NL East

The New York Mets are remaining very active in the pitching market in free agency.

The franchise signed Clay Holmes to a three-year, $38 million contract on Friday and will transition him to a starting role. This comes just a week after signing starter Frankie Montas.

While that is already two big additions to the rotation, Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon of The Athletic reported that the team has "checked in" on pitchers Jack Flaherty and Nick Pivetta and have shown interest in Nathan Eovaldi and Walker Buehler.

Kodai Senga and David Peterson are the returning pitchers set to be in the rotation while Tylor Megill and Paul Blackburn could feature in the bullpen and fill in as starters with injuries. Holmes and Montas take up two more spots but adding another strong arm could really bolster the rotation.

Flaherty went 13-7 with a 3.17 ERA in 2024, splitting the season between the Detroit Tigers and Los Angeles Dodgers. Rosenthal and Sammon reported that he is looking for a lengthier contract and that Pivetta would be more of a mid-term option.

"It's expected Flaherty will land a contract in the range of four to six years, league sources said, whereas Pivetta seems positioned to net a three-year or four-year deal," Rosenthal and Sammon wrote.

Pivetta went 6-12 with a 4.14 ERA in 2024 with the Boston Red Sox in 2024 while Eovaldi went 12-8 with a 3.80 ERA for the Texas Rangers.

Buehler had an injury-riddled season and went 1-6 with a 5.38 ERA. However, he had a strong postseason for the Dodgers and also is a two-time All Star.

The Mets went 89-73 and reached the NLCS in 2024. Luis Severino, Jose Quintana and Sean Manaea were the team's top pitchers but Severino signed with the Athletics while Quintana and Manaea are currently free agents.

The New York Mets have bolstered their rotation this week by signing Frankie Montas and Clay Holmes in free agency.

The Mets signed Montas to a two-year, $34 million deal with an opt-out after 2025 on Wednesday, per MLB.com's Anthony DiComo.

New York then added Holmes on a three-year, $38 contract with an opt-out after 2026, ESPN's Jeff Passan reported on Friday.

The Mets had just over $140 million in current 2025 payroll allocations, and $168 in projected total allocations, prior to signing Holmes, according to Spotrac.

Holmes is projected to take on a starting role with the Mets as the team works to rebuild its rotation following the departures of Luis Severino, Sean Manaea and José Quintana in free agency.

Kodai Senga is currently set to lead the rotation for a second straight season, while Montas, Holmes, Tylor Megill, David Peterson and Paul Blackburn will compete for spots behind him.

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Mets' Projected 2025 Rotation

1. Kodai Senga
2. Frankie Montas
3. Clay Holmes
4. David Peterson
5. Paul Blackburn
6. Tyler Megill

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The Mets are also preparing for the arrival of top pitching prospect Brandon Sproat. The right-hander was named the Mets Minor League Pitcher of the Year after finishing the 2024 season as one of the top 40 prospects in baseball.

New York may still want to bolster this rotation with an experienced starter in a trade or free agency.

The good news is that the Mets have the salary to sign another starter. Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns noted at the end of the 2024 season that his club had "financial flexibility" heading into the winter.

"It means that pretty much the entirety of the player universe is potentially accessible to us," Stearns said.

The Mets ended the season with more than $356 million on the 2024 payroll including luxury taxes, but with just about $150 million committed for 2025, per SNY's Danny Abriano.

How much salary the Mets could potentially use to add another starting pitcher will depend in large part on what decision Juan Soto makes in free agency.

The club, alongside the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays, is one of the reported finalists to sign the star outfielder in free agency.

Soto could potentially earn a record-setting $700 million in free agency. Should they win the bidding war, the Mets would be limited in their pursuit of other free-agent pitchers going forward. That would leave this projected rotation, led by Senga and potentially later joined by Sproat, as the blueprint for the 2025 season.

Already projected to be nearly $40 million over the competitive balance tax, the Philadelphia Phillies are exploring ways to upgrade their roster for next season without negatively impacting their long-term plans for success.

Per The Athletic's Matt Gelb, the Phillies have shopped Nick Castellanos, Alec Bohm and Ranger Suárez in trade talks this offseason.

There's no indication that any deal is close at this point, with Gelb noting the Phillies are seeking MLB-ready players back for either Bohm or Suárez.

Castellanos would be costly to deal, if only because his limited defensive ability makes the $40 million left on his contract less appealing to teams. According to Gelb, the Phillies would have to pay down "much" of the two-time All-Star's remaining salary.

Of the three players mentioned, Bohm seems like the one Philadelphia would be most eager to move. He's coming off easily the best season of his career in 2024 and is projected to earn $8.1 million in his second year of arbitration next season.

