Looking to round out the back of their rotation, the Mets inked Taijuan Walker to a two-year, $20 million contract. Much like with Kevin Pillar, there are some contract shenanigans to lower the CBT hit, with Walker having a player option for 2023 that could potentially turn the deal into a three-year, $25.5 million contract. Even on the high end, that’s not an exorbitant cost to add a league-average starter to lengthen the back of the rotation.
Walker’s prospect pedigree is quite impressive. Picked 43rd overall in the 2010 draft, he checked in at 9th on BP’s top 101 in 2013 and moved up a slot to 8th in 2014.