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Mets Open To Dealing David Peterson

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The Mets are willing to entertain offers on starter David Peterson, write Tim Britton and Will Sammon of The Athletic. That probably wouldn’t be for prospects but could be part of a swap for a player at a position of need.

New York has a question at first base and designated hitter with Pete Alonso remaining unsigned. Mark Vientos could step into one of those positions, but he’s a question mark coming off a replacement level season. With Edwin Díaz heading to the Dodgers (pending a physical), upgrading the late innings is a must. The Mets signed Devin Williams to give them cover in the ninth, but their setup group — especially among right-handers — isn’t good enough right now.

The Mets already pulled off one veteran for veteran swap with the Brandon Nimmo/Marcus Semien deal. That opened a spot in left field. President of baseball operations David Stearns confirmed on Monday that the club is in the outfield market (via Britton). They’ve been speculated more as a free agent suitor for Kyle Tucker or Cody Bellinger, but they’re presumably open to adding to the outfield in trade.

All that said, it’s not as if the Mets have a lockdown rotation. It’s a talented group but one without much certainty. Nolan McLean, who has made all of eight career starts, would probably have gotten the ball in Game 1 of a playoff series had they not collapsed in September. Peterson was their most reliable starter overall, though his terrible second half was part of the reason that New York squandered a playoff berth.

The 30-year-old southpaw carried a 3.06 earned run average into the All-Star Break. He allowed 6.34 earned runs per nine in the second half, including 18 runs across 16 2/3 frames in September. A lot of that is attributable to a spike in his batting average allowed on balls in play, but Peterson’s walk rate jumped in August and his strikeouts plummeted in the season’s final month.

It was still a solid performance in aggregate. The former first-rounder turned in a 4.22 ERA across a team-leading 168 2/3 innings. He got ground-balls at a very high 54.7% clip while slightly worse than average strikeout and walk numbers. Peterson’s performance has been up-and-down over the course of his career, but he has a 4.12 ERA with decent underlying marks in more than 600 innings.

Peterson is headed into his final season of club control. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects him for a $7.6MM arbitration salary. He’d probably double that if he were to sign a one-year contract as a free agent, so there should be a few million dollars of surplus value. There’s a chance he pitches well enough to put himself in consideration for a qualifying offer next winter.

If he’s not traded, Peterson will open the season in Carlos Mendoza’s rotation. McLean and Sean Manaea are locked in as well. Clay Holmes stuck as a starter all year but has plenty of experience in the bullpen. Kodai Senga has come up in trade talks. Christian Scott, Jonah Tong and Brandon Sproat are high-upside talents who might all begin the season in Triple-A. The Mets are almost certainly going to add at least one starter, though they’re reportedly reluctant to go long term in free agency. They’ve been most frequently tied to Michael King as a potential target on the open market.

Mets Reportedly Reluctant To Go Beyond Three Years For Pete Alonso

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As the Mets watched one stalwart depart in free agency this morning, they’re faced with the possibility of another. Longtime first baseman Pete Alonso is at the Winter Meetings in Orlando, sitting down with interested teams as he tests the free agent market for a second straight offseason. (Alonso opted out of the second season of a two-year deal with the Mets last month.) Many Mets fans are hoping, particularly with Edwin Diaz headed to Los Angeles, that a new deal with Alonso is in the cards. MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand casts some doubt on that likelihood, reporting that the Mets may be “hesitant” to stretch beyond three guaranteed years to re-sign Alonso.

It’s a familiar scene. The Mets wound up re-signing Alonso last offseason after he rejected their qualifying offer, but only on a two-year contract that allowed him to return to the market this winter via an opt-out. The Mets never seemed keen on giving Alonso the long-term deal he sought following the 2024 season, and that apparently hasn’t changed much a year later.

Alonso is coming off a better season at the plate this time around than he was in 2024, but he’s (of course) also a year older. A three-year deal would cover his age-31 through age-33 seasons. That’s not all that deep into his potential decline years, but while Alonso enjoyed a small decrease in strikeouts and uptick in batted-ball quality, he also saw his already poor defensive grades dip even further. Defensive Runs Saved and Statcast’s Outs Above Average both dinged him at minus-9. Alonso is open to more DH time moving forward, but that apparently doesn’t make the team all that eager to lock Alonso in for his age-34 season or later.

Looking more generally at the current MLB landscape, the market simply hasn’t compensated first-base-only players with middling OBP skills much in recent years, regardless of power output. Alonso is an extreme version of that skill set — one of the most consistent power bats on the planet — but he typically walks at a 9-10% clip and posts an on-base percentage at or slightly above league-average. Defensive acumen and plate discipline can often boost a player’s floor in the eyes of modern evaluators; given that Alonso doesn’t stand out in either regard, there’s likely some real worry (from the Mets and other suitors) that an eventual decline could be precipitous in nature.

