If you hung out on the Twitter machine Sunday night, there was an interesting rumor concerning the Mets. After watching Jacob deGrom sign with the Texas Rangers late last week, New York’s focus turned to Justin Verlander and Carlos Rodon.
While the Yankees appear to be ramping up their pursuit of Rodon, the Mets have been attempting to reel in Verlander. According to former MLB player Carlos Baerga, the Amazins will be successful in their efforts. This made the rounds on social media Sunday night, but none of baseball’s big news breakers have confirmed that negotiations with the AL Cy Young winner are close to a resolution.
Jon Heyman of the New York Post shared details on what could tip the scales in someone’s favor to get Verlander to make a decision. Heyman mentioned Verlander, who will be 40 on Opening Day, is aiming to pitch into his mid-40s. It’d ideally be done on a long-term deal, but the righty is comfortable betting on himself with multiple short-term deals.
Although we can assume multiple big-market teams are chatting with the future Hall of Famer, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Mets are currently the two favorites. Verlander is believed to have multiple two-year offers on the table. So if a team really wants to secure the ace for their rotation, guaranteeing a third year could do the trick.
Is that something the Mets are willing to do? Andy Martino of SNY recently reported New York and Verlander were chatting throughout the weekend. The accomplished hurler was also believed to be doing his due diligence on New York.
The Mets are determined to land one of the remaining available elite pitchers to replace deGrom. However, it seems like the preference is Verlander. Three years within the $120 million range sounds like the last offer the Mets made to deGrom. Verlander is reportedly seeking a contract similar to the three-year, $130 million deal Max Scherzer earned from New York last winter.
If Billy Eppler, Steve Cohen, and Co. really want to get something done sooner rather than later, they may have to go that extra year.
Putting the Mets up against the Dodgers in this scenario is interesting because L.A. is the organization Cohen wants to model his franchise after. They’re both comfortable with short-term contracts for very high annual value and appear poised to be contenders in 2023.
They last went head-to-head for a starting pitcher prior to the 2021 season for the services of Trevor Bauer. The Dodgers won that battle (for which the Mets are undoubtedly thankful). We’ll see what Round 2 brings.
Matt Musico can be reached at matt.musico@xlmedia.com and you can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8.
