SAN DIEGO — Age has become a big issue with the Mets, but not money. They enter 2023 with four starting pitchers age 34 and older. No team has ever had four starters that old make 25 starts. Lower the bar to 20 starts each and only four teams have such a quartet: the 1945 Reds (61–93), 1998 Mariners (76–85), the 2000 Braves (95–67) and the 2006 Mets (97–65).
The Mets right now have 34-year-old Starling Marte in center field. Nobody that old has played 120 games in center field in a decade—since Andres Torres of the Mets in 2012, with an OPS+ of 86. No one that old has played center field that regularly and hit better than league average since 2009 (Mike Cameron of Milwaukee).
At this rate any player the Mets sign while over the highest luxury tax tier will cost them a tax of 90 cents on the dollar, so Brandon Nimmo at $20 million a year (and that may be conservative) becomes a $38 million player. Ouch.
