The Mets placed lefty A.J. Minter on the 15-day injured list due to a left lat strain this weekend, but he’ll be out far longer than 15 days. Manager Carlos Mendoza tells the Mets beat that Minter’s injury is “pretty significant” and could require surgery (video link via SNY). A final decision on surgery hasn’t been made yet, as Minter is receiving a wave of additional opinions. However, if the lefty does go under the knife, Mendoza acknowledged that the procedure would end his 2025 campaign.
It’s a brutal development for Minter, who spent the offseason rehabbing hip surgery and has been outstanding in his first 11 innings as a Met. The longtime Braves lefty has allowed only two runs on six hits and five walks with 14 strikeouts so far in 2025. That’s good for a huge 31.8% strikeout rate, albeit against a bloated 11.4% walk rate. Minter has kept a strong 48% of his opponents’ batted balls on the ground and turned in an above-average 12.4% swinging-strike rate.
Minter is one of four Mets relievers with a sub-3.00 ERA on the season (and three with a sub-2.00 mark). The Mets have seen closer Edwin Diaz struggle with command issues even as he’s gone 7-for-7 in save opportunities. Righty Ryne Stanek has also struggled with his command. The group of Reed Garrett, Jose Butto and Huascar Brazoban has been sharp thus far, but on the whole the Mets are lacking in established veterans to set up for Diaz.
More generally, the Mets are also light on lefties with Minter’s season now in jeopardy. Danny Young is the only currently healthy left-handed reliever in Mendoza’s bullpen (or on the 40-man roster). Brooks Raley just signed a one-year deal, but he’s still on the mend from last year’s Tommy John surgery. Genesis Cabrera is in Triple-A but is not on the 40-man roster and has not pitched well to begin the season.
Minter’s injury also comes with notable contractual ramifications for the Mets. A healthy version of Minter would surely have turned down the player option he faces at season’s end. He signed a two-year, $22MM deal over the winter even while recovering from hip surgery. If he’d been healthy and pitched anywhere close to his current level, he’d have been a lock to opt back into free agency.
If Minter undergoes season-ending surgery, he’d almost certainly decide to forgo that out opportunity in his contract. Even if he avoids surgery, it seems like he’ll be facing a monthslong absence, which significantly increases the chances of him exercising his $11MM player option. RosterResource already projects the Mets for $206MM of tax obligations in 2026, and that’s before factoring in player options (Minter, Frankie Montas, Pete Alonso), club options (Raley, Drew Smith) or arbitration raises (Francisco Alvarez, David Peterson and Tylor Megill, to name a few).
I hope for a better outcome than season ending surgery, both for AJ and for the Mets.
Seems reasonable
Yo dat!
AJ……After dinner Minter….. as Chris Berman would say
That’s a huge loss if true. Mets are cruising and looking good, but the season is a grind and if Minter’s out, that’d really hurt this excellent bullpen.
The pen has been excellent so far. But it has its flaws, and its been overused already, and I worry that it may be a house of cards. This, coupled with the Mets plan on going to a 6-man rotation, could be the card that brings it all down. Or maybe this injury is the impetus that prompts them to stick with the 5-man ro…….
I’m a Braves fan, but I’ve always been a Minter fan. I hated when he left Atlanta, he has always been a class act and I hope he comes back soon.
Yep, this.
No sugarcoating this.
I know he’s a RHP, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they call up Dedniel Nunez soon. He might need a couple more games of work in AAA to get himself into form but he’ll be back with the Mets soon enough. Waddell might start tomorrow, send him back down after the game, call up Nunez.
Nunez has been terrible in AAA so far. I think they’ll probably wait until he shows signs of improvement before promoting him. He was quite good last season though, so the potential is there.
@ HBan Nunez has started getting better results of late. But he’s still not able to pitch often enough post-injury to get a call-up.
“Nunez has been terrible in AAA so far. ”
No, he hasn’t. Check the game logs. He had bad appearances in two of his first three outings. Last six outings, 5.1 innings, 1 run, 8 Ks. The six walks are concerning but only one in his last three appearances. Like I said, give him a couple more games in AAA and call him up.
rct……. In a Stearns interview last Monday, he stated that Nunez has to be able to pitch in back-to-back nights and has to be available at least three times a week before they will call him up. He still hasn’t done either of those things.
That said, injury issues do have a way of forcing teams to change their plans.
Ah, gotcha. Maybe they’d keep Waddell around a little while longer. He’s a lefty, after all.
I think its a distinct possibility. generally speaking, the starters haven’t been giving much length. It would be useful to have another long man in the pen so they don’t have to keep using three and four relievers a night.
This stretch with no days off runs thru May 7th, so he’s probably here in a starter’s role for that long if he pitches decently.
Nunez was pretty good against LH bats in 2024, I believe.
Edited: .517 OPS vs RH
.574 vs LH
Omissions from this article: While it is unlikely to be used, Diaz also has an opt-outs.
And Anthony Gose is another lefty in triple-A, and he’s been pitching well.
It’d be cool to see Gose get a shot. He has persevered for quite a while in the minors since switching to pitching.
He should be back in Mint condition at the start of next season.
Minter near mint
Here’s a weird one wrt the Mets. Within the last week they had all of 3 players with an OPS+ of 100 or better. Today they have 9 such players and 3 more hovering around 90. Never seen that before, even in April, and even with the SSS and returns from the IL. .
The team OPS+ shot up from 102 (thanks, Pete!) to 110 in a few days.
Unacceptable
That is, indeed, a minter.