The second problem David Stearns needs to address is the rework of the bullpen corps which has, out of necessity, been overhauled but the work is not yet complete. With the departure of Edwin Diaz and the arrival of Devin Williams the club is not bereft for closing out games but nearly anyone in baseball would agree it’s a step down even if you write off Williams’ Bronx bombing just as you need to forget about a few bad seasons from Diaz.
After that it becomes a bit less clear. Yes, the team will see the return of a healthy Brooks Raley to aid in 7th or 8th inning duties or when the upcoming batters need to face a big southpaw. He’s been a solid find for the Mets and is a strong late innings option for Carlos Mendoza to deploy.
Less certain is the hopefully healthy reliever A.J. Minter. Everyone cheered when David Stearns brought him to the Mets from the Braves. He had always been a rock solid setup guy with a career ERA of just 3.23. Unfortunately his Mets tenure came to an abrupt halt after just 13 games when he suffered a lat injury that eventually required surgery ending his 2025 efforts during the first week of May. Everyone is holding their breath over his recovery and he could indeed be the kind of weapon they envisioned when he was signed as a free agent.
Unfortunately then it becomes even more murky. Reliever Adbert Alzolay had an uncharacteristic sharing closing duties for the Cubs in 2023 when he earned 22 saves, striking out better than one per inning and delivering a WHIP of just a hair over 1.000. Unfortunately health became an issue here as well. Alzolay had elbow problems in May of 2024 which lead to UCL isues and eventual Tommy John Surgery. Was 2023 an outlier or is he truly a formidable relief pitcher if he is fully healthy again?
Another new face in the locker room is fellow former Yankee Luke Weaver. He’s another player who has had an up and down career but more good than bad lately. In the two full years with the Yankees in 2024 and 2025 he has been terrific. He was in 126 games over those two seasons with a 3.21 ERA with a WHIP under 1.000. He’s struck well over 1 per inning. Unfortunately the previous efforts from 2016 through 2023 were not impressive. As he transitioned from failed starter to unknown reliever he put up a 5.14 ERA. Which Weaver arrives is still a great unknown.
The remaining bullpen options are filled with question marks. Huascar Brazoban was a far better Marlin than he has been as a Met. The other AAAA pitchers don’t have much overall back-of-the-baseball-card history to feel confident about enhancing the support pitching staff.
The consensus among most fans, analysts and bloggers is that the Mets need to get another credible reliever with a strong track record. Whether he comes from the free agent pool or via trade is irrelevant. The thinking seems to be anxiety over the health of a few existing pitchers and whether Devin Williams hit a wall or just had a bad season out of Chicago. It’s the second of four big areas Stearns needs to improve.
15 comments:
What the heck has happened to Mets fans? They are crying uncontrollably over these guys. Why?
Diaz has had an inconsistent career. He has been good every other year - his whole career. Devin Williams had a 1something ERA, FOUR YEARS IN A ROW and five out of six! Further, he has a lower WHIP, a better ERA+, and similar strikeout numbers, save for last year. We have seen Edwin Diaz freeze and not cover first base at least twice a year; we have seen that he lets base runners steal at will; we have seen that he loses his control at times. He is a very good pitcher but not irreplaceable.
The main issue with the bullpen is needing at least two long men. One isn’t enough any more with these shortened outings. I’d like Luke Weaver to be one… where’s the other one?
The other long man could easily come from the current excess starters on the 40
I truly believe 2026 will be the year of Dylan Ross
Also, I expect a successful promotion of Ryan Lambert
Chris Sale’s first two seasons were in relief. Give the second long reliever job to Sproat?
Hopefully, Ross tightens his control a bit this off season. Both of these guys should pitch much in 2026. In my Nov 20 article, I noted Fangraphs projected these stats for the duo in 2026…I will take that.
Dylan Ross: 50 games! 9.4K/9, 3.85 ERA.
Ryan Lambert: 24 games! 10 K/9, 3.99 ERA.
I would consider give two BP spots to internal candidates - assuming they earn it in ST. Let them acclimate early & build confidence & ease into leverage situations. Give two rehabbing established relievers space to bounce back, 3 high-leverage “locks” including primary Closer & one journeyman experiment to open the season. One long relief/spot starter (young gun) one long relief / piggy back role for one of the “established but u see performing” high salary returning 2025 starters. Will be interesting how bullpen & maturing pitching talent are used this year. Should be very different than last year.
Gus, you laid it out very well. I'm on board.
I think Peterson is a candidate for that role, depending how the starting rotation shakes out.
Tom, I am also a believer in using someone like Sproat in long relief if needed.
They will become tears of joy if these guys perform in 2026.
Those who know a lot more about Ross and Lambert than I do seem to feel they're ready or very close. Give them a ST chance to win jobs.
I agree with TexasGus re: Diaz.
In the modern game a team needs at least a dozen arms ready for relief duty over the course of a season. Assuming five starts and 13 pitchers on the roster, there is room for 8 relief pitchers overall at any one time. I don't think in terms of specific innings, and prefer to think in terms of leverage, long relief, specialization. Most specialization tends to focus on getting a lefty out in a high leverage situation. On the Mets, that role would be most often played by Raley who is also someone who falls in the general category of high leverage relievers, but at the bottom of that group. The High Leverage relievers so far are: Williams, Weaver, Mintor and Raley, none of whom can be expected to go more than one inning. The long reliever, IMO, will be Christian Scott, though if the Mets do not trade for another high leverage reliever, he may well move into that role which would make him the one reliever among the high leverage options who can go more than one inning. That leaves three spots open. Ironically, should David Peterson end up as a long man, he too would figure as a high leverage pitcher who could go more than one inning. Now we are down to as few as two spots for opening day. Brazabon would likely be one of these. He was very good until he became very bad, but he returned at the end of the season to be good again. That leaves one spot to fill -- for opening day. I assume this will be a very competitive position. If Peterson is traded or makes the starting rotation, that would leave two spots, though I doubt Stearns will fil both with rookies on OD.
