The Mets’ rotation was one of the worst in MLB this season, sitting 23rd with a 4.47 ERA, 22nd with 791 innings pitched and 24th with a 9.1% walk rate. Only four Mets pitchers reached 100 innings: Nolan McLean (179 2/3), Sean Manaea (150 2/3), Christian Scott (110) and Freddy Peralta (113 2/3), the latter of whom was traded to the Rays at the deadline.
During his end-of-season press conference, president of baseball operations David Stearns noted that it will be “necessary” to add to the rotation this winter. Stearns didn’t indicate whether free agency or the trade market was a likelier avenue, nor did he give an indication as to the caliber of rotation arm he plans to seek (video link via SNY).
“I do think it is necessary for us to add to our starting rotation,” Stearns said. “We can do that in a variety of different ways. … You’d always love to add to the top of your rotation — any team would love to do that. Over the long term, what we need to do is develop pitchers at the top of our rotation. I think we are proving we can do that and will continue to do that. We also need to make sure we have more options, and we need to make sure we have the flexibility that allows us to go and get those options when they’re needed. We’ll be focused on that aspect of rotation building as well.”
In McLean, the Mets have developed a pretty clear top-of-the-rotation arm. His 2026 season wasn’t quite as dominant as his eight-start debut in 2025, but the 25-year-old still logged a 3.16 earned run average in 31 starts this year. He’s now tossed 227 2/3 major league frames and has a 2.93 ERA, 26.8% strikeout rate, 9.2% walk rate and 45.5% ground-ball rate. McLean finished out the season with 1.044 years of big league service, meaning he’s controllable for an additional five seasons and won’t even reach arbitration until the 2028-29 offseason.
Scott and rookie Zac Thornton both pitched well enough to garner looks next year, too. The 27-year-old Scott returned from his 2024 Tommy John surgery and notched a 3.85 ERA, 28.3% strikeout rate and 9.9% walk rate. His extreme fly-ball nature (32.2% grounder rate) could lead to some home run troubles down the road, but that wasn’t the case in 2026. He’s controlled for another four seasons and won’t reach arbitration until next winter.
Thornton, a 24-year-old lefty, debuted this season with 84 1/3 frames of 3.42 ERA ball. His 18.7% strikeout rate was well below average, but his 5.3% walk rate was excellent. He’d tossed 64 2/3 innings with a 4.02 ERA in Triple-A beforehand, and the 2023 fifth-rounder had generally been considered one of the system’s best prospects.
Manaea has had an up-and-down showing across the past two seasons, splitting time between the rotation and bullpen. He pitched to a 4.68 ERA in the rotation this season but logged a 5.02 ERA in 14 relief outings as well. Overall, Manaea has a 5.03 ERA in 211 1/3 innings since putting pen to paper on a three-year, $75MM contract in the 2024-25 offseason. Manaea is something of a wild card, but the rest of the group is wholly uncertain.
Former top prospect Jonah Tong logged a 3.82 ERA in 30 2/3 innings but recorded a pedestrian 4.54 mark in 23 Triple-A starts. His command both in the majors and in the minors was sub-par, and his average fastball velocity (94.8 mph) was down nearly a mile per hour from the prior season. Swingman Tobias Myers posted career-worst numbers, and righty Tylor Megill missed the entire season following last September’s UCL surgery. Jonathan Santucci, a 23-year-old lefty whom New York selected in the second round of the 2024 draft, posted quality numbers in Double-A before struggling through eight Triple-A starts. He’ll probably still be in the mix for a rotation spot at some point next season.
It’s even harder to know what to make of righty Kodai Senga, who’ll be entering the final season of a five-year, $75MM contract. That deal started out brilliantly, with Senga finishing second in NL Rookie of the Year voting, but he’s been hobbled by injuries and seen his production crater in three subsequent seasons. Senga has lost his rotation spot in each of the past two seasons, consenting to be optioned in 2025 and being shifted to the bullpen in 2026.
After using Senga in a multi-inning role during the middle of the season, the Mets moved him to a single-inning role in August. He fired 16 2/3 innings of 3.78 ERA ball with a 22-to-9 K/BB ratio following that move. Whether that’s enough to preserve a roster spot for Senga isn’t clear. Senga has voiced that he prefers to work out of the rotation, and while Stearns didn’t make a firm declaration on the the right-hander’s role in what will be his age-34 season, he implied that Senga will need to earn another spot as a starter (video via SNY):
“We’ll make that determination as we get into spring training and see where we are. We know where Kodai’s passion is. He’s been very honest with that. We also understand that we need a level of production in whatever role he’s going to be in to contribute to a winning team, so we’ll ultimately make that role determination as we get into next year.”
Stearns took a similar noncommittal tone when asked about second base, where Marcus Semien struggled through a career-worst season (.215/.280/.340 in 547 plate appearances). Stearns called out Brett Baty’s torrid finish to the season and a “host of really good minor league infielders” in declining to make a decisive call on second base. Infielders Jefferson Rojas, Emilien Pitre and Mitch Voit are all ranked within the Mets’ top 20 or so prospects; Rojas (Clay Holmes) and Pitre (Peralta) came to the Mets at the trade deadline. Voit was their first-round pick in 2025. Rojas and Pitre both reached Triple-A. Voit topped out in Double-A. A bit further down the ladder, Sammy Stafura (acquired for Luke Weaver) finished the season in High-A and will probably open next season in Double-A.
Rojas is expected to be added to the team’s 40-man roster in the offseason, writes Will Sammon of The Athletic. That’s not at all surprising, given that he’d be eligible for the Rule 5 Draft otherwise. It’s possible the looming lockout leads to the cancellation of that event — that was the case back in 2021 — but teams aren’t going to risk leaving prospects of Rojas’ caliber unprotected and simply assume that the Rule 5 Draft won’t take place.
Semien, 36, not only posted the weakest offense of his career but saw his typically exceptional defensive ratings tank. Both Defensive Runs Saved (-2) and Outs Above Average (-9) pegged him as a negative presence at second base for the first time in his career. He’s still signed for two years and a total of $46MM ($26MM in ’27, $20MM in ’28). The Mets could look to swap him out for a bad contract or eat some of the remaining money to dump him on another club, but his considerable step back in 2026 creates a major offseason question without any easy answer.
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