You can never have too much pitching. The Mets traded their most MLB ready pitching prospect in Justin Dunn and their next closest one, Franklyn Kilome, is down with Tommy John surgery. Meanwhile, Jason Vargas is their current number five and when someone gets hurt, Corey Oswalt and Chris Flexen are the next men up.
They are in the process of upgrading their bullpen, and with a limited budget they will likely look for some interesting low cost pieces. Here are some options that wouldn’t cost all that much that Brodie Van Wagenen should consider.
1. Aaron Sanchez
Sanchez was a big pitching prospect way back when. He was even close to being a Met before, had the Mets chose him instead of Noah Syndergaard in the R.A. Dickey trade. He had a breakout year in 2016, but is coming off two injury plagued seasons.
Sanchez only has two years of control left which makes him a likely trade target for the Blue Jays. His K% has never been high, but he has good stuff. Sanchez’s fastball still clocks in at an average velocity of 94 MPH. His curveball has an average spin rate of 2,916 revolutions per minute, good for the 16th highest spin rate in baseball.
Many pitchers become more successful when they use their breaking pitches more and in this case, Sanchez’s curve gets really good movement. He could certainly benefit from a new set of eyes on him like Dave Eiland. Sanchez probably would not cost a lot too.
I’d imagine his value is a little bit higher than what Zack Wheeler‘s was at this time, last year.
2. Ryan Cook
Cook was a former lockdown reliever for the Oakland A’s, but he has not found the same success elsewhere. In a short big league stint last season (17 innings) Cook posted a 5.29 ERA.
He also struck out 30.3% of the batters he faced while also showing a tight slider and averaged a tad under 95 MPH on his fastball. His slider averaged 2,948 revolutions per minute and showed an ability to spin at 3,150 RPM’s. His average spin rate was good enough to be the fifth highest mark in all of baseball.
When it comes to minor league deals, the Mets could certainly do much worse. At the very least, Cook can come in and compete with guys like Jacob Rhame amongst others for a final spot in the bullpen.
3. Adam Morgan
You might remember Morgan’s memorable starts as a soft tossing lefty for the Phillies. He famously started the game where the Mets set a franchise record by homering eight times. Morgan was recently moved to the bullpen, and he’s found much more success over the past two season.
Morgan’s shown a 95 MPH fastball with above average spin rates. His curveball spins at 2,984 RPMs and his slider spins at 2,850 RPMs, good for tenth and sixteenth in baseball, respectively. His ERA and FIP last year were 3.83/3.79.
With Daniel Zamora currently as the lone lefty in the bullpen, the Mets could use another another southpaw option. In Morgan’s case, he is a lefty with good stuff and who knows the NL East very well. The Phillies have ton’s of money to spend and are considering both top lefty free agent’s Andrew Miller and Zach Britton which would likely make him more expendable.
4. Sonny Gray
I mentioned Sonny Gray as a buy low candidate before, but now I am fully on that train. Gray had a 3.17 ERA on the road with a 2.65 FIP in 2018. His HR/FB rate at home was 20% at home compared to 6% on the road.
That number with the Athletics was much lower, and it really spiked when he made the move to Yankees Stadium. He has averaged 2,700 RPMs on his slider and 2,852 RPMs on his curveball.
Brodie Van Wagenen has shown a willingness to make deals with the Yankees, making it a legitimate possibility. Gray would definitely be a solid buy-low and bounce back option for the Mets to consider taking a chance on.
