The big names in free agency are all off the board and spring training is now well underway. But there are still 81 MLB players seeking new teams who remain unsigned. That’s the pool of talent, albeit sometimes marginal talent, from which teams will look to fill holes that open up due to inevitable spring training injuries.

The New York Mets entered spring training with a sense of renewed optimism after a splashy offseason highlighted by the signing of Juan Soto to a record-setting, 15-year, $765 million contract, and the re-signing of first baseman Pete Alonso to a two-year, $54 million deal.

But some of that optimism was dampened on Monday when another free agent signing, right-handed starting pitcher Frankie Montas, had to be shut down with what was described as a high-grade lat strain — in other words, a painful rupture of the latissimus dorsi muscle, which is the broadest muscle of the back reaching from the hip to the top of the shoulder joint.

Montas will now be forced to wait between six and eight weeks before he can even throw again. A date when he may return to big league competition is unknown.

As a result, the Mets appear likely to dip into that pool of 81 unsigned free agents, looking for a hurler who can serve as at least a stopgap for the Mets’ starting rotation which, according to Danny Abriano of Mets cable television network SNY, “was probably the biggest question mark surrounding the team.”

One “strong backend option for the Mets,” Matthew Legros of Empire Sports Media wrote on Tuesday, could be 34-year-old southpaw Alex Wood, a 12-year veteran who spent 2024 with the Oakland Athletics.

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Wood would bring World Series credentials to the Mets rotation, as he threw four scoreless innings over two games for the Los Angeles Dodgers in their victory over the Tampa Bay Rays in 2020, capping that pandemic-shortened season.

“Over the course of a 12-year big-league career, Wood has a 3.78 ERA with a 3.66 FIP, and his experience would be a nice addition, even if just as a short-term solution,” wrote Jason Burke of SI.com, who also endorsed Wood as an option for the Mets in the absence of Montas.

Wood would likely be content with a one-year contract, which according to Spotrac would be valued at $8.1 million — though given that Wood is coming off a season shortened by left rotator cuff tendonitis and he is still unsigned nearly a week into spring training, the Mets may be able to acquire him for a considerably lower dollar figure.

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