Mets Not Interested in Other Top Pitching Free Agents
As it stands right now, the New York Mets are one of the finalists to land Japanese phenom, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and are seen as the favorites to sign him by some.
Owner, Steve Cohen, has met with the starting pitcher on two separate occasions and certainly has the financial capital to spend the supposed $300 million price tag that is expected to be given to Yamamoto.
This has certainly been a different offseason than how the Mets have operated in the past when throwing tons of money at free agents.
New president of baseball operations, David Stearns, seems to know they won't be contenders in 2024 and is looking towards the future, instead of being major spenders right now.
So, what happens if New York doesn't land their preferred target in Yamamoto?
It was previously thought they might pivot to the other best-available starters on the market to at least land one starting pitcher.
However, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com, is reporting that might not be the case.
"It’s worth noting that although the Mets would be happy to give Yamamoto a long-term, nine-figure deal, they don’t appear to feel similarly about Blake Snell or Jordan Montgomery -- widely considered the next-best starters on the open market. Those pitchers are five years older than Yamamoto, without the same long-term upside," he writes.
That is certainly interesting.
The Mets had given out a three-year, $130 million contract to 36-year-old Max Scherzer in 2021 and a two-year, $86.66 million contract to 40-year-old Justin Verlander in 2022.
They seemingly want to avoid paying a massive contract to anyone besides Yamamoto as they begin to build this roster.
