Help is on the way for the New York Mets. Specifically, the starting rotation.
MLB Hot Stove buzz is building as next week’s Winter Meetings approach.
With that in mind, The Athletic’s Jim Bowden looked at free-agent fits for all 30 clubs. For the Mets, it’s left-hander Carlos Rodon, with Bowden suggesting a five-year, $144 million contract.
I strongly believe the Mets will land Jacob deGrom, Justin Verlander or Carlos Rodón. I’m not sure they’re going to offer deGrom the contract length he seeks, though it will come down to the medical reports, or that Verlander will choose the Mets over the Dodgers and Astros. But I do think Rodón will take the most money he’s offered, which could very well be from the Mets. … Rodón is in line for a long-term contract, and I could see the Mets giving it to him.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported Wednesday deGrom and Rodon could sign “within the next week.”
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ESPN assembled a panel of MLB experts – Bradford Doolittle, Alden Gonzalez, Joon Lee, Kiley McDaniel, Buster Olney, Jesse Rogers and David Schoenfield – to predict where the top free agents will sign … and for how much.
Carlos Rodon
McDaniel: Mets, 5 years, $135 million.
Doolittle: Baltimore Orioles, 5 years, $135 million.
Schoenfield: Mets, 5 years, $142 million.
Rogers: Texas Rangers, 5 years, $132 million.
Lee: Mets, 5 years, $150 million.
Olney: Mets, 5 years, $130 million.
González: Mets, 5 years, $130 million.
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The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports the Rangers are “more confident of landing left-hander Carlos Rodón and possibly Japanese righty Kodai Senga” than they do of signing deGrom or Verlander.
According to the New York Post’s Jon Heyman, the Yankees’ “confidence level on Verlander is low” but “Yankees people very much like (Carlos) Rodon.”
Former Yankees ace David Cone thinks Rodon would do well in the Bronx: “Carlos Rodon is in a class by himself. Upper-90s fastball. Left-handed. Power pitcher. Coming off a great year. He’s a cut above. He’s going to command a big deal wherever he goes, as long as you can get past his medicals. He does have a little bit of an injury history. But he certainly had a great year last year once again with the Giants.”
The 29-year-old Rodon has been an All-Star each of the last two seasons and won a career-high 14 games in 2022. He finished in the top six for NL Cy Young Award voting this year and top five in AL Cy Young voted last year, when he pitched for the Chicago White Sox.
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Mike Rosenstein may be reached at [email protected].