Dealing Bohm now would be selling high, but he's also not a player who would likely bring back a significant return. The 28-year-old was worth 3.5 FanGraphs wins above replacement in 2024, nearly matching his total from the previous three seasons combined (4.2).

Bohm tailed off in the second half last year after making the All-Star team. He hit .295/.348/.482 with 11 homers before the break, but just .251/.299/.382 with four homers after.

Given the current market for starting pitching, Suárez might bring back the biggest return of these three players for the Phillies. His value will be depressed because 2025 is his final year of arbitration, but a projected $11.3 million salary would be very appealing to every team that is looking for a starter.

Suárez made his first All-Star team in 2024 and posted a 3.46 ERA in 150.2 innings over 27 starts. The converted reliever ranks 10th among NL pitchers in WAR (8.2), 13th in innings pitched (431) and 17th in ERA (3.74) since the start of the 2022 season.

Phillies owner John Middleton has made it clear he anticipates their payroll will go up next season as they look to take advantage of this window with key players like Bryce Harper and Zack Wheeler still in their prime, but the front office might need to get creative to open up spots that they can upgrade.

Castellanos is expendable because they already have a bunch of outfield/DH-type players on the roster. Bohm still fills a need at third base, but 2023 first-round pick Aidan Miller is on his way after reaching Double-A as a 20-year-old at the end of last season.

Trading Suárez would be taking a key piece away from their greatest strength, but they would still have Wheeler, Aaron Nola and Cristopher Sánchez to anchor the rotation if they decide to deal him.

The Phillies won the NL East last season for the first time since 2011, but they lost in the NLDS to the New York Mets in four games.

After a one-season stint with the New York Mets, Luis Severino is heading to a new team.

The starting pitcher reportedly agreed to a three-year, $67 million contract with the Athletics, according to Jeff Passan of ESPN.

Passan reported the contract includes "the largest guarantee" in franchise history, noting Severino "got well over market expectations."

Severino confirmed the news of his departure from New York on social media, thanking the Mets staff, front office and the fans for their support during the 2024 season:

Thank you new york @mets fans for all the support all year long. Thank you mets staff and front office for everything. I will forever be grateful for an incredible season. pic.twitter.com/Eb7DssNoIy

— Luis Severino (@LuisSeverino94) December 5, 2024

Severino put together a solid year after a handful of injury-ridden seasons. He had 32 regular-season appearances, throwing 161 strikeouts with a 3.91 ERA and 1.24 WHIP across 182 innings.

In the postseason, Severino led the Mets to an 8-4 win over the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 1 of the National League Wild Card Series, pitching six innings in the win and picking up three strikeouts and allowing three earned runs.

Against the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 2 of the National League Division Series, he had seven strikeouts and three earned runs across six innings as New York lost 7-6. In his final appearance of the 2024 postseason, he gave up three hits and two runs while recording three strikeouts across 4.2 innings in an 8-0 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Severino spent the first eight MLB seasons with the New York Yankees, posting 638 innings with a 3.39 ERA and 709 strikeouts against 181 walks through his first seven years before struggling in 2023 with a 6.65 ERA and 1.65 WHIP, both numbers being the worst of his career.

While his time with the Mets was short, Severino managed to find his stride after dealing with injuries for much of the last few years. Now with the Athletics, he'll look to have another strong year.

The Philadelphia Phillies are not in on the Juan Soto sweepstakes.

The Phillies "never met with Juan Soto and are not among the teams who have made an offer to the star outfielder," Matt Gelb reported for The Athletic.

Gelb's comment follows a Nov. 25 report from USA Today's Bob Nightengale that the Phillies "haven't had a single conversation with [agent Scott Boras] to express interest in Soto."

The New York Mets, New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers are thought to be the strongest contenders to sign Soto, according to The Athletic. Multiple teams have offered Soto more than $600 million, per The Athletic.

Boras said on Tuesday that Soto has started eliminating some clubs from consideration, but did not specify which teams, per Rosenthal and Drellich.

Soto, who turned 26 in October, is projected to get the second-largest contract in MLB history behind two-way star Shohei Ohtani as he enters free agency after helping lead the New York Yankees to the 2024 World Series.

He recorded a career-high 7.9 wins against replacement and led the AL with 128 runs while batting .288 with 41 home runs and 109 RBI, walking 129 times while recording an on-base percentage of .419 in 157 games last season.

Acquired by the Yankees in a trade with the San Diego Padres in December 2023, Soto has long been expected to sign a blockbuster deal with his next contract. He raised those expectations even higher as he upped his production in the postseason to slash .327/.469/.633 in 14 games.

