April 29: The deal is now official and Mike Fitzpatrick of the Associated Press has the details. Raley is guaranteed $1.85MM, which comes in the form of a $1.5MM salary this year and a $300K buyout on a $4.75MM club option for 2026. Raley will get a $250K bonus if added to the active roster this year. There are also performances bonuses worth $900K this year and $1.75MM next year. In 2025, he will earn an extra $125K for appearing in 10, 15 and 20 games, then $175K at 25, 30 and 35 games. In 2026, it’s $250K for 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60 and 65 games.
April 25: The Mets and left-hander Brooks Raley have agreed to a deal, pending a physical, reports Joel Sherman of The New York Post. It will be a one-year pact with a club option for 2026. The Mets have an open 40-man roster spot, so no corresponding move will be necessary if it’s a major league deal. The financial components of the deal for the Vanguard Sports client have not yet been reported.
Raley, 37 in June, was with the Mets last year when he required Tommy John surgery in May. That put him on the shelf for the remainder of the campaign and the start of 2025 as well. He is evidently making progress in his rehab, as it was reported last week that he threw for interested clubs. Sherman relays that Raley’s doctors believe he can start a rehab assignment in June.
Prior to his surgery, he had a good run as an effective lefty reliever. He spent 2015 to 2019 pitching as a starter in Korea but was able to return to affiliated ball and carve out a bullpen job. From the start of 2020 to the present, he tossed 184 1/3 innings, allowing 3.42 earned runs per nine. He had a 29% strikeout rate and 8.5% walk rate in that time.
The Mets are plenty familiar with him, as they acquired him from the Rays ahead of the 2023 season. He posted a 2.80 ERA in 54 2/3 innings for them that year. That compelled them to pick up a $6.5MM club option on his contract for 2024, which was a net $5.25MM decision at that time on account of the $1.25MM buyout. Unfortunately, they only got seven innings out of that investment before he got hurt.
The two sides have now reunited on a fresh deal. The structure reflects his current injury status. Raley will presumably bank a bit of money this season, even though he will only pitch about half of it in a best-case scenario. For the Mets, by investing in Raley now, they are hoping to get a bit of a payoff later this year with the option giving them a chance to carry it into 2026. Such arrangements are common for pitchers in this position.
The Mets have one of the best bullpens in the league so far this year. Their relievers have a collective 2.35 ERA, which is second only to the Padres. The lefty contingent currently consists of A.J. Minter and Danny Young. They don’t strictly need Raley but pitching injuries are fairly inevitable and the Mets love to stack depth. He’ll work his way into their plans in the coming weeks. If he is getting a big league deal, he could be moved to the 60-day injured list if he Mets don’t expect him to be big league-ready by late June.
Photo courtesy of Wendell Cruz, USA TODAY Sports
Awesome. Surprised it took this long.
Probably wanted to make sure he could pitch reasonably well again.
I’m glad he’s back. Even though he’s not with the cards, I bet he will do a great job when he comes back from rehab
Solid stearns move.
That’s what she said
he was great for mets when healthy
didnt he miss 1 full yr bc of TJ?
totally makes sense to bring him back
If you read the article, you would know.
Like this move.
If he’s healthy enough to give some innings this could be a great move to pair with A.J Minter. 2 solid lefties in the pen.
I’m wondering if this is part of a Plan J operant later in the season where in the not unlikely event the Mets no longer want to default to Diaz as their closer, Minter moves into the closer role or at least is their preferred 9th inning weapon, and Raley is available as the lefty killer earlier in the game.
Brooks was here.
…or is here, again.
Seems like a good place for him.
Great reference
o raley?
Auto parts
37 years old in June and just coming off major surgery. Good luck to you but sounds like a tough time ahead.
If he can get back to his career average K% of 27%, could be quite beneficial to the pen but I’m not expecting much, coming off surgery and turning 37.
Whatever gets Danny Young off the active roster. He doesn’t belong in the big leagues
Young’s traditional stats aren’t great but a 1.93 FIP shows he hasn’t been bad.
LOL
no no the worst reliever in baseball is in the minors for seattle sporting his typical double digit ERA. What is crazy is Raley coming off tj surgery could get a 40 man spot but that “best” reliever according to someone’s eye couldnt even get that.
so he ends with a 7 ERA in the minors at that and has a 14ERA with FIP that pretty much matches to start the season so i guess technically he cant finish any worse i would hope? I mean he did end the season giving up 7 runs over his last 5 innings so does he start slow and end slow when he should be better and gets a couple of lucky games in between?
Also you are a fool for many more reasons than that just look at your name. But being right once in a while doesnt mean much. Heck Bartolo Colon hit a homerun so anything can happen.
This post should have started & ended with, “you are a fool.”
This move could have greater resonance as we await the Minter MRI
It Raley Brooks. Hallelujah! It Raley Brooks. Hallelujah!