Any reluctance on stretching longer-term doesn’t (or at least shouldn’t) stem from payroll concerns. The Mets’ payroll, while enormous, actually begins to open up in the not-too-distant future. They’re currently projected for $278MM in payroll and CBT obligations next season, per RosterResource. That drops to about a $176MM in roster allocations in 2027 (and $181MM in CBT obligations), and by the time we get out to 2028, they “only” have about $134MM on the books. Beginning in 2029, Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor are the only players guaranteed anything.

Today’s report doesn’t expressly rule out a reunion between Alonso and the Mets, but it’s long seemed that if the Mets were interested in signing Alonso to a true long-term contract, it’d have happened last offseason. The fact that it didn’t and that they’re again looking short-term this winter implies that if Alonso is to return to Queens, it’s likelier to happen later in the offseason — after other suitors have spent their money elsewhere, creating a similar set of circumstances to those that paved the way for the two parties’ previous reunion.

Mets Notes: King, Senga, Scott, Minter, Alonso

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The Mets were linked to Michael King’s market earlier this week, and the team’s interest is developed enough that the two sides had a video meeting, the New York Post’s Joel Sherman reports.  Sherman adds that King’s past experience pitching in New York with the Yankees is a plus for the Mets, and the likelihood that King will sign a somewhat shorter-term contract matches the Amazins’ preference to avoid long-term commitments to pitchers.

MLB Trade Rumors did project King for a four-year, $80MM deal, while ranking the right-hander 14th on our list of the winter’s top 50 free agents.  At least eight other teams besides the Mets have been connected to King, so it’s possible there’s enough interest for King to lock in a four-year guarantee just because frontline pitching is such a valued asset.  That said, the 2024 season represents King’s only full season as a starter, as he was limited to 15 starts and 73 1/3 innings with the Padres last season due primarily to a pinched nerve in his shoulder, and then a bout of knee inflammation.

King felt confident enough in his market to reject San Diego’s qualifying offer, and so any team that signs the righty will have to cough up some kind of draft compensation.  For a luxury tax-paying team like the Mets, the penalty for signing a qualified free agent is particularly steep, as New York would have to surrender $1MM in international bonus pool money as well as their second- and fifth-highest picks in the 2026 draft.

There has been speculation that King might be open to accepting a shorter-term contract with an opt-out clause or two, perhaps so he could re-enter the market as soon as next winter on the heels of a healthy and productive season.  Giving up two picks for just one year of King carries some risk for the Mets even if that would fit their short-term window, and if King has a good enough year that he’s willing to opt out, that’s also a boost to the pitching staff.  Given how New York’s rotation was beset by injuries in 2025, the Mets would probably prefer to add a pitcher with more of a proven track record of durability, but acquiring such a player could come with a higher price tag of years or money.

Speaking of the Mets’ injury-plagued rotation, president of baseball operations David Stearns gave a few updates on the staff while speaking with SNY’s Ben Krimmel, MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo (multiple links), and other reporters at the Winter Meetings.  Perhaps the most noteworthy update focused on Kodai Senga, who Stearns said is feeling “as good physically as he has since that 2023 season.”  The executive called this “the most encouraging development we’ve had in terms of our offseason player progression,” and said Senga was planning to return to the U.S. from Japan to throw around the end of December.

After bursting onto the MLB scene with a fantastic 2023 campaign, Senga pitched in just one game in 2024, and then more injuries and a downturn in form led to the righty tossing just 113 1/3 frames for the Mets this past season.  Senga got off to a terrific start in 2025 but never seemed the same after a month-long stint on the IL due to a hamstring strain.  After posting a 5.90 ERA over what ended up being his final 39 2/3 MLB innings of the season, Senga agreed to be optioned to Triple-A in September, and he allowed five earned runs over two starts and 9 2/3 innings with Syracuse.

Reports indicate that the Mets are open to trading Senga, and moving on from the last two years and $28MM of his contract.  For his part, Senga wants to stay with the Mets, and his 10-team no-trade clause gives him some degree of control over his fate.  Considering how the Amazins need pitching themselves, simply keeping Senga is also certainly an option, especially if the club is encouraged that he’ll be able to stay healthy.  Then again, Stearns’ comments may also be read as an executive perhaps trying to calm any doubts about Senga’s health in order to help facilitate a trade.

In other rotation news, Stearns said Christian Scott will be fully ready for the start of Spring Training.  Scott underwent a Tommy John/internal brace hybrid procedure in September 2024 that kept the right-hander sidelined for the entirety of the 2025 campaign.  This absence made Scott a bit of a forgotten man behind other highly-touted Mets pitching prospects, yet it wasn’t long ago that Scott was himself a well-regarded arm who made a rapid climb up the minor league ladder.  Scott made his MLB debut in 2024, posting a 4.56 ERA over nine starts and 47 1/3 innings before being sidelined by injury.

