We Need a Starting Pitcher

[Gwreck]

deGrom, Stroman, and Walker can only pitch 60% of the games.



Peterson is very inconsistent.

Lucchesi out for the year.

Carrasco, Syndergaard, Yamomoto: can you count on getting a total of 25 starts combined from them in 2021? 20? 10?



What's your plan? More Jerad Eickhoff? Move Lugo to the rotation? Trade for someone? Zack Scott seeks your suggestions NOW.

[Edgy MD]

Eickhoff certainly didn't answer my dreams, but he's earned another start. Peterson has pitched his way back into good graces for the time being as well. Thoses graces, of course, are more temporary than most.



Names you should consider throwing love at include Misters Reid-Foley, Y. Diaz, Kilome, and Szapucki.



You know how it is with trades. You'd like to shop now and get as much time out of a guy, but more guys become available, perhaps at more reasonable rates, as the trade deadline nears. I think the Nats could be huge sellers this year — Scherzer, Hand, Schwarber, maybe even Strasburg though he's got five years left. Curious that they all sound Germanic.



It would have helped if the Mets made a stronger statement over the Nats last week.



Everybody wants more pitching. Let's hit.

[Lefty Specialist]

Megill, Oswalt, Szapucki are possibilities from the minors, and they're not very good options. For now, I'd expect Eickhoff to move into Lucchesi's spot and they'll have a bullpen game tomorrow.



Longer term I'd expect they'll pick up a marginal arm, trying not to give away anybody really good from the minor league system. I'd say 10 is probably the high end of starts from Thor/Carrasco/Yamamoto. Thor's been shut down, Carrasco is in witness protection, and Yamayada is a couple of months away. So they're going to need a body in that #5 spot (and Eickhoff isn't it).

[batmagadanleadoff]

Don't count on the Nats trading Scherzer to a division rival. Also, everybody could use another pitcher, so expect a seller's market.

[Edgy MD]

If the Nats are moving a guy for the last two months of his contract, I don't think they would care much about a division rival being the recipient if that's where the best deal is. Folks make selloff trades to division rivals all the time. I'm not advocating, though.



As for your second point, certainly.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Edgy MD wrote: If the Nats are moving a guy for the last two months of his contract, I don't think they would care much about a division rival being the recipient if that's where the best deal is. Folks make selloff trades to division rivals all the time. I'm not advocating, though.

I wouldn't rule it out either, but the Mets are gonna have to pay a premium for Scherzer. Money, they have coming out the wazoo ... but Scherzer's not a FA. The Mets are gonna have to pay with personnel.



Doesn't look likely.

[Edgy MD]

I'm not advocating or saying it's likely. I was only stating that the Nats have some of the biggest prizes that people will be going for.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Edgy MD wrote: I'm not advocating or saying it's likely. I was only stating that the Nats have some of the biggest prizes that people will be going for.

On a Mets forum in a Mets thread.

[Edgy MD]

Yes, I know where I'm posting.

[Edgy MD]

I'm sorry. Please allow me to put that differently.



I agree that the Mets trading for Max von Scherzer is unlikely.

[Edgy MD]

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/team.cgi?id=f70af637Big Sexy going 4-1 / 3.82 for Acereros de Monclava.

[nymr83]

Edgy MD wrote: https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/team.cgi?id=f70af637Big Sexy going 4-1 / 3.82 for Acereros de Monclava.

at 48 years old, he lead the Mexican league in batters faced this season (2nd in innings pitched). Amazing.

[A Boy Named Seo]

I would like to buy Jose Berrios from the last place Twins, please.

[LWFS]

A Boy Named Seo wrote: I would like to buy Jose Berrios from the last place Twins, please.

I was going to say... this was floated somewhere last week, and seemed like a deal worth poking around even then. It's all the more intriguing now.



The thing is... he'll be expensive. He'll be under team control (at arb rates) for another season beyond this (unlike Max), and the Twins will have a lot of interested parties. So getting it done would likely involve at least one of the top 3 (Mauricio, Alvarez, or Baty) in our system... and possibly other sweeteners (Szapucki? Ginn?).



Is https://www.fangraphs.com/players/jose-berrios/14168/stats?position=Phe really https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/berrijo01.shtmlworth it? He's reliably good (ERA+ between 107 and 122 every season since his rookie year). But, even in this most pitcher-friendly year... he's not overwhelming. And that's what he'd have to be to be worth it, no?

