ORLANDO — It’s no secret the Mets need an ace, and the club hasn’t been shy about their desire for one either. But in a thin free agent pitching market, the question is whether they’re willing to go against their usual philosophy of short-term contracts to acquire one.

Dylan Cease and the Toronto Blue Jays set the tone for starting pitchers this winter with a seven-year, $210 million contract. Over the last five years, the Mets have avoided signing pitchers to contracts with more than 2-3 years of term. This trend precedes the hiring of David Stearns to the president of baseball operations role at the end of the 2023 season.

This year, the Mets might have to buck that trend to fill out their rotation. As the Winter Meetings get underway in Orlando, the prices for pitchers have come to light, and while the Mets don’t have an issue with the money, they still appear hesitant to go after starters who are seeking long-term deals.

Kodai Senga was the last pitcher to receive a contract for more than three years, signing a five-year contract in December of 2022. That contract hasn’t aged well and the Mets now find themselves trying to get out from underneath it, attempting to trade the once-promising Nippon Professional Baseball star who has spent most of the last two seasons injured, or ineffective, as was the case after he returned from a hamstring strain last summer.

Since signing Senga, the Mets, whether operating under former general manager Billy Eppler or Stearns, have preferred shorter-term deals with veterans who could often be considered reclamation projects to varying degrees of success, like Luis Severino, Sean Manaea and Clay Holmes.

It led to Mets fans coining a new nickname for Stearns: “Dumpster Dave.”

That fails to take into account the pitchers the Mets have tried to sign for five or more years, like Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki. It’s not necessarily a bad way to operate, even for a team with as much money as the Mets. It allows for more roster flexibility from year-to-year and prevents a team from paying for an expensive pitcher on the decline. The Mets would prefer to develop starting pitching talent internally, and short-term starters also prevent the club from blocking top young pitching talent.

This has become a trend for other teams as well. San Francisco Giants general manager Zack Minasian also recently said this was his preference.

It’s not that the Mets are opposed to signing starting pitchers for more than a few years, it’s that they haven’t found the right ones. But the pitchers hold the cards right now, especially after Cease’s deal. The Mets met with left-hander Framber Valdez last month, a source confirmed to the Daily News, and if that’s the kind of pitcher they’re aiming for, it’s going to take more than two or three years with a couple opt-outs.

The Mets only have to take a look around the league to see that their short-term fixes might be too short-sighted.

The Los Angeles Dodgers gave Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell five years each. The Yankees gave Carlos Rodon six years and Max Fried eight. Gerrit Cole, who finally helped the Bombers reach the World Series in 2024, was signed for nine. The Philadelphia Phillies gave former Mets starter Zack Wheeler five years when he left Queens, then extended him for three more through 2028.

Sometimes, it takes going outside of your own philosophies to make something happen. Given the way the rotation fell apart last season, it could be time for the Mets to make a bold move for starting pitching.

https://www.nydailynews.com/2025/12/08/mets-dylan-cease-winter-meetings/