With 23 games left and only 10 of them at home, the Mets are already staring at the offseason. Nolan McLean, though, is not one of the problems on the list.
He was a concern after a rough stretch in May, but the second half has flipped the script. Entering Friday night’s start against the Giants, McLean was 4-2 with a 2.05 ERA in eight second-half outings, with 47 strikeouts across 48.1 innings.
That kind of run has made his starts appointment viewing for Mets fans. It has also sharpened one of the biggest questions the organization has to answer: how to build a 2027 rotation around him.
McLean’s first two professional seasons make the case that he can sit at the front of a major league staff. The Mets tried to avoid overloading him by bringing in Freddy Peralta to serve as the ace this season, but Peralta’s failure to adapt to the New York market derailed that plan. The trade left McLean back in the top spot, and he has handled it well.
Still, there’s a difference between being the ace for a team that’s already out of the race and being the guy carrying a contender. The Mets are using this season to build up McLean’s workload so he can be in position to approach 200 innings in 2027, if the season plays out in full.
That leaves President of Baseball Operations David Stearns with a clear winter assignment: add pitching. A second front-line starter is very much in play. The top free-agent name is left-hander Tarik Skubal, who will no longer have a qualifying offer attached after a mid-season trade to the Dodgers, though his push for a record-setting deal for a pitcher at age 30 raises real questions.
If Stearns chooses the trade market again, Minnesota’s Joe Ryan or one of Seattle’s arms - Bryce Miller or George Kirby - could surface as possibilities. That kind of move would bring in a co-ace to work alongside McLean, but it would also cost the Mets prospect capital, the same kind Stearns just added at the trade deadline.
There’s another path, of course: trust McLean as the ace and fill in the rest of the rotation with quality pieces. San Diego’s Michael King, who has been linked to the Mets before, could opt out this winter, and a reunion with Clay Holmes is another option that would make sense.
But that approach comes with a familiar danger. It starts to look a lot like the last two years, when the Mets kept trying to find value in the middle of the market and bank on internal growth.
McLean can be an ace. The safer bet, though, is to put a No. 1 starter ahead of him and let him settle in as a high-end No.
That would also push Christian Scott into a more fitting No. 3 or No. 4 role. The ripple effect matters. Unless McLean closes the season with another dominant stretch, the clearest move for the Mets this winter is to put an ace back in front of him.
In Other News...
Mets Could Be Headed For A Very Different Winter Spending Fight
The winter marketplace around the Mets is already taking on a different shape, and not just because of what happens on the field. Around the sport, ownership and money are shifting in ways that can ripple through everything from payrolls to bidding behavior, with Dodgers owner Mark Walter reportedly under federal investigation and Stan Kroenke agreeing to buy a controlling stake in the Angels from Arte Moreno, pending MLB approval. For the Mets, that broader backdrop matters because every move at the top of the sport can influence how aggressive the rest of the league feels when the offseason starts.
There is also a quieter thread involving Japan, where the Mets have shown interest in Teruaki Sato. President of baseball operations David Stearns was recently seen at a Hanshin Tigers game, which only adds to the sense that New York is at least exploring that market seriously, even if the degree of its interest is not yet clear. For a club trying to keep pace in a spending race that could look very different by winter, those international breadcrumbs may prove just as important as the usual free-agent noise. [Read more 🡒]
Mets Trade Return Already Comes With One Uncomfortable Question
Ben Rortvedts brief run with the Dodgers was always going to be more about fit than flash, and it played out that way after he was used mostly for defense and handling the pitching staff across 16 games. Once Los Angeles got healthier and began activating other players, Rortvedt was designated for assignment, and the Mets turned that roster shuffle into a return of their own by landing Chayce McDermott.
McDermott brings a different kind of appeal, but also a familiar kind of uncertainty. He has only limited major league experience, and the early read on him comes with a high ERA and control problems that make it hard to project where he fits in New Yorks plans. With non-tender eligibility approaching, the Mets are left weighing whether this is a depth move with upside or just another arm that may not stay in the picture for long. [Read more 🡒]
Mets Still Believe In Ryan Clifford Despite One Alarming Problem
Ryan Cliffords first full taste of Triple-A has been rough, and the numbers show why the Mets pulled him aside for a reset. The 21-year-old prospect has been scuffling badly at the plate this season, and a strikeout rate that high is a reminder that the jump has not come easily. Even so, the organization has not moved off its belief in him, and the decision to place him on the development list was made with an eye toward getting him back on track rather than pushing him aside.
Kevin Mahala, the Mets minor-league hitting director, has pointed to Cliffords ability to adjust as the key reason the club still sees a path forward. The hope is that a cleaner stretch of work can help him rediscover the version of himself that made him such an interesting prospect in the first place. For now, the story is less about a finished evaluation than a player at an important crossroads, with the Mets still betting there is more offense ahead if he can make the necessary corrections. [Read more 🡒]