Actually, on paper at least that is a very strong bullpen,backed up minor leaguers looking to take the next step to seasoned vets on value contracts.
No matter what Stearns ever does in his career, he'll always be the idiot who didn't want Pete Alonso back.
And bald faced lied about it.
Jules, with all due respect, “Actually, on paper at least that is a very strong bullpen, backed up minor leaguers looking to take the next step to seasoned vets on value contracts” I don’t agree with for this reason: almost every single season, the pen has crumbled to a greater or lesser degree. I really thought they built it well pre-2025, but the starting staff collapse caused the pen to run low on petrol by mid-July.
They ought to have a Parris Island for for prospect pitchers, to toughen their psyches - you may beat me, but it will be a real tussle.
I’m a Brazoban fan, man.
@nickel7168. I was sad to see Alonso go, and I frankly thought that the FO underestimated the value he provided batting behind Soto. On the other hand, don't underestimate the value that having Soto and Lindor provided by batting in front of him, as never before in his career did he come to bat with as many runners on base or in scoring position.
All we know for sure is that he did not attempt to bring him back at the price that the Orioles were willing to pay for him. I don't think that was an idiotic decision, even if it proves to be a mistake. It was a calculated decision. My guess is that once it became clear to them that there were teams willing to commit to four years at 30m or more, they determined that they were out.
Did you feel the same way when Pete turned down a 7 year offer two years ago that would have paid him roughly 22m/year? Wasn't that villainous of him?
I don't think so. He just made a bet on himself that he could do better monetarily. His bet wasn't that the Mets would always do better than that so that he could get what he wanted and get it from them as well. It was that he could get more by waiting for free agency. Both got what they wanted to last year. And this year Alonso got what he wanted and the Mets decided that what he got was not what they were willing to pay. It's the outcome of a series of calculated decisions on both sides, starting two years ago when the Mets offered a 7 year deal at over 20m/year and Pete chose to wait for free agency and bet on himself.
It is something of a mischaracterization of the process to describe it in terms entirely of what the Mets failed to do this year.
I'm a fan of the team, and like most fans I am drawn to particular players more than others. We should all agree that there is likely more than one possible roster construction capable of leading the Mets to a world series appearance. Some of these would have included Pete; others do not. I have faith that Stearns knows this as well, and that he believes he can identify pathways to that outcome that increase the likelihood of many such trips and several successes once there, and that very few of them that are realizable involve signing up Alonso for another five years. Time will tell if he is right, but nothing he has done suggests that he is an idiot. It's very possible that he is right.
Tom, you are right about last year for sure. A bullpen's success depends in part on the success of the starting staff, and ours failed miserably mid season, whether by performance or injury or both. It's a little like playing complementary football. You don't need the offence and the defence to be equally good, but you need at least one of them to better than good and the other to complement that in order to succeed.
And we can agree that the main problem was the starting pitching that doomed the bullpen to overwork which ultimately exposed them and did them in.
We can also agree that the main culprit was the number of starters it took to pitch so few innings. It's like the old Borscht Belt joke: Q: How was the hotel? A: The food was terrible and the portions were too small.
I think we need a couple of pitchers who can be counted on for innings; it would be great if both could produce quality starts as well. I think our best best on the free agent market is Chris Bassett for 2 years. The best bet on the current projected starting rotation is Nolan McLean. Holmes is very unlikely to ever go beyond 6 innings, and he is basically a solid 5 innings pitcher. I don't see how that expected output can ever elevate him above a number 4/ 5 starter. What can make him a 4 rather than a 5 is his ability to do it for the entire season. Senga can do 6 (or occasionally more), but can he do it for an entire season. If so he can be a 2 or 3.
Bassett's key traits are availability a high pitcher IQ and an ability to eat innings. He's no better than a 3 and on a really good staff would be a 4 or 5.
Peterson just displays too much variance for my taste. He is at best a 3 but can't handle the load of a 3 for a full season. And if you know something about pitching as I know you do, you don't make him able to last a full season at his best performance by limiting the number of innings he pitches each start. The two variables: games pitched and innings/game do not interact with one another smoothly.
We have several very promising starters in the high minors, but I believe that the FO has adopted a strategy that I fully agree with, namely, that you want to do all you can, within reason, to set your players up for success. You want the first experience with failure to take place in the minors, not the majors. You want them to be in a safer place when they fail and help them manage their recovery with less at stake for everyone.
I have never understood fans who want to see all the young players at the major league level ('to see what we've got'). You don't know what you've got if you put them in a position of undue stress. At some point you want them to face adversity, and to see if they can work their way through it. I strongly doubt that a premature rush to the major leagues constitutes the best environment in which that might occur!
To be sure some players may force their way to the majors by their play and you have no choice, but I am sure the FO would prefer a more controlled, less stressful environment for them to go through the inevitable first real flirtation with failure.
For similar reasons we shouldn't count on McLean to be an ace just yet.
I'd love to get another solid starter through trade or free agent. Such a person would not only make the starting rotation better, but would help the bullpen succeed.
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