A.J. Minter is also returning from a season-ending surgery, as the reliever’s 2025 campaign was cut short by a torn lat muscle in May.  The lengthy rehab process could extend into the 2026 season, as Stearns said it isn’t a guarantee that Minter will be ready by Opening Day, though Minter isn’t expected to miss much time if he does need to begin the year on the injured list.

The Mets have gotten little return on last offseason’s two-year, $22MM investment in Minter, and it isn’t great that there’s still a question mark hanging over his immediate availability for 2026.  The veteran southpaw’s 2024 campaign was also hampered by hip problems that eventually required a season-ending surgery, so it has been some time since Minter was fully healthy.  Between Minter’s status and the free agency of Edwin Diaz and several other members of the 2025 relief corps, it is no wonder that New York continues to be focused on more bullpen additions, beyond their three-year deal with Devin Williams.

Stearns also addressed Pete Alonso’s upcoming visit to the Winter Meetings, as Alonso (who lives in Tampa) is expected to head to Orlando to conduct in-person meetings with the Orioles, Red Sox, and any other teams interested in his services.  While the Mets remain interested in re-signing the Polar Bear, Stearns said “I think Pete knows us really well, and I think we know Pete really well.  I think he’ll take the time here to perhaps meet with organizations he doesn’t know quite as well, and I’m sure we’ll be in touch.”

Mets, Yankees Among Teams Inquiring On Brewers’ Trevor Megill

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Though much of the trade chatter surrounding the Brewers will focus on ace Freddy Peralta, who’s a free agent following the season, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports that closer Trevor Megill is drawing interest from an even wider number of clubs. That includes the Yankees and Mets, per the report.

Megill, 32, popped up as a speculative trade candidate last month after Brandon Woodruff accepted his one-year, $22.025MM qualifying offer. That decision pushed the Brewers’ payroll up to its currently projected $135.5MM, per RosterResource, which would stand as the highest Opening Day total in franchise history.

There’s no indication that Milwaukee needs to shed salary now — they wouldn’t have made the QO to Woodruff had they been wholly unwilling to risk him accepting — but the budget has obviously tightened since he decided to forgo the open market. In the aftermath of that trade, both president of baseball operations Matt Arnold and owner Mark Attanasio publicly indicated that Woodruff accepting his QO and any decision on whether to trade Peralta (or other veterans on notable salaries) were separate issues. The fact that Milwaukee tendered contracts to its entire arbitration class, including a borderline non-tender candidate in Jake Bauers, supports that thinking.

Still, the Brewers are perennially open-minded when it comes to trading established veterans as they inch closer to free agency. They traded Josh Hader when he had one and a half seasons of club control left. Corbin Burnes and Devin Williams were traded in the offseason prior to their final years of club control. Stretching further back, the Brewers traded Jonathan Lucroy when he was a year and a half from free agency, too. Listening on someone like Megill, who’ll be a free agent after the 2027 season and is projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $4.2MM in 2026, is par for the course.

It’s also plenty understandable that the flamethrowing Megill would be drawing widespread interest. Not only is he controllable for two more seasons and projected for a relatively bargain salary — he’s also quietly established himself as one of the more overpowering relievers in the game.

The Brewers acquired Megill in a heist of a deal with the Twins early in the 2023 season, sending a player to be named later to Minnesota, who’d designated Megill for assignment after one season. The Twins had claimed him off waivers following a DFA by the Cubs the offseason prior. Chicago had previously selected him from the Padres in the Rule 5 Draft. Suffice it to say, Megill’s path to being a high-end reliever was anything but direct.

That’s precisely where he finds himself now, though. Since landing in Milwaukee, Megill has bumped what was already plus-plus velocity, climbing from an average of 98.1 mph on his four-seamer to 99.2 mph this past season. He’s dropped his earned run average in four consecutive seasons, culminating in last year’s sterling 2.49 mark.

In 128 innings with the Brewers, Megill touts a 2.88 ERA (2.99 SIERA, 2.62 FIP). He’s fanned an outstanding 31% of his opponents and done so while showing average command, evidenced by an 8.2% walk rate. He’s prone to hard contact in the air when opponents do connect — 91 mph average exit velocity (93.6 mph in the air), 40.2% hard-hit rate, 44.4% fly-ball rate — but Megill also boasts a big 14% swinging-strike rate and an opponents’ contact rate of just 71.5% in three years as a Brewer. (League average is just under 77%.) He’s also saved 50 games, including 30 in 2025.

Megill missed time late in 2025 with a flexor strain, which could complicate trade talks, but he returned prior to the end of the season and then fired four sharp innings in the playoffs (one run on three hits and a walk with five strikeouts). He’s allowed one run in 7 1/3 playoff innings over three seasons in Milwaukee, totaling a 12-to-1 K/BB ratio along the way.

Two years of Megill at what would amount to something in the $10-11MM range (depending on the scope of next winter’s arbitration raise) would be a raucous bargain. In free agency, he’d command more than that total per year — likely over three or four years. It’s the sort of surplus value and the general price range that should command interest from all walks of postseason hopefuls.

