After trading Garrett Crochet, the NY Mets' pitching plans are uncertain

DALLAS – The biggest pitcher on the trade block has been sent elsewhere.

As Major League Baseball’s winter meetings concluded Wednesday afternoon, the Red Sox completed a trade with the White Sox to acquire star left-handed pitcher Garrett Crochet. It took a monumental effort to land the 25-year-old southpaw, with the Red Sox shipping two top-100 prospects in catcher Kyle Teel and outfielder Braedon Montgomery, who were the team’s last two first-round picks.

The White Sox also added infielders Chase Meidroth and Wikelman Gonzalez to the deal.

Why does this all matter to the Mets? David Stearns said Wednesday afternoon that the Mets were in discussions with White Sox general manager Chris Getz about potentially moving Crochet to the top of their rotation.

“The balancing act in all of this is how much future value and how much potential value you have to give up in the short term, and there will always be a lot of judgment involved,” Stearns said. “Certainly there have been times when we have done it and we will continue to do it, and there are times when the price just becomes too high for us and we choose to retain the value of our prospect.”

“We need to continue to have those discussions and make certain judgments as we deal with different players, not just now but midseason and next offseason. Decisions like this will crop up again and again.”

Stearns said Tuesday that the Mets would be willing to trade from their top 10 prospect pool if the right deal came together. He added less than 24 hours ago that he believes it is recognized throughout baseball that the organization now has a deep farm system.

“We really like the top of our system. We think it’s a good group,” Stearns said. “A lot of them have the potential to help us at the big league level pretty quickly. So I can’t say we want to do that, but I’m not going to close the door.”

Crochet was the top pitcher on the trade market to switch destinations, and one of the next big starting pitchers on the free-agent market was moved on Tuesday when the Yankees agreed to an eight-year, $218 million contract with Max Fried agreed. Blake Snell had already received a five-year, $182 million contract from the Dodgers before the Winter Meetings.

The fact that Stearns confirmed his interest in Crochet suggests the Mets may not be at the top of the starting pitching market. Corbin Burnes is the biggest domino to fall so far, while Jack Flaherty, Nick Pivetta and Sean Manaea linger on the sidelines.

SNY’s Andy Marino reported Monday that there is “increasing optimism” about a possible reunion between the Mets and Manaea. Left agent Scott Boras said Wednesday that he expects interest to increase because of Manaea’s strong campaign.

“There’s a new Sean emerging,” Boras said. “I think the teams have recognized that and the demand is going to happen really soon.”

The Mets signed Frankie Montas to a two-year, $34 million deal that includes a 2026 opt-out, and Clay Holmes to a three-year, $38 million deal, including a 2027 player option, to transition from a peak -Leverage reliever for a starting pitcher.

Procedure:How the Mets learned Clay Holmes wanted to start over and what that means for the future

The club has Kodai Senga under contract for three more seasons and David Peterson is entering his second year as an arbitration candidate. The fifth spot in the rotation could go to Tylor Megill, Jose Butto or Paul Blackburn.

“We have options to fill out our major league rotation, and I think there’s certainly a possibility we add more,” Stearns said. “If we continued the way we are, I think we would have opportunities to fill out our major league rotation that we would feel good about.”

With Juan Soto set to join the Mets with a record-breaking $765 million contract and the financial flexibility granted by owner Steve Cohen, the club’s front office must now decide whether it’s worth bolstering this starting unit even further in order to achieve their goal To increase the Mets’ chances of a breakthrough World Series.

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