Mets lead race for Arroyo

The New York Mets appear to be leading the race to sign free agent Bronson Arroyo, although the veteran pitcher is believed to have a number of options ahead of the new season. The 36-year old is reportedly looking for a multiyear contract worth upwards of $14 million per year following his departure from the Cincinnati Reds, with a number of MLB teams monitoring Arroyo’s situation.

But while the Mets are definitely interested in signing the experienced pitcher, their limited budget could make any move potentially problematic. Even though the hefty contracts of both Jason Bay and Johan Santana have now expired, the Mets came into the winter with only around $25 million to spend during the offseason, with over $7 million of that budget already gone to Chris Young.

In 32 starts last season, Arroyo went 14-12 with a 3.79 ERA (101 ERA+) in 202 innings, continuing his run as one of the league’s hardest working pitchers. Arroyo has made at least 32 starts and thrown at least 199 innings every year since 2005. CC Sabathia and Mark Buehrle are the only other pitchers in the league to throw at least 180 innings in each of the last nine MLB seasons.

But while Arroyo would be a solid and extremely useful signing for most of the teams in the MLB, the Mets may not even need to splash out on the pitcher when considering the options they already have at the franchise.

Even though Matt Harvey is expected to miss the entire 2014 season following his elbow surgery, the Mets still have an enviable pitching roster boasting the likes of Jon Niese, Dillon Gee and Zack Wheeler, with talented pitchers Jenrry Mejia, Rafael Montero and Carlos Torres all supplying solid back-up.

                      

While the MLB odds may not be giving the Mets much hope of challenging next season, reaching the postseason is more than achievable for this team if they can keep their key players fit. But, as ever with baseball, that’s a big ‘if’, and Betfair customers won’t be flooding to back the Mets to be in with a chance of challenging for honours next season.

Betfair will have a wide selection of betting options throughout an intriguing 2014 MLB season, but they won’t be expecting to see the Mets still in contention by the time the postseason arrives.