The Mets announced that right-hander Cole Sulser has been signed to a minor league deal with an invite to major league Spring Training.
Sulser, 34 in March, began the 2023 campaign with the Diamondbacks. He made three appearances in the early going but a right shoulder strain landed him on the injured list in early April. He returned to make one more appearance at the end of July before getting designated for assignment. The Rays put in a claim but kept Sulser on optional assignment for the final two months of the season and then outrighted him as the offseason was kicking off.
Despite the mostly lost season, he’s not too far removed from an excellent 2021 season. Sulser threw 63 1/3 innings for the Orioles that year with an earned run average of 2.70. He struck out 28.4% of batters faced while walking 8.9%. The last two campaigns haven’t gone his way with injuries playing a role. A lat strain cost him over a month in 2022 as his ERA jumped to 5.29, which was followed by another injury-marred year in 2023. He was able to finish strong, however, posting an ERA of 3.86 over 18 2/3 innings at Triple-A Durham after the waiver claim.
There’s plenty of uncertainty in the Mets’ bullpen, with Adam Ottavino having opted out of his deal while the club non-tendered Trevor Gott, Jeff Brigham and Sam Coonrod last week. Edwin Díaz will be back in 2024 but he’ll be returning from missing all of 2023 due to knee surgery. If Sulser is healthy and resembling his 2021 self, he could earn his way onto the roster. He still an option year and has less than four years of service time, meaning he could be retained for future seasons via arbitration if things go especially well in the year to come.
How is this better than tendering Gott a contract?
Because it’s a minor league deal that cost nothing.
Minor league deal.
Because Gott was mostly awful for the Mets
Yawn…another Goodwill Outlet move.
They cleaned house in Syracuse too. Not much of a risk to sign.
Sure, it a yawner but you need some depth because almost every tam has to dip into their farm for some innings because of injury. Look at things from the bigger picture and you’ll understand. Even if he kills it in Spring he’ll be in Syracuse “just in case”.
NY needs a 3rd baseball team.
I appreciate these posts. Covering a guy like Sulser, who is basically a career Quadruple-A pitcher, in the same amount of detail as guys like Lance Lynn, shows a great respect for the overall game and the reality that so so so much of the sport is made up of these journeymen who will never be truly ‘famous’ but will have careers that most of us who can’t or don’t play but would if we could, wish we could have- and they make very good money for guys who aren’t marquee players with big long term contracts.
Well said.
TTO. Nice points. The average number of pitchers a MLB team has used in the last 3 years is 29 per season. The least used last year by any team was 24.
If a team needs 29 pitchers to get thru a 162 game schedule, you know there will be room for guys like Cole Sulser. You can’t have a 40 man MLB roster filled with 29 pitchers.
People want big splash signings and I get it. The Yamamoto watch begins today, and some team will be able to keep their New Year’s Resolution if not get Christmas present before then.
But if you are really a baseball fan you will understand that this is a solid low risk move that Every team will be making in the coming weeks.
Wholeheartedly agree! Good comments and replies all around!
Beware of trying to buy a championship, because the only real guarantee you get is that you’ll spend an awful lot of money.
That’s what this signing taught you?
I’m talking about the Mets in general, not necessarily just this particular signing.
Did you mean to post this here? Short of a post about another team entirely, I’m having a hard time thinking of a less applicable place to talk about spending too much than an article on “minor league guy signed.”
signing Sulser to a MiLB deal instead of developing and promoting someone from within is what will ruin the 2024 Mets
Seemed to have worked, though. The rangers didn’t exactly build from top to bottom.
Great point, Ken.
Stearns and Cohen need to start looking bigger.