The New York Mets are reportedly looking to make a big trade to fix their pitching problems and are said to be looking to get a $56 million ace from their NL East rival Miami Marlins. The franchise is desperately trying to rebuild a rotation that fell apart spectacularly during the 2025 season, turning what looked like a championship-caliber season into one of baseball’s biggest disappointments.

People are talking about trades because the Marlins are willing to deal within their own division. Miami ended the 2025 season with a record of 79-83, which was better than their terrible 62-100 record in 2024. However, they still missed the playoffs for the second year in a row. The Marlins seem ready to trade away expensive players for future value. They have a young rotation with Edward Cabrera, Eury Perez, and Ryan Weathers, and their Opening Day payroll is only $67.2 million.

Dan Bartels captured the sentiment perfectly in his recent assessment: “Mets should be all over Sandy Alcantara this winter. He’s making $17.3M in 2026 with a $21M club option for 2027. Marlins have shown willingness to trade within division in December when they dealt Jesús Luzardo to Philadelphia.”

Alcantara, a two-time All-Star and the 2022 NL Cy Young Award winner, showed that he was back to his old self after having Tommy John surgery by posting a 3.13 ERA in his last 12 starts, which included seven games of seven innings or more. The Marlins are said to have dangled him at the trade deadline, which shows that they are willing to trade the right-hander.

Reports say that there is a trade plan that would send Alcantara to New York in exchange for the Mets’ fourth-best prospect, right-handed pitcher Jonah Tong, and veteran infielder Jeff McNeil. This package would give Miami both MLB-ready talent right away and a promising pitcher to help them rebuild.

The New York Mets are desperate because they fell apart in the second half of the season. New York had the best record in baseball on June 12, 45-24, and a 96% chance of making the playoffs. But they lost 38 of their last 93 games, finishing with a 38-55 record. Before mid-June, their pitching staff had a 2.83 ERA, which was the best in baseball. After that, injuries and poor performance dropped them to 26th with a 4.95 ERA. This collapse is the worst in MLB history for a team that was that many games above .500, which is why the front office needs to make big changes this offseason. Add to that, the Mets are also dealing with an injury crisis.

Injury epidemic compounds Mets’ pitching crisis

The rotation collapse is only one part of New York’s pitching nightmare. The franchise’s already weak bullpen depth took another big hit when Reed Garrett had surgery on Wednesday. The right-hander had Tommy John surgery, which means he won’t be able to pitch again until 2027. He is the fifth Mets pitcher this year to need UCL reconstruction, joining Danny Young, Dedniel Nunez, Frankie Montas, and Tylor Megill.

Last August, Garrett’s elbow problems got so bad that he had to go on the 15-day injured list because of inflammation. He tried to come back in the middle of September and pitched four games before having to stop again on September 18 because he was in pain. An MRI showed that the UCL was sprained, which meant that surgery was the only option.

Before he broke down, the 32-year-old reliever had decent stats: he pitched in 58 games, had a 3.90 ERA, and struck out 64 batters in 55.1 innings while getting three saves and 20 holds.

At first, he was in charge and didn’t give up a run in 13 games. In May, he had a 1.38 ERA and two saves. But June was awful, with a 7.36 ERA, and August was even worse, with an 8.00 ERA before the shutdown.

The bullpen is getting worse because Ryan Helsley, Tyler Rogers, Gregory Soto, and Ryne Stanek are all leaving, and Edwin Diaz’s future is still up in the air. New York needs to completely rebuild its relief corps, which makes it even more important for them to get Alcantara in order to stabilize their entire pitching system before 2026.