February 13: The Smith signing is official, per Joe DeMayo of SNY. Righty Christian Scott, who is also recovering from Tommy John surgery, was transferred to the 60-day IL in a corresponding move. Smith was himself then transferred to the 60-day IL as the corresponding move when the Pete Alonso signing became official.
February 12: The Mets will extend their relationship with their longest-tenured pitcher, as they’ve reportedly agreed to a one-year deal with right-hander Drew Smith, which contains a club option for the 2026 season. Smith, who’s rehabbing from Tommy John/internal brace surgery performed last July, will be paid $1MM in 2025. His club option is valued at $2MM. The MVP Sports client can boost those totals by way of some yet-unclear incentives.
Smith, 31, has pitched parts of six big league seasons with the Mets. He’s been a fixture in their late-inning mix over the past four years, logging a combined 3.35 ERA, 26.2% strikeout rate and 10.2% walk rate in that time. Smith has worked plenty of high-leverage spots, recording 33 holds and five saves in 156 appearances while being credited with only four blown saves during that time.
The surgery for Smith was deflating in multiple aspects. It not only knocked him out of the team’s Grimace- and OMG-fueled postseason run, it also coincided with the run-up to his first trip into free agency. A healthy Smith would’ve been an easy candidate for a guaranteed multi-year deal at a decent annual rate. On top of that, it’s the second Tommy John procedure of his career. After a solid big league debut in 2018, he missed the 2019 campaign due to the same procedure.
Depending how long the rehab process takes this time around, Smith could at least potentially be a late-season and/or October option for the Mets. Should he make it back, he’d join a relief corps also featuring Edwin Diaz, A.J. Minter, Ryne Stanek, Reed Garrett and Jose Butto.
For now, once the deal is finalized, Smith will quickly be placed on the 60-day injured list. The Mets will technically need to open a spot for Smith before they can move him to the 60-day IL, but that can be accomplished by placing Christian Scott (also recovering from Tommy John surgery) on the 60-day IL. Smith could move to the 60-day himself once an additional spot is needed for another free agent signing, waiver claim, or the selection of a non-roster invitee to the 40-man roster later in camp.
With the Mets in the top tier of luxury penalization, the Smith reunion will actually cost them about $2.1MM overall (the $1MM salary plus a 110% tax). Those same taxes will apply to whatever incentives he unlocks this year (and next year, if the Mets are again in the top penalty tier in 2026). That’s a drop in the bucket for a club running a cash payroll north of $330MM and looking at roughly $110MM worth of taxes on top of that sum.
Mark Feinsand of MLB.com first reported the agreement and structure. Jon Heyman of the New York Post added details on the guaranteed money and option value.
Why not!?
@SomTeaver Completely agree, got nothing to lose and some good to gain if he comes back from the injury with some life still in the arm.
Smith was frustrating many times but yeah, why not.
The guy is solid when healthy. Good depth move for the future.
@Miken31 the only thing that he is solid at is blowing games
LFGMets (Metsin7):d
Disagree. Look at the career stats. Besides, it’s it’s a low risk deal.
resign Brooks Raley, pending health/physical.
@NYMETSHEA spot on as well. If he comes back close to what he was before he’d be a great 2nd lefty out of the pen.
It’ll probably be Scott to 60-day, Smith signed and put on 60-day, then Alonso officially signed to the 40-man.
Welcome back, Dr Smith!
@ $3 mil over 2 years? Why not? That’s all upside for the Mets.
happy for this guy, he was so sad when he found out he needed TJS again thinking he was done as a Met
Ug the worst reliever in the game. I knew he would resign back. He is awful. We started winning last year once he blew his arm out. I’ve been saying this for years. Pitchers ok in garbage time. When the game is on the line he blows it up
You’re not wrong.
there have been much worse including even in the mets farm system … Shintaro last year is a perfect example was worse than even a bad reliever in the minors and couldnt even get a callup when the mets were desperate for any semblance of a reliever with injuries to drew or inefficiencies of the staff like tonkin and the rest. Even worse yet he made 4 million to be that bad. Some thought he was the best reliever we acquired last season too.
