The Major League Baseball Players Association released its initial list of major league free agents this afternoon. Among them was Mets’ reliever Dellin Betances, who failed to trigger the innings threshold necessary to vest a $1MM player option (h/t to Tim Britton of the Athletic).
The past two seasons have been disastrous for Betances, who has tallied just 12 2/3 combined innings because of injuries. He’s allowed ten runs in that span, certainly not what the Mets had in mind when signing the big right-hander to a $13.5MM guarantee over the 2019-20 offseason. Betances was one of the game’s most fearsome relievers during his peak with the Yankees, but it’s now been three years since he’s remained healthy. The 33-year-old missed almost all of this past season thanks to a shoulder injury that required surgery.
Now that he’s back on the open market, Betances might need to throw a showcase whenever he’s back to full health. He could be looking at minor league offers after three straight lost seasons, although there should still be plenty of teams willing to at least give him a look in Spring Training if he’s healthy.
Brodie Van Wagenen was the woat
Signing Betances was not necessarily a bad idea. Giving him the player option for 2021 was a major mistake.
Good riddance. Now watch the Mets do something dumb, like resign him.
I would for 1 year 3 million, the upside is massive if he makes it back, which he’ll certainly hope to asscompish.
No way he gets a major league deal at this point
Massive upside? Like what does it take for folks to realize that ship has long since sailed?
Don’t you need a GM to do that?
Mets currently have somebody acting as a interm gm for the interm gm who was arrested for DUI and was acting as the interm gm for the guy who got caught sending dic pics.
The dui guy was let go so I don’t know how any of you said makes sense
Let’s not let facts get in the way of a Cubs fan opinion between their 5th and 6th drink of the day
Everything he said makes perfect sense. The Mets had an interim GM. He was caught sending the pics. They replaced him with another interim GM. He was arrested for DUI. They let him go and replaced him with another interim GM who is about to be replaced for being too elderly to run a baseball team. He never said Zack Scott wasn’t let go. In fact he said he was replaced which means he was let go. What doesn’t make sense about anything he said? It might have been the most logical, straightforward and true statement I have ever read on this site.
I understood what he said perfectly. Perhaps the Met fans are getting testy.
Jared Porter was the GM, not an interm GM, the only interm gm was Zack Scott. Sandy is in charge of Ops so his tittle doesnt really matter since hes incontrol of the gm position anyway
So your saying it doesn’t make sense because the pics guy wasn’t specified as interim? It still made sense. Judging by the amount of time he served as GM he was still interim whether the Mets called him that or not. At this point I think it’s okay to refer to Porter as an interim GM. Even if you disagree it’s obviously nitpicking to say that is the reason his statement made no sense. The only thing that didn’t make sense about it was the fact he spells the word interim the same way you do. I think his was an honest typo though.
If the mets could fix him no one will
This doesn’t make sense.
I think that’s the point
Thankfully the Yankees let him go at the perfect time. Man I loved watching this dude at his peak
He will sign with the Rays, and he will be good again
I know LaVine is an ass but please come back to the Bronx!!
When does the top 50 FA list come out?
He was the best reliever in baseball for a good amount of time. It’s too bad he was a set up guy and not a closer or else his career earnings would probably be at least double at this point.
I think Betances could still be an average pitcher that you can use in the 6th inning or for certain matchups. He looked awful as a Met but they also signed him when it was clear he was not the same after his achilles injury. On a minor league deal he could be a steal. Wouldn’t offer him a major league contract when there are better pitchers out there that arent damanged goods
He’s finished. Stick a fork in him, he’s done… he could get away with mistakes when he was throwing 98-100 mph consistently. Not anymore. He averages 93-94
He’s not that old. If he can show himself to be healthy, someone will take a flyer on him, and if it works, find they either have a valuable keeper or an asset to be flipped at the deadline. When healthy, he was a scary guy.
It’s not about age though. It’s injuries and loss of velocity.
Betances should go to Dodgers or Rays if he wants to turn his carry around. Both teams have a really good track record of fixing and showing them what pitches work best for them. I would like the Dodgers better they work with their pitcher one on one in the minor and MLB teams.
Would not be a bad signing for the Orioles if he would take less money.
He’d have been better off with the $1mm player option!
Sounds like a perfect Dodger! Friedman loves signing guys who have not pitched in two years and coming off injury!
I heard John Franco is available