The Mets are an obvious fit, given president of baseball operations David Stearns’ ties to the Brewers organization. Stearns had already stepped aside as president of baseball operations at the time Megill was acquired, but he was still serving as an advisor to the aforementioned Arnold, who’d been his top lieutenant prior to that advisor shift. The Mets have already signed Williams — another former Brewer — on a three-year, $51MM contract. The bullpen remains a work in progress, however. Each of Tyler Rogers, Ryne Stanek, Gregory Soto and Ryan Helsley became a free agent at season’s end. Lefty A.J. Minter is on the mend from lat surgery. Reed Garrett and Tylor Megill — Trevor’s younger brother — will miss all of 2026 after undergoing UCL surgery (the former in October, the latter in September).

It’s a similar story across town in the Bronx. The Yankees lost Clay Holmes to free agency last offseason and saw Williams and Luke Weaver hit the open market this winter. Mark Leiter Jr. and Ian Hamilton were non-tendered. The top end of Aaron Boone’s bullpen is a bit more established than that of counterpart Carlos Mendoza over in Queens, but the Yankees are surely in the market for multiple bullpen arms to complement David Bednar, Fernando Cruz, Camilo Doval and Tim Hill.

For clubs like the Mets, Yankees and other luxury-tax payors, Megill ought to hold extra interest. Both New York clubs are perennial residents in the top bracket of luxury penalization. They’re paying anywhere from 95% to 110% taxes on incoming additions. Getting Megill would “only” cost them a total of $8-9MM — plus whatever prospects are deemed necessary for the Brewers to part with him.

To emphasize once more, there’s no clear indication Megill (or Peralta) will actually change hands. The Brewers will understandably set a high asking price for either. They just tallied the best record in the National League and lost very few players in free agency. They’ll also get a full year out of the new-and-improved Andrew Vaughn (.308/.375/.493 in 64 games with Milwaukee) and can count on more innings from Woodruff (64 2/3 innings in 2025). Milwaukee has to be considered the division front-runner and a threat to make a deep playoff run. If they part with Megill and/or Peralta, it’ll very likely be for younger, affordable big leaguers who can be controlled for a much longer term — or at the very least for high-end prospects who could be subsequently spun into more controllable big league help.

Mets Interested In Kyle Schwarber

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The Mets are interested in free agent slugger Kyle Schwarber, reports Mike Puma of The New York Post. Schwarber rejected a qualifying offer from the Phillies, so any other club would face the associated penalties for signing him.

Schwarber has been one of the most popular free agents this winter, which isn’t surprising. The Phillies would love to have him back and he has also been connected to the Pirates, Reds, Red Sox, Orioles and Giants. Pittsburgh has reportedly made a four-year offer to Schwarber.

The interest stems from Schwarber being one of the best bats in the league. He strikes out a lot but also draws lots of walks and hits home runs. He has seven seasons with at least 30 long balls. He’s gotten to 38 in each of the past four campaigns and hit at least 46 in three of those four. 2025 was a personal best, as he was able to launch 56 homers. His 28.4% strikeout rate in his career is quite high but he has drawn walks at a 14.2% clip.

Schwarber is a lefty and has been hamstrung by southpaws at times in his career, but he seems to have put that all behind him more recently. His production against lefties has improved over the years, so much so that he was actually better without the platoon advantage in the two most recent campaigns. In 2024, he slashed .300/.407/.490 for a 152 wRC+ against lefties, compared to a .218/.342/.482 line and 124 wRC+ otherwise. In 2025, those lines were .252/.366/.598 and .232/.364/.541 for respective wRC+ numbers of 162 and 146.

There are downsides with Schwarber. He is essentially only a designated hitter at this point in his career. He has just 13 outfield appearances over the past two years combined. He could perhaps end up at first base but doesn’t have a track record of success there. His age is also a factor, as he’ll turn 33 in March.

It seems teams are willing to overlook those concerns in order to take a chance on adding an elite bat. MLBTR predicted Schwarber could secure a five-year, $135MM deal this offseason. As mentioned, the Pirates have already put a four-year offer out there. Given how many teams are at the table, perhaps he will get that fifth year.

For the Mets, they have a fairly open DH spot. Starling Marte took most of the plate appearances in that slot in 2025 and he is now a free agent. Longtime first baseman Pete Alonso is also on the open market. The Mets subtracted a lefty bat from the lineup when they dealt left fielder Brandon Nimmo to the Rangers for second baseman Marcus Semien.

Alonso could still be re-signed but having both him and Schwarber is probably not in the cards. The Mets are hoping to improve their run prevention next year, which prompted them to add a solid defender like Semien. It has been reported that the Mets don’t love Alonso as a defender and would like him to spend more time as a DH going forward, if they reunite. Signing both Alonso and Schwarber would mean putting Alonso back out there as a regular first baseman, which doesn’t align with that run prevention plan.