@Flyby Fujinami was the best reliever signed last year. The Mets never gave him a chance. He had a bad 2 weeks and got hurt. When he came back he was lights out but they decided to give chances to Tyler Jay, Ty Adcock, and Grant Hartwig, who all are the bottom of the barrell
yup definitely lights out. ended the season with 4 innings pitched and gave up 7 runs and even when he was “lights out” in the minors he was about the equivalent of Jake Diekman who had a longer streak of the same “lights out” in the majors as Fujnami in the minors.
Also how many best relievers that are lights out have basically 1::1 strikeout to walk ratio with a 7ERA in the minors. The best reliever the mets signed was Austin Adams who they let go to the A’s before the season started.
but go on about this best reliever. The bar was low but when Diekman is out performing them in the majors vs what is being produced in the minors you have to question your rating of “best”.
The 2026 option is all on this one, but unless the money is trivial and doesn’t cost enough to lose the ability to make a different move in this price range, it doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Stearns swooned at Drew’s K-rate, but there’s not much else about his game to like. If you believe in The Clutch, Smith is truly horrific, 33% worse than his average numbers in High Leverage situations, 31% worse than his average in Medium Leverage situations and 39% better in Low Leverage situations.
That Smith seemed to get absolutely shelled pretty much every time he came in with the game on the line is borne out by his OPS against in Hi Lev: .868 with a slash line of 283/356/512 against.
On average he won’t offer anything at 32 in 2026 beyond a tantalizing K-rate undermined by a lack of control, a mediocre HR rate, and a general inability to keep guys off base. If Stearns thinks his pitching lab has something to teach Smith, best of luck. Smith resembles in this regard nothing so much as the promising ex- entering middle age with no demonstrated ability to put down the crack pipe (i.e. turn that 11K / 4.6 BB into 10K / 2.8 BB).
When you hear Carlos Mendoza speak of the affection for Smith among the clubhouse – it lines up with that family notion. Maybe it sounds hokey but Alex Cohen seems to be at the forefront of fostering a great culture. And perhaps word gets around the league and it manifests in more coveted players wanting to be there. We will see. There certainly was no pressure and likely no competition to offer the guy a deal when he will be out all season
This off-season was the chance for the Mets to walk away from Drew Smith and let someone else gamble on his successful rehabilitation. Sure, it’s not a lot of money but it is a 40-man roster spot which could have been used for someone who is otherwise healthy and maybe with a little more upside than Mr.Smith.
Maybe Jacob Junis would have been a better investment for the cost.
Kyle Finnegan would be even better, but not at Drew Smith prices.
@imissjoebuzas Well said. Granted “it’s not a lot of money” but it is $1m that could have gone to someone else.
For all the blather we often hear in the vein of “it’s not our money” and “Cohen’s rich who cares” and “it’s a drop in the bucket…” it’s also $1m from a budget with a ceiling that is not going to a better choice.
It’s also the case that Smith, year in and year out, has the uncanny knack of being not just worse in High and Medium Leverage situations than at other times, but FAR worse. You don’t have to believe in The Clutch to believe someone chokes in tough situations. We’ve all seen it in one place or another, and in Smith’s 6 years in MLB there was only one season he wasn’t hopeless in High Leverage situations, 2022, but he still managed to be horrific in Medium Leverage situations.
At some point you have to attend the clues, take the inference, and let the guy go elsewhere. Enough of watching Smith look like a lost soul going to the Hangman when the game’s on the line. Enough!
—-Baseball-reference does a great job giving these numbers, no paywall, under “Splits” on any given player’s page.
It’s not a 40 man roster spot since he’ll be on the 60 day IL all year
Sal from WFAN will be so happy lol
Low risk move, they’re basically paying him to rehab and taking care of one of their own on a very cheap contract. I give them credit for doing that. He doesn’t have to and may not pitch an inning this year. Welcome back Drew.
I don’t get all this Drew hatred; there are plenty of pitchers on teams that are not in high leverage spots and are useful to the cause. Money is nothing and roster spot is IL. Nothing to lose here.
I almost think it’s worth it and one of the reasons I check into this thread is to hear all of the Drew Smith whiners come out of the woodwork. LOL 🙂
It was worth the signing just for that. LOL
OK whiners let’s see his stats compared to every reliever in the league and then you may be able to make a case.
Poor rookie managers shouldn’t put him in a high leverage spot to begin with
@Canosucks look at Andrew Wantz, he is basically Drew Smith light. Same thing, both are horrible
Welcome back Drew. Speedy recovery!