Mets have talked to Reds about Tyler Mahle trade

The Mets have talked to the Reds about a trade for 27-year-old right-handed starting pitcher pitcher Tyler Mahle, according to Michael Mayer.

Mahle is set to hit free agency after the 2023 season and is coming off a year in which he threw 180.0 innings over the course of 33 starts with a 3.75 ERA and 3.76 FIP for Cincinnati. That was a nice follow-up to a solid pandemic-shortened 2020 season, during which he had a 3.59 ERA and 3.88 FIP in 47.2 innings of work.

Before the past two seasons, Mahle hadn’t been quite as good, racking up a 4.88 ERA from 2017 through 2019. With that, he’s the owner of a career 4.34 ERA and 4.38 FIP, both of which probably look more underwhelming than the pitcher he has become.

It would behoove the Mets to bring in additional starting pitching before the 2022 season gets underway. While Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer are the best co-headliners out there, the rotation currently projects to include Taijuan Walker and Carlos Carrasco, both of whom struggled to different degrees last year, especially late in the season. And the fifth spot int he rotation would likely go to one of Tylor Megill, David Peterson, or Trevor Williams.