Mutual interest between the Mets and José Quintana

With the Mets rotation thin due to the loss of Frankie Montas, the Mets could be seeking a reunion with the veteran left-handed pitcher

What’s up with the Mets? 🌴

• There is mutual interest between the Mets and LHP José Quintana on a reunion in 2025 (SI)

• The Mets signed RHP Connor Overton to a minor league contract (MMO)

• Clay Holmes will start the Mets Grapefruit League opener on Saturday against the Astros - he is expected to throw 40-45 pitches

• Former top prospect Matt Allan - who hasn’t pitched competitively since 2019 - is finally healthy and expects to resume his career in the Mets minor league system (Newsday)

• Former Met Paul Lo Duca is recovering from a serious car accident (X)

• The Mets announced 13 theme games at Citi Field for the 2025 season (official)

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Injury Updates 🏥

• Frankie Montas (high grade lat strain) received a PRP injection in New York this week, and said he will be shutdown for 4-6 weeks from throwing, an improvement from the original timeline of a 6-8 week shutdown

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Spring workouts highlights - Wednesday 🏋️‍♀️

Image courtesy of the Mets

• Edwin Díaz thew live batting practice at Clover Park - among those he faced was Juan Soto, Francisco Lindor and Starling Marte (SNY)

“Being here, I’ve had success, I’ve also failed. But, I think over the course of time, to be continuously wanted like that from Mets fans its just really special. I lay it all out there, I work hard, and I do the best I can every single night. I empty the tank every single day. And whatever happens, happens. But, for me, I lay it all out there and I just want to win. For them to receive me and want me back like that is special, for sure.”

- Pete Alonso via the Meet at the Apple Podcast

Why the Mets need to go back to the market for starting pitching… ✍️

NY Post

The other day, I wrote about how a reunion between the Mets and LHP José Quintana was the most logical pivot for the Mets to make in the wake of losing Frankie Montas to a medium-term injury to his right lat.

It still makes the most sense, and according to SI, there’s understandably mutual interest in a reunion.

But there’s an extra layer to the Mets going outside to solve this problem, one I’ve taken some extra consideration in after listening to both David Stearns and Steve Cohen speak over the last couple of days.

During Stearns’ entire tenure, he has talked endlessly about ensuring a path to the major leagues for the club’s prospects. Steve Cohen has also spoken about keeping the roster flexible when and where possible even when premium free agents become available, such as Vladimir Guerrero Jr. who appears to be headed to the open market after the 2025 season.

But after listening closely to both Stearns and Cohen, that formula applies if and only if they have prospects in their pipeline to fill a specific void. That would explain why they want to afford opportunities to Luisangel Acuña, Brett Baty and, perhaps Jett Williams, and Ronny Mauricio down the road at second base (or third, we will see how that shakes out), and not give that roster spot to someone like José Iglesias, who, like Quintana and others, has expressed interest in re-joining the Mets.

Whether Iglesias makes them better on the baseball field or not is not in question. And it’s not that they don’t like Iglesias and wouldn’t love to have him on the roster if they had a true need that he could fill. It’s a matter of the Mets not blocking an opportunity for internal competition among the prospects they’re working to cultivate down the roster, and probably getting similar value from among those already in camp for less money.

That is a point of emphasis for this front office and one that Stearns and Cohen have spoken about a lot - the Mets’ primary objective in the trade and free agent markets is to fill needs they can’t fill internally.

As for Guerrero, like Juan Soto, he may very well be an exception to any rule that applies to roster building. But it’s more scientific than the player simply being awesome or the best at what he does. It’s about identifying unique talents and skillsets that can’t and/or is unlikely to be produced by a team’s farm system and is therefore worth the money and worth the draft compensation.

We will see if the Mets view Guerrero as such, and whether or not they are willing to make another mega-deal if they do.

Such is not the case for the Mets on the mound, however. At least, not right now.

Sure, they have Brandon Sproat, who is a top 100 prospect by any measure. They have Blade Tidwell, Jonah Tong, and Nolan McLean, who are all top organizational prospects but they’re further away than Sproat, who just got to Triple-A in the second half of the 2024 season and struggled when he got there. Yes, Sproat could definitely be on a trajectory to reach the big leagues this year, and there needs to be some surprises that sprout from the farm system at some point as well, much like Dedniel Núñez did for the Mets in 2024.

But aside from Sproat, who realistically is a second-half option for the Mets at best, there isn’t anyone else for the Mets to consider internally. The option for Stearns to take from their farm system isn’t there - they can’t fill the gap left by Montas internally.

It’s a familiar tune for the Mets who, outside of Tylor Megill and David Peterson, have an externally built starting staff and that’s been a continuous pattern for the organization.

Enter Quintana, maybe.

That’s not to say Quintana is the perfect pitcher. He’s a throwback, a pitcher who relies on chase with off-speed in order to be a successful major league pitcher in an era that preaches strike zone knowledge and discipline. When they’re not chasing, well, see the 2024 NLCS against the Dodgers for what happens.

But in his age-35 season, the throwback that is Quintana produced a 3.75 ERA in 31 starts over 170 innings in the regular season for the Mets in 2024. He was in the better half of the league with his 48.2 percent ground ball rate, thanks to his sinker which has been consistently elite for multiple years running. He also improved as the season went along - he pitched to a 3.18 ERA in 12 second half starts while holding opponents to a .656 OPS.

Only Peterson (2.79) had a better ERA among the club’s starters in the second half last season.

Quintana would not only ease the concerns of a concerning bullpen, he’d be an upgrade to what they have and had before Montas went down even if he doesn’t project as well in 2025 as he was in 2024. And aside from his rib lesion scare in 2023, Quintana has proven he can stay healthy.

Like I said the other day, if he can be had in the $5-10 million range, even with the 110 percent tax rate applied, it makes too much sense for the team, given where they are internally with this starting rotation and what they’re trying to accomplish in 2025.

But why are the Mets here, again, reportedly looking at yet another pitcher in free agency?

Until the Mets routinely develop a consistent pipeline of pitchers who graduate to the major leagues, they’re going to have to live in the high-priced world of free agency for that part of the roster. And when they’re looking in the part of the market they’re in, ie the short-term deal seekers who are flawed or perceived as flawed, have been injured, and/or are essentially reclamation projects, they’re running a risk of dealing with the potential issues associated with these pitchers. That is, they can’t fix them, they underperform, they fulfill the likelihood of getting hurt and do, or all of the above.

That in turn would (and now has, again) put them in a position to go back out in the market and spend more money to solve their problem. They’re clearly realizing that while they might’ve acquired quantity and depth, there might be a lack of quality there which has become immediately exposed at the start of spring training.

They don’t want to do that, or at least not all the time like they seemingly have to with their rotation. Steve Cohen said so himself on Tuesday.

I suppose the question is, are they in a better position in terms of risk today - even after losing Montas and being forced to scramble - than they would be if they had signed Corbin Burnes, or Max Fried, or both to long-term deals?

Even if the Mets have a hole they’re trying to plug that can’t be filled internally, they probably still think they are. Whether they’re right or wrong will be determined later.

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Around the League 🚩

• After Rafael Devers said he would not move from third base, Alex Bregman said he would play wherever the Red Sox ask him (ESPN)

• The Nationals brought in RHP Lucas Sims on a one-year, $3 million contract (Washington Post)

• LHP John Means signed a deal with the Guardians for 2025 with an option for 2026 (official)

• Mike Trout will play right field for the Angels going forward (MLB.com)

• The Royals signed RHP Ross Stripling to a minor league contract and have invited him to major league spring training (official)