The Mets are in agreement on a contract with free-agent lefty Justin Wilson, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter link). The ACES client’s contract is still pending the completion of a physical. Assuming that checks out, he’ll be paid a total of $10MM over two years, per Fancred’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link).
Wilson, 31, will give the Mets a much-needed lefty to a bullpen where the previous top options included an inexperienced Daniel Zamora and non-roster invitee Luis Avilan. It’s possible that one or both of those southpaws will still pitch alongside Wilson in the ’pen, but the veteran Wilson will help to solidify the area of need and provide plenty of strikeouts along the way.
Wilson is coming off an up-and-down tenure with the Cubs, with whom he posted a strong 3.41 ERA and averaged 11.4 K/9 last season. While control was an issue early in his Cubs tenure, he righted the ship in that regard over the course of the 2019 season; after walking 30 hitters in his first 26 1/3 innings as a Cub, Wilson regained his control and issued a vastly more manageable 22 walks in his final 46 innings of work in ’18. Left-handed batters, in particular, struggled against Wilson this past season, hitting just .188/.301/.342. He’s been far more than a specialist throughout his career, however, holding right-handed opponents to a .210/.305/.323 line in parts of seven Major League seasons.
The addition of Wilson is the third notable pickup for the Mets and new GM Brodie Van Wagenen this winter, as they’ve previously acquired Edwin Diaz in a blockbuster trade with the Mariners and re-signed Jeurys Familia to a three-year, $30MM contract as well. That newly acquired trio (re-acquired — in Familia’s case) will be joined by righties Seth Lugo and Robert Gsellman in anchoring what should be an improved Mets bullpen in 2019.
With the signing, Wilson becomes the tenth free-agent reliever to sign a multi-year contract this offseason and the second to do so with the Mets (joining Familia). Adding an annual $5MM salary to the mix will push the Mets’ payroll a bit further north. While they’ll technically be on the hook for upwards of $163MM in 2019, they’ll also receive substantial compensation from insurance policies on both David Wright and Yoenis Cespedes. At present, including the Wilson signing and the insurance money they’ll recoup from Wright and Cespedes, the Mets project to a roughly $149MM payroll, per Roster Resource’s Jason Martinez.
thats a bargain. liked wilson a lot going back to his time as a yankee
He did well when he was with the yanks. Last couple years have been up and down. Hopefully Mets get the NY version.
Good luck with him.
downvoted
for all others, good signing, a little pricey, but really just like downvoting simschifan, really because its more fun. and given the nature of his typical comments, completely warranted.
This isn’t pathetic at all.
It’s totally pathetic. Get a life dude. Nobody cares about you.
22 downvotes must be Xabial. Clepto always posts intelligent comments, I don’t see why 22 people would downvote.
What’s worse, his “typical comments” or the fact that you’re here enough to keep track of what someone typically comments?
Not bad.
Solid pickup for a potentially amazing offseason from Brodie #LGM
Guess Zamora isn’t making the team to start the season it’ll be Avilan and Wilson as the lefties in the pen.
They could take 3 lefties up north you never know. Zamora has solid upside I wanted to see him get more work up in the big leagues
Zamora has been my pick for a breakout BP arm this year. He may not be a shutdown guy, but a pretty good lefty can be gold if used correctly.
I believe the Mets AAA team is in Syracuse so that doesn’t make a ton of sense anymore. It would actually be taking a couple lefties down south
Up north. Like from Spring Training which is down south.
Does one of them have options remaining? Always nice to have a guy waiting in AAA, unless you’re that guy waiting in AAA.
Zamora has options left
and Avilan is on a minor league deal. he’d likely elect free agency if he doesn’t make the 25 though.
Huge pickup Mets needed a lefty
The Epstein Cubs have no clue how to work with pitchers.
Callaway and Eiland are the best manager-pitching coach tandem in MLB. They have to be ecstatic about this off-season.
Mr. Wilson will be back on point by mid-June at the latest.
Since 2013 the Cubs have the 5th best team era in baseball. Look at what they’ve done with guys like Arrieta, Strop, Hendricks, etc. Just because they haven’t developed big league arms through their farm, doesn’t mean they can’t coach them. Please give me some examples that support your argument.
Start with Mr. Wilson and free agent signings.
And if they’re getting such great results, why did they just fire their pitching coach. Again.