Financially, the Mets could theoretically do a lot. They have been big spenders since Steve Cohen became owner of the team. RosterResource currently pegs their 2026 payroll at $279MM, about $60MM below where they finished in 2025. They could make even more payroll space if they trade Jeff McNeil and/or Kodai Senga, who have both been in plenty of rumors this offseason.

The Mets have some needs on the pitching staff but are reportedly hoping to avoid the top free agent starters. Perhaps they plan to dedicate more resources to the lineup. They likely need to make another move to replace Nimmo in the outfield, maybe two moves when considering their center field situation. They could go after Schwarber but they could also try to bring back Alonso and/or Edwin Díaz. Alonso is reportedly meeting with the Red Sox and Orioles at the Winter Meetings, but he could also make time for other clubs as well.

Photo courtesy of Bill Streicher, Imagn Images

Mets “Reluctant” To Make Long-Term Offers For Free Agent Starters

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While it’s no secret that addressing the top of the rotation is a priority for the Mets this winter, Will Sammon of The Athletic reports that the Mets are hesitant to make long-term offers to the top starters available in free agency this winter. Sammon adds that each of Framber Valdez, Tatsuya Imai, and Ranger Suarez would “hold some appeal” to the Mets on shorter-term deals.

At this point, it seems unlikely any of those pitchers will need to settle for something short-term. MLBTR predicted both Valdez and Imai to land six-year deals worth $150MM in free agency this winter as the offseason’s #6 and #7 free agents. Meanwhile, Suarez clocked in at #10 on MLBTR’s Top 50 MLB Free Agents list and was predicted for a five-year deal worth $115MM. Right-hander Dylan Cease jumped the market to sign a seven-year deal with the Blue Jays late last month. His $210MM guarantee exceeds the seven-year, $189MM guarantee MLBTR predicted for the right-hander, although that deal does include deferred money that lowers the net present value of the deal a bit.

Even with that deferred money, however, Cease’s seven-year pact is hardly a troublesome omen for Valdez, Imai, and Suarez. Imai in particular won’t celebrate his 28th birthday until May and that youth figures to help him land a long-term deal this winter. Of course, free agency can be unpredictable. While the trend of short-term deals with opt outs have been more common for position players (Carlos Correa, Cody Bellinger, Matt Chapman, Pete Alonso) than pitchers in recent years, a few hurlers have found an unexpectedly soft market as well. Jack Flaherty was widely expected to land a long-term deal in free agency last offseason but ended up signing for just two years with the Tigers. Two offseasons ago, Blake Snell was viewed as a shoo-in for a six-year deal but wound up signing with the Giants on a short-term, opt-out laden pact.

Perhaps the Mets are willing to be patient on the free agent market to see if another high-end starter falls through the cracks like Snell did during the 2023-24 offseason. Another option would be to move a tier down in free agency to sign a short-term deal with a player who has still shown front-of-the-rotation upside. Michael King is viewed as being a potential top-of-the-rotation arm whose years will be limited coming off an injury-marred season, and the Mets are among the teams with known interest. Sammon floats Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly as other possibilities, either of whom would be plausible fits. Kelly turned in a 3.52 ERA in 32 starts last year, but will be forced to stay short-term by the fact that he’ll play next season at the age of 37. Gallen has shown ace-level upside in the past and is only 30, but enters free agency coming off the worst season of his career.

Another option for the Mets would be to keep tabs on the trade market. Sammon notes that Pirates right-hander Mitch Keller is someone that New York would “likely” view as an upgrade to their internal rotation options, to say nothing of more established front-end options like Freddy Peralta or higher upside players like MacKenzie Gore and Edward Cabrera. Keller will make $54.5MM over the next three seasons, while Gore and Cabrera are controlled via arbitration through 2027 and ’28 respectively. Peralta (as well as ace lefty Tarik Skubal, should the Tigers make him available) would only be controlled for one season before they would hit free agency and surely seek the sort of long-term deals the Mets are looking to avoid.

Speculatively speaking, that could make a controllable starter like Keller, Gore, or Cabrera and ideal fit for the Mets. The club already appears motivated to make moves on the trade market this winter, with Kodai Senga and Jeff McNeil among the club’s rumored trade candidates. In addition to those veteran names, the Mets have a number of young infielders (Brett Baty, Mark Vientos, Luisangel Acuna, and Ronny Mauricio) who could be made available in the right deal. For a team like the Pirates or Marlins looking to add help on offense, any of those names would surely be attractive pieces to bring into the fold.

Of course, there’s no guarantee that a significant number of starting pitchers move on the trade market this winter. If a run on starting pitching begins in free agency while the Mets are focused on the trade market, the club could find that the patient approach it took backfired and left them without a true front-end talent to pursue—or that they had to pay a premium to land one of the last arms remaining on the market. It’s a difficult needle the Mets will have to thread if they want to land a front-end arm on a shorter-term arrangement, and fans are surely hoping they’ll do a better job of doing so than they did with last winter’s disappointing deals for Sean Manaea, Clay Holmes, and Frankie Montas. Of that trio, only Holmes managed to stick in the rotation by the end of the year.

