While most of the baseball world is understandably distracted by the Tarik Skubal sweepstakes, the Mets need more than just a dominant starting pitcher to help vault themselves back into contention as a decent team. Today we’ll not look at the lackluster offense either. Both are certainly agenda items to address for the 2027 if and when it takes place.
Today instead we will look at how to restructure and reinforce the bullpen that was actually better late in the year than anyone could have expected, but there are still big questions that need to be answered. We’re not going to delve into the Devin Williams vs. Kodai Senga as closer debate either.
We will instead focus on the setup guys the team might try to buy on the free agent market to make what worked well with minimal experience in August and September by fortifying it with some experienced bullpen talent.
Right off the bat, two former Mets relievers are on the open market. Brooks Raley was a great unknown when he came to the Mets from the Rays back in 2023 and he pitched far better than anyone could have reasonably expected. He was already 35 years old and surprisingly appeared in 66 games, finishing the season with a highly impressive 2.80 ERA.
In 2024 the season was pretty much lost to injury and he only got into 30 games in 2025 but again showed what he could do with a 2.45 ERA.
Everyone looked forward to 2026 when he was fully healthy and dropped that 45 game stint to an ERA under 2.00. He’ll be turning 39 during the 2027 season and his asking price plus proof of the ability to pitch in New York would make him a viable option.
Also immediately available is top quality southpaw AJ Minter. He’s done spectacularly well for a variety of teams and the only black mark on his Mets metrics is the time he spent on the IL instead of on the mound. For his career he’s been known to pitch in an average of 68 games per season and owns a lifetime 3.15 ERA. He was a bit more expensive with his outgoing Mets contract paying him $11 million per season.
While he would certainly provide the level of reinforcement the Mets need to support their starting pitchers, with all of the other holes needing to be filled you’re left questioning if spending half as much for Raley and relying on the 2026 rookie lefty Nate Lavender to address the need for southpaws.
Of course many decent options exist in the free agent marketplace, too. Everyone has already heard a plethora of info about Padres setup star Adrian Morejon. Though he’s ending his Padres tenure on a $3.75 million salary it is understood that clubs looking not for a setup guy but a closer or a plan to convert to starting pitcher are going to jump that number probably three fold.
A less costly option would be the now former Dodger Alex Vesia.
The now 30 year old Vesia owns a career ERA of just 2.87. This past season he appeared in 72 games and his track record suggests he doesn’t wilt under big market pressure. His ending salary with LA is $3.55 million. He won’t cost as much as Morejon who is a flashier flame throwing strikeout specialist.
After that are a collection of highly credible options who are not quite at the level of these four pitchers. They would include:
Brock Burke
Yuki Matsui
Sean Newcomb
Steven Okert
JoJo Romero
I still think Jefry Yan makes a lefty bullpen impact in 2027.
ReplyDeleteNot a lefty, but I saw recently that Senga expressed a preference to start. He had an ERA of 9.66 as a starter, and was 4.85 as a reliever. The latter was skewed by one 3 run outing late in the season, but he was very good in his other 17 outings in August and September. Not to mention 8 saves. He is a reliever, period. Smoltz, Miller, Hand excelled as starter-turned-reliever. So can he.