PHILADELPHIA, PA – AUGUST 19: Carlos Carrasco #59 of the New York Mets plays against the Philadelphia Phillies during a game at Citizens Bank Park on August 19, 2022 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mets defeated the Phillies, 7-2 (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)
MLB Insider: Carlos Carrasco of the Mets could be a trade candidate.
The New York Mets are on an unprecedented spending spree. After losing Jacob DeGrom, they added Justin Verlander, Brandon Nemo, Jose Quintana, Koday Singa and David Robertson.
They spent slightly more on Verlander, Quintana and Singa ($187 million) than the Rangers spent on signing DeGrom ($185 million). Now armed with an abundance of veterans starting to pitch, as well as talented youth options, they can look forward to making veteran Carlos Carrasco available via trade.
Carrasco, who turns 36 in March, is set to earn $14 million in the final season of his contract. But there has been talk in league circles that the Mets could do something similar to what the Brewers did with Kolten Wong: pick up their own club option and try to trade him later in the offseason.
There is expected to be a market for Carrasco as well, especially with the sky-high prices for rookie pitchers from agents all over the league. Of course, these prices have increased greatly due to the slowness of the commercial market. But Carrasco may be of interest to a team that 1) missed out on the opportunity to play free-agent starting pitchers or 2) isn’t willing to pay such a high price.
Teams that could make sense include the Minnesota Twins and Los Angeles Angels, both of whom are still looking to start the show. It doesn’t seem like it costs much to get Carrasco—maybe a reliever or a prospect—and that would be intriguing, especially since he’s coming off a season in which he posted a 3.97 ERA and 152 strikeouts in 152 innings pitched.
[ad_2]
