In a slow-moving free agent market, the one item in which there has been some action and traction is with starting pitching.
The Mets are active in this arena and one pitcher they have expressed interest in is Jake Odorizzi. But the righty is believed to be much more engaged with other teams right now.
The clubs that are considered the most aggressive in the starting pitching market are the Angels, Blue Jays, Giants, Padres, Rays, Red Sox and White Sox. The Twins also are looking at rotation help and are in play to keep Odorizzi. The Reds are also inquiring about starters even as they are working hard to trade Sonny Gray, who has two years at $20 million left on his contract.
The Yankees have surprised agents by how docile they have been on the starting pitching front.
The Mets’ strongest interest this offseason seems to be on George Springer and Trevor Bauer. It is possible they are planning to make just one substantial purchase. So, for example, if Springer signed elsewhere with say the Blue Jays or White Sox, they would hone in on Bauer. But if they could land Springer that could motivate them to augment in the rotation with pitchers such as Odorizzi and/or Masahiro Tanaka.
Sandy Alderson has established that this offseason the Mets prefer to use money, not player capital, to address needs and not whittle away at depth. But in Amed Rosario, for example, the Mets have the kind of player that the shortstop-hungry Reds could have interest in for Gray. Alderson can glean all the insights he needs from his previous association with the Oakland executives who had traded Gray to the Yankees. Though one insight that could not be dismissed was how poorly Gray pitched in New York and how miserable he seemed to be playing here.
As for Odorizzi, he clearly intrigues the Mets.
He had his best season in 2019 as a Twin, when he went 15-7 with a 3.51 ERA and struck out 10.1 batters per nine innings. Minnesota’s assistant pitching coach that year was Jeremy Hefner, who just completed his first season as Mets pitching coach. The Twins relationship between Hefner and Trevor May was a factor in fueling the Mets’ interest and the two-year, $15.5 million signing of the righty reliever. Hefner is said to have an equally strong relationship with Odorizzi.
Odorizzi accepted the $17.8 million qualifying offer from Minnesota after the 2019 season. A player can only be qualified once, so the thinking was without the draft pick compensation tied to rejecting the qualifying offer, Odorizzi could go out after the 2020 campaign and do better on a multi-year deal than he was being offered last offseason.
However in 2020, Odorizzi was curtailed first by a blister and then by absorbing a liner from Kansas City’s Alex Gordon in the chest. That led to him making just four starts with a 6.59 ERA in 2020. But he doesn’t turn 31 until March and neither of the injuries were elbow/shoulder related. Those who were intrigued by Odorizzi’s jump in velocity in 2019 and improved success working his fastball up in the zone after spending 2 1/2 months of the 2018-19 offseason at the Florida Baseball Ranch will almost certainly remain intrigued by the righty.
