Mets face major pitching rotation puzzle heading into 2023

The Mets’ most significant rotation question this offseason will revolve around Jacob deGrom. They will have various decisions to make at the back of their rotation, where little is propped up for 2023.

And they will have to decide if their most reliable starter will be playing more than one season in Queens.

Chris Bassitt likely will decline a mutual option that is worth $19 million for next season and thus will become a free agent for the first time in his career.

“I’m not focused even one bit on free agency,” Bassitt said Saturday before he started the Game 3, win-or-go-home, wild-card series finale against the Padres on Sunday at Citi Field. “I really haven’t put a ton of thought in it just because so much of that is out of my control. No matter what team I love or want to go to, they’ve got to mutually do the same.”

Rotation unknowns are everywhere, even if Bassitt (and the Mets) did not want to think about them.

Max Scherzer, signed for two more seasons, will be back. So will Tylor Megill and David Peterson, under team control but more depth options than sure-things. That is about where the certainty ends.

Max Scherzer, Jacob DeGrom and David Peterson
Max Scherzer, Jacob DeGrom and David Peterson
Corey Sipkin

DeGrom has made it clear he will opt out of the final year of his contract, and the Mets have said the ace’s landing spot will be more his decision than theirs. Carlos Carrasco has a $14 million club option that, if declined, would come with a $3 million buyout. Taijuan Walker likely will decline his $7 million option for next season, making the right-hander a free agent.

In an impressive rotation, Bassitt stood out this year. The 34-year-old pitched a career-high 181 ²/₃ innings, the most on the staff, and posted a 3.42 ERA that generally improved as the season went on.

The Mets were pleased with the production in Bassitt’s first season after playing six with Oakland. His former manager with the A’s was not surprised.

“He’s really come into his own as a leader, too, in the pitching staff,” said Padres manager Bob Melvin, who led the A’s from 2011-21. “He certainly was in Oakland. And he’s a really fierce competitor.

“When his cheeks get a little red and so forth, that means he’s in real compete mode, and I’ve seen that a lot out of him. I’m proud of him to where he’s gotten in his career.”

This offseason will be Bassitt’s first foray into free agency, where the market likely will be led by deGrom, the Astros’ Justin Verlander and the Giants’ Carlos Rodon.

“Through thick and thin, he’s been there for us,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said of Bassitt, who made a career-best 30 regular-season starts this year. “The one constant we’ve had has been the post-up-ness of Chris. He’s been a great teammate and a guy. He’s a baseball player that happens to be a pitcher.”

source: nypost.com