Every MLB team would like to add a batter as productive as Soto to their lineup, but the Phillies and their top-five payroll seemed likely to be part of the minority of franchises that could afford to be involved in a bidding war for the outfielder this offseason.

But there have been a few early indications that the Phillies don't plan on setting any records with their free agency offers this winter.

Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said in October that he didn't see getting a star player this offseason as a "necessity."

"I don't think we need to have more star players," Dombrowski said. "We have as many stars as about anybody in baseball. So I don't think necessarily that you need to add more."

When announcing an ownership group expansion in November, managing partner John Middleton said that "it's hard to go much crazier with the payroll" than the Phillies already have.

The Phillies will look to bolster their batting power elsewhere. A November poll of MLB.com insiders named Philadelphia as the top destination for free agent outfielder Anthony Santander after he recorded a career-high 44 home runs for the Baltimore Orioles in 2024.

After signing starting pitcher Frankie Montas to a two-year deal on Sunday, the New York Mets reportedly aren't done pursuing improvements for their starting rotation.

According to Will Sammon of The Athletic, the Mets "have some interest in Walker Buehler" and are "also one of the teams that have talked with Michael Soroka about competing in spring training for a starter job."

Buehler is coming off helping the Los Angeles Dodgers win a World Series title by defeating the New York Yankees in five games. After a disappointing regular season and a rough start to the playoffs, he bounced back by pitching 10 scoreless innings over his final three appearances, including closing out Game 5 against the Yankees on one day of rest to clinch the title for the Dodgers.

Soroka endured a disastrous season with the Chicago White Sox, as he posted a 0-10 record in 25 appearances with nine starts. He had a 4.74 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP, but his 84 strikeouts were the second-most of his career.

Sammon noted that the Mets "have cast a wide net regarding other potential options," and he named starters Griffin Canning and Patrick Sandoval as "other names to keep in mind in the future." Still, New York won't end its search there.

"And that's just a few free-agent options. There are more. And other potential paths exist in the trade market," Sammon added.

The Mets made an impressive run to the NLCS and pushed the Dodgers to six games, so this offseason will be crucial toward their chances of maintaining their status as title contenders in 2025. New York's starting rotation currently consists of Montas, Kodai Senga and David Peterson, so the team will need to add a few more reliable arms if it wants to achieve success next season.

MLB teams have shown a recent interest in transitioning bullpen arms back to starting roles, and Clay Holmes is among them.

According to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, "A few teams are inquiring about Clay Holmes transitioning from the bullpen to the rotation, including the New York Mets."

A number of players who have recently been converted from the bullpen to starting roles—such as Seth Lugo, Michael King, Reynaldo López, Jordan Hicks and Zack Littell—have had success for the teams who incorporated them into the rotation. Many started in Major League Baseball as starters. Holmes was a starter during his time in the minors.

As Sherman noted, that has led a number of MLB teams to seek out potential converts, hoping to replicate that success. He reported that "multiple teams also are looking into turning free agent Jeff Hoffman back into a starter after he made the All-Star team as a Philadelphia Phillies reliever in 2024."

Like Hoffman, Holmes was an All-Star in 2024 after finishing the year with a 3-5 record and 30 saves in 67 appearances, notching a 3.14 ERA, 1.30 WHIP and 68 strikeouts in 63 innings. He's now been an All-Star twice in the past three seasons after transitioning to the bullpen in 2019, and the Yankees have trusted him as a ninth-inning option in the past three years.

"Somebody is going to get a legit closer with nasty stuff..."

- @AlLeiter22 on free agent Clay Holmes pic.twitter.com/qZLQZ0pTyO

— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) November 14, 2024

Sherman wrote that teams interested in Holmes as a starter point to his four pitches (a four-seam fastball, an elite sinker, a slider and a sweeper), and the potential to add a changeup, as an indication that he should be able to make the transition.

The Mets, meanwhile, are reportedly looking to stay out of the high-end market for pitchers, likely down to their pursuit of superstar outfielder Juan Soto. And if a rotation conversion doesn't pan out for Holmes, he's still a reliable late-innings option.

Obviously, much of the Mets' offseason plans will come into greater focus once Soto makes his decision. But don't be shocked if the team gets a bit creative while putting together the pitching staff.

The New York Mets and Frankie Montas have agreed to a two-year, $34 million contract, pending the results of a physical, according to ESPN's Jeff Passan.

Montas has a player option for 2026, according to The Athletic's Will Sammon.

