Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports that the New York Mets are picking up the 2024 season option for lefty reliever Brooks Raley. The Mets had the choice between paying Raley $6.5 million for the 2024 season or paying him a buyout of $1.25 million to become a free agent. It was an easy decision for the Mets to make following Raley’s strong first season in New York.
Raley, 35, posted a 2.80 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, and struck out 62 batters in 54 2/3 innings for the Mets in 2023. While Raley limited runs from scoring against him, he did see his walks per nine innings spike from 2.5 last year to 4.1 this season, and his hits per nine innings go up from 6.2 to 7.2 this year.
Brooks Raley. Photo by Roberto Carlo
The veteran lefty had reverse splits this season, with right-handers posting a .683 OPS and lefties a .728 OPS.
Raley will be in a Mets 2024 bullpen that will see a huge boost from getting back closer Edwin Díaz. The rest of the bullpen is mostly a question mark, including whether veteran righty Adam Ottavino will exercise his $6.75 million player option for 2024. The only other player on the Mets current roster who pitched at least 40 innings out of the Mets pen this season is right-hander Drew Smith.
The Mets acquired Raley last offseason when they sent pitching prospect Keyshawn Askew to the Rays.
