No one has said much about it, but I am very excited to see Ryne Stanek back in a Mets’ uniform this year. Stanek was signed January 30th to a one year deal that could be worth $5M with incentives.
Stanek did not achieve fan favoritism last year, probably because his Mets debut was a dud, allowing 7 runs over his first five outings. Even with that inauspicious start, he tuned in a very credible performance with 23 strikeouts in 16.1 innings. Stanek is known for being a hard thrower which is backed up by his 10.58 k/9 statistics. As a Houston Astro during the 2021-2023 seasons, Ryne showed what an effective pitcher he could be by turning in a 2.90 ERA and 1.22 WHIP over 173.2 innings pitched.
In the press, David Stearns said, “Ryne emerged as an important late-inning option for us last season and we’re excited to bring him back. He brings a combination of experience and stuff that will complement the rest of our pen well.” This is not just front office hype – Stanek will make the entire bullpen better by providing a late inning go-to guy to hold leads for Edwin Diaz to close.
The pen now features a handful of guys that can be relied on to put up a scoreless inning. Righty Reid Garrett is back, lefty AJ Minter was signed recently, Dedniel Nunez is hopefully recovered from his injuries, and we have Huascar Brazoban and Jose Butto back. Sean Reid-Foley will take another shot at staying healthy and Danny Young provides another lefty option. With five to six starters and our closer Diaz, there is not even enough room on the 13 person staff to fit all these talented guys. Over time there will be a few injuries, as there always are, but it appears that we have the depth to succeed.
The other good thing about the stockpile of arms just mentioned is that it gives more time to our prospects to refine their pitching game. Guys like Dominic Hamel and Blade Tidwell just seem to need some more work before realizing their potential. Brandon Sproat, Jonah Tong, and Nolan McLean are moving up fast but also have some time to work on their game in the minors to start the year.
One could argue that we need one more quality starter to round out the pitching. Time will tell if that deal gets done, as there not many good arms left in free agency. Other than Jose Quintana and Mike Clevenger the free agent field looks pretty thin for starters. Trades are still an option, and the Mets have several areas of redundancy on their roster as the position player roster nears completion.
There is still more to come, but for the moment I am celebrating the return of Ryne Stanek. Stearns made a good move by bringing him back.
