The New York Mets sit at a crossroads, staring straight at their two biggest flaws: a lack of rotation depth and a true center fielder. Those weaknesses have defined the team’s ceiling over the past year, and the front office knows it. A shaky bullpen doesn’t help either, but the heart of the problem starts with a rotation that lacks a clear-cut ace.
There are capable arms in the organization, but none combine elite talent, youth, durability, and command at a level that screams “number one starter.” It’s the kind of gap that turns a good team into a pretender once October rolls around.
The need for an ace
Pitchers like Tarik Skubal don’t grow on trees. The Tigers’ left-hander checks every box the Mets are missing — electric stuff, age on his side, and top-tier production. Joe Ryan could be a slightly more attainable option, though still costly. To land that caliber of arm, New York will have to part with something meaningful.
That’s where their young pitching depth becomes more than just promise. It becomes currency.
The trade chips: Jonah Tong and Brandon Sproat
Nolan McLean might be untouchable after his strong 2025, but Jonah Tong and Brandon Sproat are the names insiders can’t stop mentioning. According to Mets reporter Max Goodman, both right-handers could headline a deal if the Mets decide to chase an ace this winter.
“It would be tough for the Mets to make any sort of high-profile trade this winter without involving one of their top pitching prospects,” Goodman wrote. “McLean should be off the table, which leaves right-handers Jonah Tong and Brandon Sproat as their best chips.”
Tong, just 22, flashed a strong fastball and swing-and-miss breaking stuff in his debut, even if his 7.71 ERA didn’t tell the whole story. His advanced metrics did — a 4.31 FIP and 3.96 xFIP suggest he pitched better than the box score implied, and his 25.3 percent strikeout rate was no accident.
Sproat, meanwhile, impressed in flashes with a 4.79 ERA and a much cleaner 2.80 FIP. Both right-handers combined for only nine big-league starts, but their poise and potential stood out. Other teams have noticed.
The Mets’ dilemma
Goodman laid out the internal tug-of-war perfectly. “The alternative would be for Stearns and the Mets to hold on to their best young arms, continuing to develop pitching from within while bolstering the starting staff with open market signings,” he noted. “But after the year the Mets had in 2025, this feels like as good a time as ever to utilize a deep farm system to make the big-league club better — so another year of Juan Soto’s prime doesn’t slip away.”
That’s the push and pull defining New York’s winter. The front office could slow-play development and build long-term stability, or it could swing big while Soto, Francisco Lindor, and Pete Alonso (if he stays) are still in their prime years.
It’s a classic baseball gamble — like holding two face cards and wondering if the dealer’s got an ace up his sleeve.
What comes next
In theory, the Mets could keep both Tong and Sproat, giving them real chances in the rotation next season. But the more realistic path might be turning one — or both — into the kind of frontline pitcher who changes a season’s trajectory.
David Stearns has the pieces. Now it’s a matter of deciding whether those pieces become part of the future or part of a trade that reshapes it.