One Way New York Mets Can Make Splashy Free Agency Move

The New York Mets haven't made a big move yet, but there's one on the board that is within reach.

Across town in the Bronx, the New York Yankees have traded for Juan Soto. Across the country, the Los Angeles Dodgers have signed Shohei Ohtani.

Inside the New York Mets organization, the moves have been mostly low-level contracts.

Is it time for the Mets to make a splash? If so, how?

Ohtani’s signing with the Dodgers moved the market. But does that help the Mets? The players they’re interested in are the players that everyone else is interested in, too.

For the past few months, new president of baseball operations David Stearns has worked to give the Mets a backbone, specifically on the pitching staff.

The Mets’ roster churn since the tender deadline in mid-November has been something.

The Mets have signed second baseman Joey Wendle, along with pitchers Luis Severino, Austin Adams, Jorge López and Michael Tonkin to Major League deals.

Meanwhile, the Mets have signed infielders José Iglesias and Rylan Bannon, outfielder Taylor Kohlwey, along with pitchers Andre Scubb, Kyle Crick, Joseph Yabbour, Carlos Guzman and Cole Sulser to minor-league deals.

The Mets even made moves through the Rule 5 Draft, most notably trading for pitcher Justin Slaten.

None of those moves scream “splash.” But, as MLB.com noted, there is one way for the Mets to make that splash move this offseason. It’s a player you’ve heard of — pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto:

It has to be Yamamoto. There's a case the Mets should've been in on Ohtani, even though they weren't, since Ohtani's return to being a two-way player in 2025 would've lined up with New York's 2024 "bridge year" plans. There's a case they should've tried to trade for Soto, too -- since he's, you know, a 25-year-old future Hall of Famer -- if not for the uncertainty of locking him up with an extension before he hits free agency next winter. But those ships have sailed. And there's only one big ship left: Yamamoto.

Mets owner Steve Cohen traveled to Japan two weeks ago to meet Yamamoto in person. This week several teams have met with him stateside, including the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies. He has until Jan. 4 to get an MLB deal done.

The three-time Pacific League MVP and three-time Sawamura Award winner (Japanese Cy Young) was posted last month by his Nippon Professional Baseball team, the Orix Buffaloes. He is 25 and considered the crown jewel of a group of talented Asian players that have been posted.

Many expect Yamamoto to get a contract in excess of $200 million, and with the posting fee the total cost could reach $300 million.

Yamamoto has a 70-29 record. He has a mid-90s fastball, but he is best known for an array of breaking pitches that can befuddle hitters. This season he had just a 1.21 ERA. He also went 16-6 and struck out 169 hitters in 164 innings.

Yamamoto just wrapped up play in the Japan Series, their country’s equivalent of the World Series. His final game saw him strike out 14 hitters in Game 6, which set a series record.

Yamamoto has thrown two no-hitters in his career. He’s also won gold medals for Japan in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo and in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.