Reese Kaplan -- A Bullpen Rebuild That Looks to be Positive

When you try to analyze what went wrong with the Mets during the embarrassing 2025 season you could start with the injuries, the offense, the starting pitching, the defense, the base running or the overworked pen.  No single factor is wholly responsible for missing the post season but a combination of all of them. 

The relief corps was asked to shoulder an extraordinary number of innings when the starting rotation hit rock bottom by mid year.  First there were the injuries to starters Kodai Senga, Sean Manaea, Frankie Montas, Tylor Megill and a variety of others who failed to deliver the minimum five innings expected by someone assigned to this responsibility. 

Now there were some bright spots in the pen but they were few and far between. Edwin Diaz showed his dominance once again and finished the year with a 1.63 ERA and parlayed it into lucrative new deal with the Dodgers.  Brooks Raley delivered a 2.45 ERA over 30 games.  He will fortunately be back. 

On the negative side the list is pretty long.  Dominant reliever A.J. Minter was shut down early in the year due to injury that kept him out the rest of the year.  Returning reliever Ryne Stanek finished with a 5.30 ERA.  Reed Garrett was more good than bad but he went down with injury as well.  Huascar Brazoban was better for the Mets in 2025 than in 2024 and is still on the roster.  The trio of relievers from late season trades — Ryan Helsley, Gregory Soto and Tyler Rogers were not saviors though Rogers was as good as advertised.  Dedniel Nunez was down for Tommy John Surgery.  Jose Castillo, Jose Butto, Chris Devenski, Brandon Waddell and Danny Young all appeared in more than 10 games.  Then there were a huge number of AAA shuttle riders who popped in and out of the pen during the miserable season.

So, wiping the slate clean the 2026 bullpen is appearing to be much stronger as we head towards Spring Training in Port St. Lucie.  The new closer is former Brewer and Yankee Devin Williams.  When he’s good he’s one of the best in the game.  Behind him comes the recovered A.J. Minter, Brooks Raley, newcomer Luke Weaver, newcomer Tobias Myers, returning Huascar Brazoban and likely the weekend’s surprise minor league free agent signing of all time great reliever Craig Kimbrel. 

In addition to this top seven there is a laundry list of others including 40-man roster member Luis Garcia hoping for a return to big league play for the upcoming season.  The rest of the others are mostly in the journeyman category with a few youngsters with promise likely to be promoted once the year begins but less certain to head north to Citifield. 

Perhaps missing from this group is the multi inning long reliever type though Myers has worked as both a starter and reliever during this short major league career.  Overall it appears to be a stronger group than what was delivered on the field last season.  Health and effectiveness is still unknown but you pretty much have to applaud the front office for what appears to be a solid rebuild.