Other teams in the group include the Baltimore Orioles, Arizona Diamondbacks, Los Angeles Angels, Chicago White Sox, Washington Nationals and San Diego Padres.

Passan cited players like Chris Bassitt, Lucas Giolito, Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, Walker Buehler and Tyler Mahle as pitchers who fall into the mid-tier category.

41 comments

  3. Mahle is a fine pitcher, Mets should sign him. I would also be happy with a Bassitt reunion.

  4. ’Non-Top Level Starters’ – Hahaha, Mets already in tank-mode and the season has not even started yet.

  9. In no particular order, we have…
    **McLean**, **Holmes**, **Peterson**, **Sproat**, **Tong**, **Scott**, **Manaea**, **Senga**
    Plus, several others who could be in the rotation next season.

    According to rumors and reports, the are willing to talk about trading anyone in that group other than **McLean** who is all but untouchable.

    Best case scenario probably in Stearns mind is that **Senga,** **Manaea**, **Peterson**, if all healthy, have bounce back years, and **McLean**, **Sproat**, and **Tong** solidify themselves permanent rotation pieces right out the Spring training.

    **Holmes** had a very good first year as starter.
    I kind of wonder though, depending on what other starters we acquire, and how guys do this Spring, if Stearns might end up deciding to move **Holmes** into the pen so you have…
    **Williams**, **Weaver**, **Holmes**, **Raley**, **Minter**.

    In Stearns own mind, he might feel **Senga**, **Manaea**, **Peterson** just had an bad half season/injuries, but that they will be closer to their career norms in 2026, so he doesn’t want to spend a small fortune on long term money arms if they aren’t mid-20’s elite arms I guess.

    Are we in on **Tastuya Imai** ???

  12. I like to think a team who’s No. 2 pitcher is Clay Holmes would be a little more aggressive in acquiring a front end pitcher

  15. I mean which Free agent pitcher is actually top Level currently? There are very very few top level pitchers, and if the best pitcher in the market is a 32 year old Valdez, yeah i wouldn’t pay to tie myself down to long term money for that, it is frustrating but if there’s no top of market pitcher then i don’t want to overpay and keep myself in a hole.

  16. And then delivering “mid-tier” results. The Brewers celebrated competing, squeezing every ounce out of their budget. Not so sure that NY Mets fans will be as thrilled.

  17. Am I the only guy who is convinced if Helsley hadn’t been here last year, and had that season with the Phils, the Rangers, the Mariners, whoever……that Stearns would be signing him. He’d report he sees something the lab can fix.

  18. This is what they did last year long with signing a boatload of mediocre middle relievers. I guess we can expect a different result, right?

  24. Mets fans got short memories. 6 months ago we thought Stearns was a genius for turning Clay Holmes and Griffin Canning into solid starters. A year ago we thought Stearns was a genius when retreads Sean Manaea and Luis Severino pitched us into the NLCS. Two years ago, Stearns joined the Mets with a reputation for getting great pitching performances from practically everyone in a Brewers uniform. Suddenly everyone’s acting like Stearns has announced that he wants the team to be mediocre.

  25. Definitely blame and dump Pete Alonso for the 2025 collapse, and solve the problem with pitchers in their 40s. I hope other teams don’t try to steal this genius GM away.

  29. Heres a hot take that’ll probably get me downvoted to hell but idgaf:

    Montas was straight booty, but I maintain had he, Manea, Senga and Canning not gotten hurt we wouldve at least made the playoffs. Mid-tier pitching didn’t hurt us the most – injuries hurt us. Pun intended.

    Not saying we’d have made it to the WS, but we wouldve at least had a shot.

  30. Imagine being a pitcher and seeing Passan naming you and saying things like teams eying mid-starters and non-top level players. Like do you just accept it or be like, hey wtf man!?

  32. I haven’t trusted Passan since he declared Jason Heyward a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

  35. Stearns followed Cohen’s directive to spend Cohen’s money on Soto and begrudgingly, Alonso. Fine moves—but they had nothing to do with Stearns’ own skill. And the lackluster effort meant a mere one more year of the all time Mets HR leader who stil has more to offer. When it was finally Stearns’ turn to build actual support, he handed out a pile of minor-league contracts, spring training invites, and even managed to bid against himself for the useless Montas. Then he shoved Clay Holmes into the rotation, where he predictably ran out of gas and delivered all of two quality starts in the second half. Two

    Fantastic.

    Now the plan seems to be adding more mid-level starters and hoping something sticks so he can eventually claim genius by accident. Bassitt is over the hill. He already choked in the postseason here—the moment was too big and he couldn’t throw a strike. Hard pass. He doesn’t move the needle and if at all, backwards. He’s old and the epitome of mediocrity. His has a couple of serviceable years left. Adequate years. Not winning years.

    Teams with real championship aspirations don’t stockpile #4 and #5 starters. If Stearns had been aggressive for Crochet last year—or even Castillo—the Mets are in the playoffs and anything can happen. They were two wins from the pennant in 2023. Then they got Soto and surrounded him with junk, failed to address pitching, missed the playoffs, and broke up the offense afterward.

    This team didn’t fail because of the lineup. It failed because of pitching.

    Stearns stinks. I could’ve thrown darts at the free-agent starter board last offseason and built a playoff team with this offense. Cohen may know how to win in the stock market, but he doesn’t know baseball—just a wealthy fanboy playing GM.

    Keep adding mid-tier starters.
    Keep being a mid-tier team.

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