Jeff Kent Elected To Baseball Hall Of Fame

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Jeff Kent was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, as revealed by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee tonight.  Kent received 14 of a possible 16 votes from the Era Committee, easily topping the 75% (12 of 16) threshold needed for induction to Cooperstown.  Of the other seven candidates under consideration, Carlos Delgado was the next-closest candidate with nine votes, and Dale Murphy and Don Mattingly each received six votes.  Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Gary Sheffield, and Fernando Valenzuela all received less than five votes.

A veteran of 17 Major League seasons with the Blue Jays, Mets, Indians, Giants, Astros, and Dodgers from 1992-2008, Kent hit more homers as a second baseman than any other player in history, going yard 351 times from the position.  His resume includes four Silver Slugger awards and five All-Star nods, as well as the 2000 NL MVP Award when Kent was a member of the Giants.

Kent is primarily remembered for his six seasons in San Francisco and five seasons with the Mets.  Beginning his career as a well-regarded prospect in the Blue Jays’ farm system, Roberto Alomar’s presence in Toronto made Kent expendable, and the Jays dealt Kent for David Cone in August 1992.  Cone’s presence helped the Blue Jays capture the 1992 World Series, while Kent went onto establish himself as a solid regular during his time in New York.

The 1996 trade deadline saw Kent again on the move, this time to Cleveland.  During the 1996-97 offseason, the Tribe flipped Kent to San Francisco, where he truly rose to stardom.  Kent hit .297/.368/.535 with 175 homers over 3903 plate appearances and an even 900 games with the Giants from 1997-2002, teaming with Bonds to form a devastating one-two punch in the lineup.  The 2002 Giants reached the World Series for Kent’s only appearance in the Fall Classic, as the team fell just short in a seven-game loss to the Angels.  For his career in the postseason, Kent hit a solid .276/.340/.500 over 189 PA.

Kent spent his final six seasons with the Astros (2003-04) and Dodgers (05-08), and remained an offensive force at the plate until his production finally trailed off in his 17th and final MLB season.  Over 2298 career games and 9537 PA, Kent hit .290/.356/.500 with 377 home runs, 1518 RBI, and 1320 runs scored.

Despite his impressive career numbers, Kent didn’t gain much traction during his 10 years on the writers’ ballot, as he never received more than 46.5% of the vote.  A crowded ballot during Kent’s era didn’t help, yet his subpar defense and surly reputation probably also didn’t help curry much favor with voters.  Clubhouse controversy followed Kent during his time with the Mets and Giants, and his stint in San Francisco included a well-publicized feud with Bonds.  There is some irony, therefore, in the fact that Kent is finally making it into Cooperstown while on the same Era Committee ballot as his former Giants teammate.

Formerly known as the Veterans Committee, the Era Committee is the latest incarnation of the process that for decades has given some fresh evaluation and a second chance to players initially overlooked on the writers’ ballot.  This year’s version of the Era Committee focused on players whose greatest contributions came during the “Contemporary Baseball” (1980-present) era.  Next year’s ballot will focus on managers, executives, and umpires from the Contemporary Baseball era, and the 2027 ballot will consider candidates from the “Classic Baseball” era (prior to 1980) before Contemporary Players are again considered in 2028.

A rule change introduced this year added an extra layer of intrigue (or even controversy) to this year’s proceedings.  Because they received less than five votes on this year’s ballot, Bonds, Clemens, Sheffield, and Valenzuela must be omitted from the next voting cycle, and can’t return to the Contemporary Players ballot until at least 2031.  If any of these four players then don’t receive at least five votes in 2031 or on any future ballot, they are no longer eligible for inclusion on any Contemporary Players ballot.

The aim of this new rule is to allow more candidates to be included on Era Committee ballots on a regular basis.  The concept of permanent disqualification from ballots, however, has been viewed by some as a way for the Hall of Fame to sidestep the ongoing controversy about Bonds, Clemens, Sheffield, or other prominent superstars (i.e. Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro) who were linked to PEDs.  While obviously Era Committee rules could again be altered down the road, for now, the path to Cooperstown has gotten even narrower for Bonds, Clemens, or Sheffield.

The results of the writers’ ballot will be announced on January 20, with such players as Carlos Beltran and Andruw Jones seen as strong candidates to finally get over the 75% threshold after multiple years on the ballot (nine years for Jones, four years for Beltran).  Any players elected on January 20 will join Kent in being officially inducted into the Hall of Fame on July 26 in Cooperstown.

