Bill Madden: Reminder to Juan Soto that it is still all about the pitching

Bill Madden, New York Daily News on Feb 23, 2025

Published in Baseball

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NEW YORK — Before we dig into the “who’s better Mets or Yankees?” debate between Juan Soto and Aaron Judge, let’s get this out of the way: Despite his contention that he signed with the Mets because he thought they had the best chance to get to the World Series, we all know the real deciding factor for Soto was that the Mets gave him the most money — and on top of that threw in all the extra perks his mom demanded from them.

When it comes to the Mets and the World Series, however, you have to wonder if Soto has checked out the Mets’ starting rotation this spring? As opposed to the Yankees’ rotation? When it comes to starting pitching, David Stearns is taking a conservative grab bag approach, cobbling together a rotation behind Sean Manaea with converting closer Clay Holmes, presently injured Frankie Montas, oft-injured Kodai Senga, David Peterson and a competing group of mediocrities for the fifth spot among Tylor Megill, Paul Blackburn and Griffin Canning. Not a bonafide No. 1 among them.

On the other hand, the Yankees, after being spurned by Soto, turned around and invested $218 million in Max Fried, a legitimate ace (when healthy), giving them four starters, along with Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodon and most recently Luis Gil, who have all pitched like No. 1’s during their careers. In Cole, Rodon and Fried, the Yankees have invested $704 million in three starting pitchers. By contrast, Stearns’ entire group of eight starters will earn $200 million.

It’s a gamble Stearns is taking, hoping the Mets can somehow get to the World Series without the benefit of a dominant No. 1 starter. When Montas went down the first day of spring with a lat injury that’s expected to sideline him for 6-8 weeks, it was thought that might incentivize Stearns to pursue a No. 1 on the trade market, and while he did have conversations with the Padres about Dylan Cease, those talks fizzled when San Diego said they had to get a starting pitcher back and asked for the Mets top prospect Brandon Sproat. The word is Stearns, at least right now, is loath to trade from the Mets surplus of top prospects. And apparently Stearns feels the group of starters he has are all better bets than Jose Quintana, one of his best pitchers last year who had a 1.42 ERA in his last nine starts including the postseason, and yet is curiously still out there as a free agent.

Of course, we’re talking spring training “on paper” here and a lot can happen over the next five months. There’s hardly any team in baseball that goes through a season without injuries to their starting pitchers, and as good as the Yankees may be feeling right now about their rotation of Cole, Fried, Gil, Rodon and Clarke Schmidt, don’t think for a minute they aren’t holding their breath about major injuries, especially Fried, who missed a month last year with elbow issues, and Cole, who missed the first third of the season last year with elbow fatigue. Already Schmidt, who missed a good part of last season with a lat strain, is shut down with what is being called a “cranky back.”

But assuming they all do stay reasonably healthy, the Yankees can be dominant in the weak American League this year — even without a third baseman.

As for the Mets, hope springs eternal that Senga can rebound from the shoulder strain and later calf injury that wiped out most of ’24 for him and he can again become the No. 1-type he was in ’23 with a 2.98 ERA and 202 strikeouts in 166 1/3 innings — and who knows if Peterson is on the verge of a top-of-the-rotation breakthrough after his 10-3, 2.90 ’24 season?

Still, I for one remain skeptical about how much better and closer to the World Series the Mets are with Soto now in toe for $765 million. They parted ways with Luis Severino and Quintana from their rotation and are they going to adequately replace the combined 21 wins and mostly quality 352 innings they got from those two last year?

Soto is still only 26 and probably hasn’t had enough time to fully grasp the essence of baseball, but as the years go by in his contract and if he hasn’t gotten to the World Series, he will understand that it’s always all about the pitching.

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