So your examples are the one guy you mentioned previously and all free agent signings? If you’re referring to Darvish and Morrow, they were simply injured. Lester has turned in some of the best years of his career when he was supposed to be past his prime. As far as why they’ve fired their pitching coaches, I don’t know. I don’t have inside access to MLB front offices like you claim to have. But you can’t argue with the results they’ve had under Theo’s regime.
Please show me where I claim to have claimed to have “inside access to MLB front offices”. I used to know people in some. That was 15-20 years ago.
I can look up Cub pitchers that deteriorated the past 5 years. A waste of my time. I’m sticking with Wilson for a very good reason…….
Over the past 2-3 weeks every time there is an article on Wilson, I read a dozen posts from Cub fans complaining about him. He wasn’t viewed as awful when they signed him. So we’ll see how Callaway and Eiland do with him in 2019, and we’ll have an answer.
Jim Hickey resigned he wasnt fired. Bosio ended up being some kind of racist with old tweets or comments that resurfaced. He was fired by the tigers. Before that they had one of the worst pitching coaches of all time. Larry Rothschild.
lol
Your response is lol. But it’s the truth.
The guy said Mickey Callaway was a good manager, he lost all credibility after that.
Not exactly a bargain. Not an overpay either. Mets want to win so this is a good move for them.
Great signing to store the young depth in Syracuse!
He has a weird chin. Should consider growing a beard.
Other than that good signing.
Lmfao was thinking the same thing
I think his jaw unhinges so he can swallow his pray whole.
No religion talk.
He looks like the lemon head guy
I hate the fact that now when I get to work in the morning I am forced to google pictures of this guys face. *shakes fist* DAMN YOU SAMPSONITE168 DAMN YOU!!!
Would have loved to see him sign with the halos. Oh well!
Like the move and hope Mickey uses him vs righties as well as lefties.
every year will be a “walk” year for justin wilson
9.7bb/9
5.4 bb/9
His really bad BB/9 innings makes him hard to use in a really close game
Probably won’t get too many opportunities to close games anyway with Diaz and Familia.
He said in a close game, not to close games. Like 7th inning 1-0 game.
I was never confident in him getting big outs for Cubs. Very erratic at times and his body language reeked of self-doubt.
Seriously impressive offseason for BVW.
Mets are dangerous.
you do realize they are still the mets and are still paying bobby bonia.
12-1 and the rest downhill last year.
the mets have always been pretty dangerous “when healthy” which is never because they do not have the depth once one of there guys goes down. This year they added solid players and depth so it will be interesting to see.
Good lord this comment is so dumb it belongs on deadspin. The Bonilla contract federal isn’t unique most team have lots of deferrals like that and the Braves have a similar setup with Bruce Sutter. Oh and the Bonilla deferrals have nothing to do with wins and loses.
Good signing. They needed some extra help to sure up the back end, and also they needed another left hander.
Wicked. Under the radar signing I think
I think their bullpen looks pretty good. Let’s go Mets!
Many people predicted this weeks ago. Really good signing and great value.
Really good signing by the Mets. Outside of the acquisition of Robinson Cano I would grade their offseason as an A+ so far.
I thought the same thing regarding the Cano deal until really looking at it along with the money. By adding Bruce (who didn’t have a starting role) to the deal to offset some of the dollars, and the money they’d have spent to sign a top RP at the Kimbrel level (17-19M per), but did n’t need to because they got Diaz at that level along with control and a dirt cheap amount, the deal actually makes sense. Cano can still hit and is better than some of the other options on the table out there. Losing top prospects always sucks, but there’s nothing definite about their success.
I’d say the Mets have done a great job so far. Opening the purse and adding Machado would seal the deal – and they can do it and still stay under the luxury tax without having to do anything.
I know taking on Cano in the long term kind of sucks but you can’t dislike it for the next year or two. He still has a really good bat.
What are you talking about!?!?!? The Cano trade was phenomenal and genius by Brodie Van Wagenen. Not only did he get the Mariners to pay for nearly half of his remaining contract, the Mets got arguably the best Closer in MLB with 4 years of control left. Oh yea, let’s not forget that he convinced the Mariners to take both Bruce & Swarzak in this deal, two albatross contracts.
I believe the Cano/Diaz trade was the perfect igniter for this A+ of an off season for BVM.
Good riddance. This guy only pitched well when it didn’t matter.
It always matters! Down by ten, Wilson pitch good, stay at ten, get couple of runs, feel good about game momentum shift. Still lose, but start tomorrow with remnants of positivity still linger.
he righted the ship in that regard over the course of the 2019 season—My memory is so bad. I thought the 2019 season was months away from starting.
