What about those New York Mets?

No one could have seen the 2024 season unfold the way it did in Flushing, Queens. After a dreadful first two months, the Mets strung together gimmick after gimmick on their way to a National League Championship Series, setting a new standard for vibe-based baseball.

The Mets took a break from spending heavily on free agents in 2024, but they can be counted on to increase their spending this winter. The number one target on most Mets fans’ minds is New York Yankees superstar Juan Soto, but what if they pursued big-time pitchers instead?

Most of the Mets’ starting pitchers will become free agents this winter, so it makes sense that president of baseball operations David Stearns would spend heavily on arms. And as far as weapons go, there aren’t many better ones to land than Corbin Burnes of the Baltimore Orioles.

Zachary D. Rymer on Thursday named the Mets as a good fit for Burnes in free agency, saying the right-hander’s declining strikeout rate shouldn’t be a cause for alarm in the Mets’ pursuit of their future superstar.

“The image is not of a decentralized launcher, but rather of a scalable launcher. And as long as the results are there, well, why complain?” Rymer said.

“Teams that need an ace certainly won’t be. They’ll be too busy trying to woo Burnes, with the end result likely to be a deal that approaches Gerrit’s $300 million-plus guarantees Cole and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

Burnes, who turns 30 in October, is coming off a season with a 15-9 record, a 2.92 ERA and 181 strikeouts in 194 1/3 innings. As Rymer references, his strikeout rate has declined slightly from earlier in his career, but that could be a sign of increased durability as he approaches his 30s.

The Mets’ second-half success was largely due to the consistency of their starting pitchers, and Burnes could put them over the top. He’s pitched more innings and had a lower ERA than any Mets regular starter this season, and his familiarity with Stearns could give New York an advantage.

The Mets are already very, very good in 2024. If they add Burnes to their rotation, they could be downright scary.

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