Rumors are already tying a pair of Tampa Bay Rays pitchers to the Mets, and the World Series isn’t even over yet.
Chelsea Janes of SNY recently pointed to Drew Rasmussen and Nick Martinez as possible starting pitching fits for New York. Janes made clear she does not know how the Mets feel about either pitcher, so the chatter is more speculation than anything concrete.
Still, both names are now on the radar. Rasmussen has a club option, while Martinez has a mutual option for 2027.
For now, both pitchers are still locked into the Fall Classic. The Rays kept their season alive on Tuesday with a 4-3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers, trimming Milwaukee’s lead to 3-1. Rasmussen and Martinez will deal with contract questions later, after they get through a series they’re hoping lasts until Game 7 on Saturday.
New York, meanwhile, has already moved on to offseason planning after missing the postseason despite regular-season expectations. The Mets are in the market for rotation help, and they’re expected to be part of the Tarik Skubal conversation since owner Steve Cohen has never been shy about spending.
Rasmussen and Martinez are both All-Stars, which makes them obvious names for the Mets to monitor. Whether either one actually reaches free agency is still unclear. The Rays may not be able to extend either pitcher, and that could open the door for Rasmussen and/or Martinez to become trade candidates even if they never hit the market.
In Other News...
Rays Kept Their Season Alive But Game 5 Just Got Tougher
The Rays kept their season alive with a 12-inning win in Game 4, trimming Milwaukees series lead to 3-1 and buying themselves at least one more chance to keep this thing going. Nick Martinez was a big part of the rescue effort, giving Tampa Bay two scoreless innings on the kind of short turnaround teams usually try to avoid, while the bullpen handled the rest of the heavy lifting in a game that demanded just about every available arm.
Kevin Cash made it clear afterward that the victory came with a price, because getting through an extra-inning playoff game meant leaning hard on pitchers the club may need again immediately. Game 5 now shifts from a simple elimination test to a planning exercise for Tampa Bay, with the staff having to sort through who can still answer the call and how far the Rays can push the group that just helped them survive. [Read more 🡒]
Rays World Series Pregame Took A Weird Turn Before Game 4
The pregame stage for Game 4 of the World Series took an odd detour before the first pitch, when FOX Sports analyst David Ortiz told the broadcast crew he had been stuck in an elevator. Kevin Burkhardt, Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter all wound up talking through the hiccup on air, turning a routine lead-in into a surprisingly memorable aside before the biggest game of the season.
Ortiz said he was not claustrophobic, but the situation still rattled him enough to become a topic on the set. For a national broadcast built around the matchup on the field, the unexpected delay gave the production a little extra drama of its own and added one more strange note to a night already carrying World Series pressure. [Read more 🡒]
Rays Keep World Series Hopes Alive After Wild Extra-Inning Escape
The Rays were staring at the end of their season in Game 4 against the Brewers, and instead got the kind of chaotic night that can swing an entire World Series. With multiple lead changes and big relief innings from Nick Martinez and Bryan Baker, Tampa Bay kept itself close long enough for the game to spill into extra innings, where every pitch felt season-defining.
Ben Williamson eventually supplied the finish, lining the walk-off hit that sent the Rays home with a win and pushed the series to a Game 5. For a club that needed every out just to survive, the victory was equal parts bullpen grit and late-game nerve, the kind of escape that can change the mood of a series in a hurry. [Read more 🡒]