The 16 members of this year’s Era Committee could vote for as many as three players, and as few as zero players.  This year’s Era Committee was comprised of seven Hall of Famers (Ferguson Jenkins, Jim Kaat, Juan Marichal, Tony Perez, Ozzie Smith, Alan Trammell, Robin Yount), four former MLB general managers (Doug Melvin, Kim Ng, Tony Reagins, Terry Ryan), two current MLB owners (the Brewers’ Mark Attansio and the Angels’ Arte Moreno), two media members (the Athletic’s Tyler Kepner and Jayson Stark), and historian Steve Hirdt.

Mets, Giants Met With Framber Valdez In November

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The Orioles are the only team publicly linked to Framber Valdez’s market this winter, and MLB Network’s Jon Morosi reports that Valdez and his reps indeed met with officials from the O’s at the GM Meetings in November.  Around that same time, however, the Giants and Mets also spoke with Valdez’s camp, which fits given how both teams are known to be looking for starting pitching help.

Valdez ranked sixth on MLBTR’s list of the offseason’s top 50 free agents, with a predicted contract of five years and $150MM.  This projection makes San Francisco’s interest all the more intriguing, since both GM Zack Minasian and team chairman Greg Johnson have each stated since the GM Meetings that the Giants prefer to add pitchers on shorter-term contracts.  Valdez is entering his age-32 season, which may raise the risk level even further about making a big commitment to the left-hander now that he is past what are generally considered a player’s prime years.

The Giants’ stance doesn’t technically preclude a pursuit of Valdez, if the team perhaps offered the southpaw a short-term contract with a higher average annual value.  That said, Valdez’s age might make such a consideration unlikely on his end, as surely he wants to strike as lengthy and lucrative a deal as possible now that he has reached the open market.  Despite his age, Valdez is a workhorse who has tossed 767 2/3 innings over the last four seasons, and he has 85 more innings under his belt on his career postseason resume.

Valdez is a grounder specialist who doesn’t miss many bats, but that skillset would work just fine with Matt Chapman and Willy Adames backing him up in the San Francisco infield.  More pressingly, Valdez’s ability to eat up innings with quality work is a nice fit in a Giants rotation that has plenty of question marks beyond ace Logan Webb.

Robbie Ray and Landen Roupp project as the next two starters, and Ray is a free agent next winter while Roupp had a solid 2025 season but is an overall unproven commodity over the long term.  A collection of other younger and unproven arms (Hayden Birdsong, Trevor McDonald, Blade Tidwell, Carson Whisenhunt, Kai-Wei Teng, Keaton Winn) are currently in the mix for the fourth and fifth spots.  Signing Valdez would do a ton to solidify this group, as the Giants would have a very strong top three of Webb-Ray-Valdez that could easily line up as a playoff rotation, and Valdez would be the replacement for Ray if the former Cy Young Award winner went elsewhere after the 2026 campaign.

That said, it could all be a moot point if the Giants aren’t willing to splurge on a long-term pitching contract.  It could be that the Giants checked in with Valdez and other pitchers to get an early gauge on their expectations, and without much hope of finding a bargain, the team is now being open about its preference to stick with smaller (and presumably less-expensive) contracts.

Mets president of baseball David Stearns shares a similar view on starting pitching contracts, yet New York’s decision to stick to such deals with the likes of Sean Manaea, Frankie Montas, and Clay Holmes last winter backfired badly on the team.  These three pitchers and the other members of the rotation simply seemed to break down last season, leading to the team’s collapse in the second half as an influx of pitching prospects couldn’t stop the downward spiral.

Between the veterans (Manaea, Holmes, Kodai Senga, David Peterson) and the youngsters (Nolan McLean, Jonah Tong, Brandon Sproat, Christian Scott), the Mets have plenty of pitchers on hand, yet adding a durable frontline starter like Valdez would be a huge boost to this group.  In the wake of last year’s collapse, Stearns expressed regret over not doing more to reinforce the pitching staff, and owner Steve Cohen surely couldn’t have been pleased with how things played out.

The Amazins’ interest in upgrading their rotation has been evident by the many big names on their radar this winter.  Valdez joins the likes of Tatsuya Imai, Michael King, Ranger Suarez, Joe Ryan, and Tarik Skubal as free agents and trade candidates who have been liked to the Mets in some fashion.  It might be safe to guess at this point that the Mets will head into Opening Day with at least one big new arm at the front of their rotation, and it’s just a matter of whether the club will obtain their rotation help via trades or pricey signings.

Latest On Michael King’s Market

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Michael King is one of the bigger risk-reward plays in the starting pitching class. He’s arguably a top 10 pitcher in MLB when healthy but is coming off a platform season that was wrecked by a nerve injury in his throwing shoulder. He’s also attached to draft compensation after rejecting a qualifying offer from the Padres.

That hasn’t deterred plenty of teams from expressing interest. King was already known to be a target for the Cubs, Tigers and Yankees, while even the Marlins checked in as a long shot suitor. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com and Joel Sherman of The New York Post each write that the Mets are involved. Feinsand adds the Orioles, Angels and incumbent Padres as teams on the periphery of the market. Sherman reports that the Red Sox have also shown interest in the 30-year-old righty.

