Mets eyeing top of starting pitching market in free agency

With ace Jacob deGrom officially on the free-agent market, the New York Mets are planning for life without him atop their rotation.

According to The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal, the Mets are eyeing Justin Verlander, Jameson Taillon and Kodai Senga if deGrom signs elsewhere. Chris Bassitt and Taijuan Walker also have departed the team via free agency, further complicating the rotation for New York.

In 2022, Taillon, 31, went 14-5 for the Yankees with a 3.91 ERA in 177.1 innings. It was the first season since 2018 that Taillon made all 32 of his scheduled starts.

Verlander continues to pitch at a high level for anyone, let alone someone his age. The soon-to-be 40-year-old is coming off a season in which he won his third career Cy Young Award, locking himself in the conversation as one of MLB's best pitchers of all time.

In 2022, Verlander made 28 starts, going 18-4 and recording a 1.75 ERA. His 220 ERA+, a career high by a long shot, suggests that he was a whopping 120 percent above league average.

Across 11 seasons in Japan, Senga has a 2.42 ERA and an impressive 104-51 record in 275 starts. He has averaged about 10 strikes per nine innings and does not give up many home runs.

Mets GM Billy Eppler is responsible for bringing Masahiro Tanaka and Shohei Ohtani over from the Japanese League in recent years.

Max Scherzer, Carlos Carrasco and the unestablished trio of Tylor Megill, David Peterson and Elieser Hernandez round out the Mets' projected starting rotation. The addition of any of the three ace-caliber arms linked to New York could put the Mets in line for a playoff run.