The New York Mets may look to deal starting pitchers Marcus Stroman, Steven Matz prior to the 2020 campaign.
Following the signings of both Rick Porcello and Michael Wacha, the New York Mets will likely need to create an open spot within their starting pitching rotation.
Currently, the Mets have Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Marcus Stroman, Steven Matz, Porcello, and Wacha as options to start in 2020. Since they’re not planning to begin next season with a six-man rotation, they’ll need to move one of the names above. They can do so by either transitioning one of them to the bullpen or through the trade market.
According to Jon Heyman of MLB Network, Stroman and Matz are candidates that could potentially be dealt.
Teams that still seek a starter: Twins, Dodgers, Angels, Padres, Phillies, possibly Brewers, Braves. Starters whose names are heard on market: Price, Ray, Boyd, Clevinger, Happ, speculatively Archer, Matz/Stroman, M. Gonzales, Quintana. Should be a wild scramble.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 23, 2019
While it’s not surprising to read that general manager Brodie Van Wagenen could make Matz available on the trade market, Stroman is definitely shocking.
The Mets acquired the 28-year-old prior to the trade deadline in July. Stroman appears to be an integral part of the pitching staff. Though, his contract is up after the 2020 season.
The New York native was quite effective during his 11 starts with the Mets. During that span, Stroman produced a 3.77 ERA, 4.15 FIP, 1.475 WHIP, 23.0% strikeout rate, 8.8% walk rate and a 108 ERA+ through 59.2 innings.
Since New York is looking to contend in 2020, it’ll need to keep Stroman through at least next season. Without him, the bottom half of the Mets’ rotation would likely struggle to produce quality results.
The left-handed Matz seems like the obvious choice to create an open spot in the rotation. He’ll be entering his age-29 season in 2020 and isn’t slated to become a free agent until after 2021.
Based on his struggles from 2019, Matz’s departure from the Mets would make sense. During this past season, he generated a 4.21 ERA, 4.60 FIP, 1.340 WHIP, 22.1% strikeout rate, 7.5% walk rate, and just a 1.6 fWAR over 160.1 innings.
Matz was asked to come out of the bullpen for a short time in 2019. Van Wagenen has also talked about potentially moving Matz to the bullpen full-time in 2020.