King converted to the rotation late in the 2023 season as a member of the Yankees. He pitched well enough to stick as a starter after being traded to San Diego as the centerpiece of the Juan Soto deal. King finished seventh in NL Cy Young voting in 2024, pitching to a 2.95 ERA while striking out 201 batters over 31 appearances. He’d pitched even better over the first six weeks of the ’25 campaign. King reeled off 10 starts with a 2.59 earned run average and punching out 28% of opponents before the injury.

Durability is the big question. The shoulder issue wasn’t structural but proved a lot more problematic than initially expected. He wound up missing almost three months and showed signs of rust when he returned late in the season. King gave up 12 runs while tallying all of 17 1/3 innings over five starts in the second half. His velocity was fine but he only managed 12 strikeouts while issuing nine free passes.

King appeared on track for a nine-figure contract amidst his hot start. That’s tougher to envision now, as the 2024 campaign remains the only season in which he has reached even 105 innings. That’s largely because of his usage with the Yankees, but he also missed a couple months in 2021 with a finger injury and suffered a season-ending elbow fracture the following year.

MLBTR predicted King to receive a four-year, $80MM contract. It’s also possible he prefers a two- or three-year deal with an opt-out to get back to free agency next winter. King declined the straight one-year qualifying offer, but a multi-year deal with an out clause would give him a little more security than the QO would have provided. Jeff Passan of ESPN wrote this morning that King is willing to sign for a shorter term than the top free agent arms (e.g. Framber Valdez, Tatsuya Imai, Ranger Suárez). That wouldn’t necessarily rule out a four-year deal, as the best starters are expected to command five or six-year contracts. Dylan Cease already pulled a seven-year guarantee.

The Mets should come away with a mid-rotation or better arm via free agency or trade. They stayed away from the top of the rotation market last winter. That worked out early in the year but collapsed down the stretch. Only the Rockies, Nationals and Angels had a higher second-half ERA from their rotation than the Mets’ 5.31 mark. Nolan McLean looks like a budding frontline starter, but he’s their only pitcher who allowed fewer than 4.20 earned runs per nine after the All-Star Break.

Baltimore, Boston, San Diego and the Angels have all been in the rotation market. The Red Sox should probably focus elsewhere after acquiring Sonny Gray and Johan Oviedo in trade. The Angels have landed a pair of starters this offseason as well, but Grayson Rodriguez and Alek Manoah both have significant health questions. They still need a starter and are also in the mix for Zac Gallen. The O’s are involved on Valdez and Suárez; no pitcher seems to be off the table for them. The Padres are unlikely to spend what it’d take to bring King back, though they’ll need multiple rotation adds after also losing Cease to free agency and Yu Darvish to elbow surgery.

Mets Claim Cooper Criswell

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The Mets have claimed righty Cooper Criswell off waivers from the Red Sox, reports ESPN’s Jorge Castillo. Boston designated him for assignment just yesterday as a corresponding move after acquiring Johan Oviedo from the Pirates. (Boston needed 40-man spots for both Oviedo and minor league lefty Tyler Samaniego.) The Mets have not yet announced the claim, but they currently have a pair of 40-man vacancies, so they won’t need to make a corresponding move.

Though Criswell isn’t yet eligible for arbitration, the Sox had signed the right-hander to a fully guaranteed $800K deal for the upcoming season. As noted here at the time he signed, Boston’s hope in doing so was likely that Criswell’s lack of minor league options and a slightly higher-than-usual salary for a pre-arbitration player would help him pass through waivers so they could keep him as non-roster depth.

That didn’t work out for the Red Sox, but we’ve increasingly seen clubs take this tactic with fringe 40-man players who lack minor league options as a means of attempting to bolster their stash of experienced players in the upper minors. The Mets themselves could very well try the same with Criswell later in the offseason as their 40-man roster fills up.

The 29-year-old Criswell appeared in seven games for the Sox in 2025, logging 17 2/3 innings of 3.57 ERA ball but with only an 11.3% strikeout rate. He’s totaled 154 2/3 innings across parts of five major league seasons and carries a career 4.48 ERA, 16.7% strikeout rate and 7.1% walk rate between the Angels, Rays and Red Sox. He also tossed 65 2/3 innings of 3.70 ERA ball for the Sox’ Triple-A affiliate in Worcester this past season, working primarily as a starter.

If Criswell survives the offseason and spring training on the 40-man roster, he’d likely be looking at a swingman role if the Mets consider carrying him on the Opening Day squad. New York currently has Nolan McLean, David Peterson, Clay Holmes, Kodai Senga, Sean Manaea, Jonah Tong, Brandon Sproat and Christian Scott ahead of Criswell on the rotation depth chart. The Mets are also likely to further add to that group via free agency and/or trade, though it’s also possible that some of those names could be subtracted via trade. Senga, in particular, has seen his name pop up in recent rumors.

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