[Fman99]

I want Big Barty back. Drag his sexy meat across the Rio Grande and slap some blue and orange on him.

[Ceetar]

they need live bodies but Colon would get absolutely LIT in the majors right now.

[seawolf17]

I would love very much for Bartolo to come back, but there's no way he can regularly get MLB hitters out right now. His last good season was 2016, which is a LONG time ago.

[kcmets]

One would imagine five years later that Bartolo is even bigger and sexier

than ever but certainly not MLB material playing wise. Surprised he's not

coaching somewhere in the organization. He should be, if he wanted to...

[Frayed Knot]

Bartolo's last MLB season, 2018 (TEX): 28 games/24 starts; 5.78 ERA; 1.35 WHIP; 10.6 H/9 ; 2.0 HR/9 (every season of his career had been under 1.5) ... and that was three seasons ago

when he was only 45 y/o. His one saving grace is that he still wasn't walking dudes (1.5 BB/9) otherwise that WHIP gets real ugly.

[MFS62]

Bartolo still might be an improvement over the current hitters.



Later

[A Boy Named Seo]

A Boy Named Seo wrote: I would like to buy Jose Berrios from the last place Twins, please. I was going to say... this was floated somewhere last week, and seemed like a deal worth poking around even then. It's all the more intriguing now. The thing is... he'll be expensive. He'll be under team control (at arb rates) for another season beyond this (unlike Max), and the Twins will have a lot of interested parties. So getting it done would likely involve at least one of the top 3 (Mauricio, Alvarez, or Baty) in our system... and possibly other sweeteners (Szapucki? Ginn?). Is https://www.fangraphs.com/players/jose-berrios/14168/stats?position=Phe really https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/berrijo01.shtmlworth it? He's reliably good (ERA+ between 107 and 122 every season since his rookie year). But, even in this most pitcher-friendly year... he's not overwhelming. And that's what he'd have to be to be worth it, no?

I don't know if he'd be worth that cost necessarily. But young, conrollable, comfortably above league average pitchers (with potential to reach a much higher ceiling) sound fuggin great to me, especially if we're not needing this dude to be an ace, just fortify that depth. A good, modern MLB staff has to have no less than 7 (8?) reliable major league caliber starters. We did much better planning for contingencies this year and still got effed hard. I'd at least consider all the options required to nab Berrios.

[seawolf17]

And Berrios is theoretically more "gettable" than Scherzer. I mean, you'd still have to give up Mauricio in any deal, I'd figure, and if you're going to do that, you might as well get a guy who's 27, more cost-controlled, and still above league-average over his career. He's a solid #4 behind our big three.

[ashie62]

Nats also have Patrick Corbin who has been serviceable.

[Frayed Knot]

The Nats are also 3.5 games out of 1st place and therefore unlikely to be conducting any fire sales in the near future unless and until conditions change drastically.

[Edgy MD]

Well, they were 5.5 out when I invoked this then.



But conditions don't have to change drastically. They just have to change. I think they're gonna crash. They won't want to be caught holding their assets.

[Centerfield]

Update: We may have found a starting pitcher.

[roger_that]

Another county heard from: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/are-the-mets-running-out-of-rope/https://blogs.fangraphs.com/are-the-mets-running-out-of-rope/



No need to read: basically, it's "The Mets need to get a quality starting pitcher. Right now. Need it bad."



OK, smartass. Which starting pitcher? And what do you give up for him?

[Benjamin Grimm]

It's that second question that's the hardest. Teams are probably going to want someone like Mauricio or Baty or Crow-Armstrong or Alvarez. The Mets have too few of these chips and need to use them wisely, if at all. They can hope for more from Megill, and that Thomas Szapucki is a lot better than Tyler Pill.



I think I would look to Lugo, if they think his arm is up to it.

[batmagadanleadoff]

I dont think the Mets are gonna hafta give up a top prospect to get someone like Lucchesi, a reliable back of the rotation guy. My hunch is that that's the kind of pitcher the Mets will seek if they go shopping



All TBD . This stuff could turn on a dime.

[Gwreck]

In terms of major league talent, we could still try to trade Dom Smith. Yes, he's been bad so far this year but clearly there's potential.



In terms of prospects: the use of a top prospect chip to get a key starting pitcher is not a bad idea. If Berrios is going to be made available, let's chat with Minnesota.



(Obviously Uncle Steve can handle the free agent market and re-sign both Stroman and Syndergaard in the off-season.)