The New York Mets were seemingly one of the favorites to sign star pitcher Dylan Cease in free agency this winter, but they whiffed. Cease agreed to a huge $210 million deal with the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday night.

The Mets are in desperate need of pitching this winter, and losing the Cease sweepstakes could come back to haunt them. Now, they're going to need to pivot to other top free agents to avoid falling behind even more in the National League.

The Mets can't afford to leave free agency without one of the top pitchers on the market. With Cease off the board, the Mets should be pursuing pitchers like Framber Valdez and Ranger Suárez. There's also a chance the Mets make a solid push for international superstar Tatsuya Imai.

Either way, the Mets need to leave free agency with

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