The March hot stove rolls on Friday evening as multiple reports surfaced that the Mets are sifting through top arms to help provide reinforcements for the bullpen.
While on The Michael Kay Show, ESPN’s Buster Olney said the Mets are focusing on said bullpen arms as free agency resumes, as MMO‘s Mathew Brownstein pointed out. The names he mentioned? Andrew Chafin and Milwaukee’s Josh Hader, the latter of whom is not a free agent. The Mets have loosely been connected to Hader in the trade market dating back to the 2021 trade deadline.
Hader would take a large trade package from the Mets as Hader still has two years left of team control. Over his first four-plus seasons, Hader has notched 96 saves in 232 games with a 2.26 ERA and insane 44.4 percent strikeout rate.
Chafin, on the other hand, is a much more affordable and realistic option. He’d fill the left-handed reliever role left vacant by Aaron Loup after he signed with the Angels. When debating whether the Mets should chase Chafin in free agency, MMO‘s John Flanigan wrote that Chafin is “coming off a career year and has been relatively productive and durable almost every other season prior to that,” and that he should be the top lefty arm the Mets go after.
MMO’s Michael Mayer also reported that the Mets are interested in old friend Collin McHugh. The righty has had a dominant run as a reliever since transitioning to that role with the Houston Astros in 2018. You can read our free agent profile of the reliever here.
After attacking the top end of the free-agent market before the lockout, it’s believed the Mets will spend time post-lockout filling out their roster with guys like Chafin, McHugh and Yusei Kikuchi rather than players like Freddie Freeman or Carlos Correa. However, with the whirlwind that will be free agency before spring training games start next week, anything is up in the air.
