The lynchpin to the Mets off-season...
The lynchpin to the Mets off-season...
The Mets have a key target they simply cannot miss out on this winter
What’s Up with the Mets? 🍎
Antoan Richardson will join the dugout staff as the Mets first base coach (MLB.com)
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Willie Randolph could still join the Mets in some capacity (Newsday)
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Yoshinobu Yamamoto is the linchpin for the Mets offseason✍️
The failure of the 2023 Mets was the culmination of several things, but if you had to point to one key area specifically that led to the club’s downfall, it had to be the starting rotation.
Last week, I looked at what David Stearns could look to do to address what is clearly the club’s biggest weakness, but right now I’d like to talk a bit about what simply has to be his Plan A.
Japanese superstars have crossed the Pacific to join the Major Leagues plenty of times. But never have we had someone like right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto. To put into prospective how massive his decision to leave Japan really is, let’s try to give it some context.
Yamamoto is simply the best Japanese pitcher to ever take his talents to the US. He’s a 25-year-old megastar in the prime of his career. He’s won three consecutive pitching Triple Crowns. He was named the MVP of the Pacific League in 2021 and 2022. He’s won the Eiji Sawamura award—the Japanese equivalent of the Cy Young award— in each of the past three seasons.
This would be like if Clayton Kershaw had left the big leagues to go to Japan in 2014, fresh off winning three Cy Young awards in a four-year span.
In terms of the 2024 Mets, it’s easy to see why Yamamoto is an ideal fit. Sure, some growing pains may come from joining an entirely new league in a country in which he’s yet to gain any familiarity, and learning the routine in the big leagues is always an adjustment for a pitcher coming from the NPB league. We all know about the differences Japanese pitchers face—the bigger ball, pitching on four days rest rather than five.
But we’re talking about someone with a talent level so far superior to everyone else available that the Mets simply have to do whatever it takes to get him to Queens.
The club’s rotation right now is essentially Kodai Senga, Jose Quintana, and pray for rain. Beyond those two they have a horde of pitchers who have gotten ample opportunities with the big-league team in recent years that have yet to truly establish themselves, one of which won’t be available until who knows when after he underwent hip surgery this fall (David Peterson).
There is simply no way Stearns and company cannot bring in at least two new starting pitchers, and if the first one of them is Yamamoto it would make the rest of the winter’s to-do list so much easier. Rather than trying to put together a potentially painful trade for an upper echelon starter, the team would instead be able to shop in a much less expensive aisle for a middle of the rotation arm.
Also - it’s worth mentioning that if the Mets do indeed sign Yamamoto, there would be no penalty incurred in the draft or their international signing pool.
It would allow the team to feel confident in their top of its rotation—especially the Yamamoto and Senga duo—and put much less pressure on what has to be done to fix the rest of the pitching staff as a whole. Remember, everything on a staff works together, and many of the struggles in the Mets bullpen a year ago were a direct result of the starters consistently struggling to even go five innings.
The Mets obviously have a massive amount of work to do this winter if they are going to get back to being competitive, and to me, the only way that happens as early as 2024 is if Yamamoto is wearing a Mets jersey when spring training camps open in February.
Hot Stove 🔥
KBO’s Jung Hoo Lee is likely to be posted for MLB clubs in December (MyKBO.net)
The Yankees are showing interest in a reunion with LHP Jordan Montgomery (New York Post)
More than half the league has shown interest in signing RHP Seth Lugo (Foul Territory)