The former Milwaukee Brewer and Cincinnati Red's right-handed pitcher threw 150.2 innings with a 4.84 ERA last season.

Mets, RHP Frankie Montas reportedly agree to 2-year deal, per multiple reports including https://t.co/Z3s2EpgF39 insider @Feinsand. pic.twitter.com/M4L76LGCi9

— MLB (@MLB) December 2, 2024

During the previous offseason, Montas inked a one-year, $16 million deal with the Reds, which included a mutual option for 2025. However, Montas declined that option before being traded to the Brewers at the deadline, according to MLB.com's Andrew Simon.

Montas will join Kodai Senga and David Peterson in the Mets' starting rotation, following the departure of Sean Manaea, Luis Severino and Jose Quintana to free agency.

The 31-year-old has nine seasons in the MLB under his belt and has played for five different teams, including another New York team, the Yankees. He appeared in just nine games for the Yankees over two seasons due to injuries.

Along with Montas, the Mets are still in the running to acquire prized free agent Juan Soto as they work to add new pieces to their revamped rotation.

The Mets finished last season with an 89-73 record, placing second in the NL East. However, they are focused on strengthening their roster to improve their chances of a World Series run after falling to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series.

Starting pitching played a crucial role in their success. Even though they lost Senga, their Opening Day starter, for much of the season, the Mets finished with a 3.91 ERA from their starters, per to Passan.

Don't be surprised if the Philadelphia Phillies shake up the roster after 2024's disappointing ouster in the National League Divisional Series, with the team eying Alex Bregman in particular during free agency.

According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, the Phillies "have been shopping outfielder Nick Castellanos for nearly two years and now are making third baseman Alec Bohm available."

The team has reportedly held discussions with the Chicago White Sox on a deal that would send out Bohm and outfield prospect Justin Crawford, in part, for starting pitcher Garrett Crochet. And if they do make such a move, Nightengale reported that "they are expected to make a strong play for Bregman, whose talent and personality would fit in perfectly with the team, or perhaps sign Willy Adames and move him over to third base."

It isn't the first time he's been linked to the Phillies:

The most interesting prediction heard from a rival evaluator: The Phillies land Alex Bregman. His swing translates in that park, strong defense, lots of postseason scar tissue.

— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) November 13, 2024

Bregman, 30, is a two-time All-Star and two-time champion who has won a Gold Glove in his career and hit .260 in 2024 with 26 homers, 75 RBI, 79 runs and a .768 OPS. He would be an upgrade over Bohm both offensively and defensively, though he's also two years older and would be far more expensive, with Bohm under club control for two more seasons.

And yes, Bregman is expected to have a vibrant market:

Will the Astros be able to sign Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker long term?@StevePhillipsGM isn't convinced. pic.twitter.com/noKOH8NVD1

— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) November 25, 2024

The Astros, Red Sox and Tigers have all shown interest in Alex Bregman, per @JonHeyman pic.twitter.com/k9E7fW6z9w

— B/R Walk-Off (@BRWalkoff) November 23, 2024

As for the biggest fish in free agency, Juan Soto, Nightengale reported that the Phillies "haven't had a single conversation" with his agent, Scott Boras. So Philly may be staying out of that bidding war, with eyes for Bregman instead.

The Philadelphia Phillies "haven't had a single conversation" with the agent for star slugger Juan Soto, according to USA Today's Bob Nightengale.

Nightengale reported the New York Mets, New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays and Boston Red Sox are the four serious suitors for Soto at this stage, and he described the Mets as "the clear-cut favorite."

On the Phillies, the New York Post's Jon Heyman reported on Nov. 19 they planned to meet with Soto and his agent, Scott Boras.

Until the four-time All-Star signs a contract, there's theoretically time for another team to make a pitch at the eleventh hour. However, it's hard to see why Philadelphia would willingly cede valuable negotiating time with such a prized free agent if the team had serious interest.

To the extent Soto would clearly help every MLB team, spending $40-plus million a year on him may not be the best investment when the Phillies already have a solid offense. They ranked fifth in slugging (.425) and fourth in wOBA (.325), per FanGraphs.

Nightengale called the Blue Jays a "sleeper" in the Soto sweepstakes.

Last offseason, Toronto made a run at Shohei Ohtani. Who can forget that brief window when it looked like the two-way star was traveling north of the border ahead of a potential agreement with the team.

Beyond what he'd bring to the field now, signing Soto would be a massive sign of intent from the Blue Jays with homegrown stars Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette heading for free agency in the winter of 2025.

If the organization is prepared to break the bank for Soto, then it stands to reason it won't be dissuaded from Guerrero or Bichette's eventual asking prices.