Bullpen of Diaz, Familia, Wilson, Lugo, Gsellman, Avilan, and one of their young pen arms is pretty solid! paired with their rotation and improved defense, not easy to hit against the Mets at all.
Very good bullpen!!! 1000 times better than the Mets bullpen over the last 3 seasons.
J Willie is rock solid.
I would rather have Wilson at $5 mil, than Blevins at $7-8 like he made last year.
Now go sign Gio Gonzalez and maybe Adam Jones for $5 mil each
I wouldn’t touch Gio UNLESS it was a minor league deal but Adam Jones, absolutely. He would fit the Mets wonderfully in 2019. I would give Jones a solid 1 yr contract with incentives based on performance and even add a Team Option with a small buyout if declined.
Jones is garbage. Gio is still a number 4 starter. Mets fans being insane as usual
Gio is soo mentally fragile on the mound, he makes Matz look like a ace-caliber pitcher.
Btw, the only one insane here is you. Jones is garbage??? Yea, right. Last I checked, a .281 BA is not even close to being garbage.
Wilson is a good add for the Mets, just make sure he does not pitch in high leverage situations and he will be just fine.
Shows you not everyone believes in SABERMETRICS!
This is one of those enigmatic pitchers. Maybe a new scene gets him back on track. Last year Jim Hickey did not seem to help him much – to the extent that a pitching can really do much to help once these guys hit the majors. Wilson has a good, firm fastball and can be overpowering at times, but the only thing consistent about him for most of his career has been his inconsistency. Could be a very good pick up for the Mets, or he might just continue to puzzle as to why he does not get more out of his apparent abilities. I think the Cubs will miss him, especially if they have another year of Brian “How far can you hit this one?” Duensing coming up.
This team continues to be an embarassment. in how they continually bottom feed.. That the new GM can’t or won’t lose Legares and Frazier, freeing up 18 mil, and then getting Harper or Machado is just not acceptable. 35 year old Cano..32 year old Ramos..34 year old Lowrie.
A 149 mil payroll after Insurance settlements from Wright and Cespedes. Why cant Harper or Machado be here for 30-32 mil…LOsing FRazier and Legares would offset such a signing by half of whatever they would have to pay either, leaving them at about 160 mil. In the last 3 years I have gone to 1 game each year, and I don’t see that changing much.. BTW, CEs like Porzingas, not gonna happen.
Good riddance. He was terrible for the Cubs. I hope sometime in spring training they DFA Kinzler.
I wouldn’t say terrible but he was not as expected. He was decent in a clean inning. If he walked someone forget it he would self destruct. He’s the lefty Carl Edwards.
He’s the white Carlos Marmol. He averaged a hit walk and run per 9IP.
Ugh Carlos Marmol. That’s a name I never want to hear again
I see different then Ken1. I feel like the Mets have addressed all of their off-season needs – the only team to do so. BVW has swooped in and did something Mets teams have not seen in a while – given the team a chance. While I am not a fan, kudos to the org for making big moves.
They did everything accept finish the deal. At 149 mil, why isn’t Harper or Machado here? (I prefer Harper) Losing Frazier and Legares would offset by 50% what either Machado or Harper would cost. When and if Cano or heaven forbid Ramos get injured, they have nothing.
I would offset the 2019 salary by 50% only if they could find a trade partner willing to take on each players entire salary which is not happening. The most they could clear by moving those 2 would be 10 mil but how can u make a case for the other 300 million Haper or Machado would be receiving over the next 9 seasons. They aren’t signing one year deals
@ken1
That’s why the Mets are retaining Frazier and got Lowrie and JD Davis – Depth and versatility.
If Cano goes down, Mets can move Lowrie, McNeil or TJ Rivera there,
If Frazier’s playing first or is bench, he can play third and either Alonso, Dominic Smith or JD Davis plays first.
If Frazier doesn’t play third, JD Davis can.
There is a Type-os in this report. You mentioned he righted the ship in 2019. Not trying to be a jerk, just letting you know.
Pay the right piece, that’s good business. Just dont forget how streamlined Lugo and Gsellman become and how pinpointed their roles clarify and defined with streamlined, realistic expectations.
Looks like a good signing and a much needed lefty in the bullpen!
Metsies dumpster diving again and the fans loving it, lol.
Then can figure out why the organization sucks
This makes zero sense… clueless troll
Zero sense? Could of signed britton and built a great pen, but no jeffy needs to have a payroll of the seattle mariners, lol