation. And yet, you know, whether you look at the lineup with Simonet or the rotation with Manaea, and they're both going to be on the team, you look at the Rays, $20 million isn't something that you can just throw away or risk missing out on. And Drew Rasmussen, not saying that there's a real chance that he is going to not be good next year, but some teams just aren't willing to spend that kind of money. And the Mets have shown that they're not only willing to spend that kind of money, but they're willing to spend it many, many times. So that is one possible situation there. And there's a great fit, obviously, with Drew Rasmussen. You look at what he is able to provide This is a guy who really fits the mold of what the New York Mets looked for and what the New York Mets got in Freddy Peralta last offseason. He's not going to overpower you. He doesn't throw quite as hard as Peralta does. But, you know, this is someone who is one of the better pitchers in the game. Doesn't go especially deep in the games, but he's pitched more innings this past season than ever before and can be a solid number two or number three option. He has a really good cutter. He gets a lot of ground balls with his sinker and changeup and can be a nice... Uh, establishing presence in the middle of the Mets young rotation. And then we look at Joe Ryan and Joe Ryan. I mean, he, uh, his last 20 games, there's a four, three, two earned run average. But if you look, uh, you know, across the season, it was, um, you know, a little bit lower than that. And he... is a guy who's going to throw strikes, 88th percentile in his strike percentage. And then also you have to keep in mind that Derek Falvey was a former executive for the Minnesota Twins. So him being brought into the Mets front office could be another X factor in the Mets potentially making a trade for Joe Ryan. Chelsea Janes pointed out Falvey's experience with Ryan in Minnesota should mean they can They can make an informed decision about his ability to survive in New York. New York. And then there's Nick Martinez. Nick Martinez, another guy on the Rays, and also George Kirby. Nick Martinez. is uh you know lumped in because they with George Kirby because they kind of fit the same profile now if you look at Nick Martinez's workload uh you know through the order once he hits the third time around the order he does wear down so you know he is really really good during those first two uh turns in the rotation but it's kind of like you want to pick what your preference is And then when we look at George Kirby, his arsenal is led by a really solid sweeper, one of the better ones in the game, as well as a fastball that averages at 97 mile an hour. And here's a quote, plucking a proven guy about to hit free agency away from a team that will not pay him is genuinely what the strategy is for all these names. They all have their own strengths or weaknesses, but I would be surprised if the Mets do not execute this kind of plan with this rationale. There is a catch, of course, and that is they can't trade away their entire future for a one-year fix. And one of the main differences between this year This time last year where the Mets made the trade for Freddy Peralta is that the Mets don't necessarily have as deep of a farm system as they did a year ago. They don't have as many top 100 prospects. Yes, the system has improved, especially with the moves they made around the trade deadline, but you don't want to be selling off too much of your future because the Mets... Obviously things did not go well in 2026 but in a way they got lucky because the fact that they were out of the playoffs meant that they could sell off a guy like Freddy Peralta and recuperate a lot of value in return. They got you know they were able to get some solid prospects for him so you look at Emelian Petry that's a guy who's working his way up the Mets top 10 prospect list. And you could argue that Jet Williams, the guy who the Mets, the main piece that the Mets gave up for Freddie Peralta last year is an overall better prospect, even though he had a down season. But the fact is the Mets were able to kind of amend for. In hindsight, overpaying for Freddy Peralta based on what they gave him. Since the plan is for the Mets not to be a complete disaster in 2027, then they need to make sure that they are not overselling any future assets. And with a farm system that is not graded amongst the elite necessarily, they're going to have to really pick and choose. Because again, these guys aren't perfect. They're generally pretty good. There's very few bona fide aces. I do believe the Mets will go after one, i.e. in Tarik Skubal, but what Chelsea Janes has given us is an indication that the Mets are not done there. They will also go the trade route and bring in another pretty credible veteran starting pitcher, but let me know what you guys think. What should the Mets do after pursuing Skubal? Should they trade for another front-line starter, prioritize depth and flexibility, or do both, even if it costs prospects? Comment below, let me know, and as always, guys, let's go Mets.