The New York Mets are still pushing to get the nod over the Philadelphia Phillies when it comes to landing Tatsuya Imai. However, they still went ahead and met with another coveted pitcher as they need more than just the Japanese star.
As reported by SNY, the Mets are among the teams that met with free agent lefty Framber Valdez. It won’t be easy to land him as Jon Heyman of The Post reported that the Giants and the Orioles also met with Valdez. They are also battling with the Phillies for the services of the Japanese ace.
Formerly of the Astros, Valdez is now a free agent. The Mets would love to add Valdez and Imai to their starting pitchers roster. It was precisely their starting pitching woes that produces a historic collapse in the second half of last season.
Valdez has huge upside for the Mets if they land him
Valdez went 13-11 with a 3.66 ERA last season. He is a proven option and has postseason experience, winning the World Series with the Astros previously. Valdez also pitched a no-hitter in 2023 and was one out away of throwing another one in 2024.
The former Astro is considered a very good, durable and more importantly for the Mets, a reliable pitcher. He is averaging over 190 innings per season recently. Valdez has an elite curveball, is a groundball machine and has finished highly in AL Cy Young voting multiple times in his career.
The Mets need to recover their form on the mound
After the injury, Kodai Senga wasn’t his best version. Also, Sean Manaea regressed badly in the second half of the season, and Frankie Montas delivered below-par performances. To make it worse, David Peterson started to fade in the last stretch of the season and Clay Holmes wasn’t able to go deep into the games, forcing the bullpen to show off during his starts.
Hence, the Mets really need reliable, durable pitchers. Valdez and Imai could boost this unit into one of the MLB‘s best if they both land in the Big Apple. It remains to be seen if the Mets splash the cash to land them, but they should prioritize them.