Mets’ Bullpen Starting To Take Shape

Besides shoring up the starting rotation, a bullpen makeover was among the Mets’ highest priorities coming into the off-season.

With the acquisitions of Brooks Raley and David Roberston this week, it’s fair to say that New York’s bullpen for the 2023 season is starting to take shape. 

The first order of business, of course, was to retain Edwin Diaz. The Mets got that done rather quickly, inking the All-Star closer to a five-year, $102 million deal dating back to Nov. 17. Even with dishing out the largest free agent contract ever for a reliever to retain Diaz, the majority of the 2022 bullpen innings came from guys that are now free agents in Seth Lugo, Adam Ottavino, and Trevor May. Additionally, left-hander Joely Rodriguez and swingman Trevor Williams have since found new homes, signing with the Boston Red Sox and Washington Nationals, respectively.

The Mets worked diligently to replace Rodriguez, as the organization was in dire need of a reliable left-handed reliever. New York made a move to address that weakness Wednesday, acquiring Raley from the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for pitching prospect Keyshawn Askew.

Raley is coming off a career-best season in Tampa Bay, pitching to a 2.68 ERA in 60 games, while striking out 61 and walking only 15. The Mets have been searching for Aaron Loup’s replacement since he left for Anaheim last off-season. They seemingly found a suitable one in Raley, who held left-handed hitters to a .155/.200/.282 slash line in 2022.

The 34-year-old reliever has two years of team control, as he is under contract for $4.5 million in 2023 and has a $6.5 million team option for 2024.

The Mets weren’t done there.

Not to be overshadowed by Brandon Nimmo’s signing, the Mets found their set-up man in Robertson, who agreed to a one-year, $10 million contract Thursday. While Robertson will be 38 years old by the time the 2023 season rolls around, he’s proven to be a valuable backend reliever and a consistent one at that. 

Last season, Robertson pitched to a 4-3 record with a 2.40 ERA and 81 strikeouts in 63 2/3 innings.

Robertson has maintained a career ERA of 2.89 over the better part of 14 seasons, spending time with the Rays, New York Yankees, Chicago White Sox, Chicago Cubs, and most recently, the Philadelphia Phillies. In fact, Robertson was an integral part of Philadelphia’s late-season playoff push, aiding the Phillies in an unlikely World Series run. With the Phillies, the veteran righty compiled a 2.70 ERA in 22 appearances, striking out 30 batters in 23.1 innings, and saving six games, while pitching to a 1-3 record.

Prior to being traded to Philadelphia in exchange for Ben Brown the Mets had been scouting Robertson, who was enjoying a strong bounce-back season. While the Mets were a strong contender for Roberston’s services, they untimely ended up acquiring a different reliever from Chicago — Mychal Givens.

At the time of the trade, Robertson maintained a 2.23 ERA, while recording 14 saves for the Cubs. Throughout his tenured career, Robertson is known to be highly effective against both right- and left-handed hitters, which is why he’s often been a highly sought-after commodity.

Roberston’s arsenal includes three pitches— a cutter, curveball and slider. He features his cutter, which sits in the mid-90s, more than 50% of the time, according to Baseball Savant. Robertson’s curveball may be his most effective pitch, as opposing batters compiled a .093 batting average in 283 at-bats against his go-to off-speed pitch.

Diaz, Raley and Roberston are not the only notable additions that New York has made to its bullpen. Earlier this week, the Mets selected Zach Greene, a right-handed pitcher from the Yankees in the 2022 MLB Rule 5 Draft. New York also re-signed relievers Tommy Hunter and Sean-Reid Foley to minor-league contracts. 

Additionally, the Mets have also added arms like Elieser Hernández, Jeff Brigham, Stephen Ridings, William Woods and Tayler Saucedo to the fold, via trades and waiver claims. They also picked up their team option on righty John Curtiss early in the offseason. 

Beyond Diaz and Drew Smith, the Mets’ high-leverage options in the bullpen looked pretty bleak heading into the GM meetings in San Diego this week. General manager Billy Eppler has made a couple of notable acquisitions to rectify those concerns by adding two veteran arms with reputable track records.

The Mets are likely not done adding to the bullpen, but Eppler has done a nice job of adding proven commodities to the fold, while also building up the backend and taking low-risk gambles on high-upside arms.

That’s also without mentioning the likes of Joey Luchessi, David Peterson and Tylor Megill, all of which will have a chance of making New York’s Opening Day bullpen if the Mets’ pursuit of Kodai Senga does become a reality. Even after signing Nimmo, the Mets are still in play for the Japanese star, according to our own Michael Mayer.

In any event, the Mets are doing their best to mitigate important free agent losses in the bullpen, while also trying to properly address an area of concern, which was a point of contention last off-season and during the 2022 MLB Trade Deadline.