The Mets’ hopes for the backbone of their team next season to be starting pitching suffered a crushing blow when Matt Harvey was lost following Tommy John surgery.
If they are going to have any chance of staying relevant in 2014, the Mets will almost certainly have to lure someone like Bronson Arroyo to help the rotation.
While the Mets have not contacted Arroyo yet, that should change.
“Bronson is an East Coast guy and would definitely consider the Mets,” Arroyo’s agent, Terry Bross, said. “But we’re going to take our time with this.”
The Mets appear willing to do the same and may have little choice.
Needing considerable help in the outfield, they figure to at least get in touch with Scott Boras, who represents two of the top outfielders at the end of their contracts in Jacoby Ellsbury and Shin-Soo Choo, both of whom could prove to be too expensive.
Shortstop is another area of need, but they clearly want to add rotational depth to help Jon Niese, Zack Wheeler and Dillon Gee.
Arroyo will turn 37 in February, but has logged at least 199 innings each season since 2005. In September, he told The Post, “I definitely think the Mets are a team that I would look at.”
He rebounded from an awful 2011 season by pitching to under a 4.00 ERA in each of the past two seasons with the Reds in hitter-friendly Great American Ball Park. In four career starts at Citi Field, he is 3-0 with a 2.32 ERA.
Arroyo has said he is looking for at least a two-year deal and that would likely cost around $30 million.
The Mets have money to spend after buying out the final year of Johan Santana’s contract for $5.5 million Friday. That move saved them nearly $20 million.
Santana missed all of last season after shoulder surgery, the last in a long list of injuries that affected his career with the Mets.
In a statement, Santana thanked the Mets, his teammates and fans.
“I am not sure what the future holds, as this is all new to me, but I have every intention of pitching in 2014 and beyond and I am certainly keeping all my options open,” Santana said.
Santana tossed the only no-hitter in franchise history on June 1, 2012, and despite the mixed results, former Mets general manager Omar Minaya said he had no regrets about the move that brought Santana to Flushing prior to the 2008 season.
“I don’t look back on things I’ve done, but he was healthy at the time,” Minaya said. “How can you not make the deal with a pitcher like that?”
The prospect of the 35-year-old returning to the Mets at a much lower number hasn’t been ruled out, but seems unlikely.
“When he pitched, he pitched great,” Minaya said. “Unfortunately, he got hurt and he was not able to be the guy we expected. You can’t predict injuries. He was in the prime of his career, but with pitching, it’s always a risk. … He gave us everything he had.”
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Dr. James Andrews, who performed Tommy John surgery on Matt Harvey in Florida on Oct. 22 said while there’s no guarantee the procedure was a success, he was confident the right-hander would bounce back.
“Everything went well with him,” Andrews said on the Tri-State Sports Guys radio show in Connecticut. “He’s a real, real hard worker. Whatever you tell him to do, he’s gonna do it and he’s gonna do fine. Tell everybody to relax and let him do his rehab, take his time and don’t rush him and he should have a very good outcome.”
Harvey will miss next season, but barring setbacks, should be ready for spring training in 2015.