5:35pm: Per Anthony DiComo of MLB.com, Kranick could avoid a full Tommy John and undergo flexor tendon surgery instead. That would still be a major operation but it’s possible Kranick could come back with a slightly less severe timeline.
3:21pm: Mets reliever Max Kranick is slated to undergo Tommy John surgery, per Newsday’s Laura Albanese. It’ll be the second time he’s undergone Tommy John surgery in the past 37 months.
It’s a brutal blow for Kranick, who’s finally in the process of establishing himself as a solid big league arm after a lengthy layoff from his first UCL procedure, performed back in June of 2022. Kranick, then with the Pirates, missed nearly all of the 2023 season.
The Mets claimed Kranick off waivers in January 2024 and kept him on in the minors all last season. He got his first look with them in 2025 — his first MLB work since 2022 — and has been quite effective. In 37 innings, he’s recorded a 3.65 ERA. Kranick’s 16.9% strikeout rate is well below average, but his 3.4% walk rate is the fifth-best among the 347 big league pitchers who’ve tossed at least 30 innings in 2025.
Given the timing of the procedure and the fact that it’s his second Tommy John, Kranick could miss the entire 2026 season. At best, he’d be a candidate to return next September. He’s arbitration-eligible for the first time this winter, so there’s a decent chance the Mets will decline to tender him a contract. Keeping him would mean dedicating a 40-man spot to Kranick all offseason, as there’s no 60-day injured list in the winter.
For the time being, Kranick will head to the 60-day injured list the next time the Mets need to open a 40-man roster spot. He’ll continue accruing major league service time and pay for the remainder of the current season. If the Mets opt to keep him on the roster all winter, they can immediately place him on the 60-day injured list when camp opens next spring. Kranick can be controlled through the 2028 season.
Why did like half the league just get season ending surgeries in the last hour!
Maybe because you just read and heard about them in the last hour? It’s just a thought.
3 season ending injuries since 2:40 is a lot!
Most managers/teams will be giving a weeks worth of updates today after the all star break
That sucks for Kranick, I always had hope he could be a solid multi-inning reliever/spot starter, and that’s what he looked like earlier this year. He missed a lot of time in 2022 and 2023, and I was happy to see him putting up respectable numbers with the Mets this year.
Kranick on the streets of New York
Kranick on the streets of Binghamton
Not sure what Kranick’s future will be as a player, but he seems destined for a coaching or front office job when he retires. After watching some interviews of his im convinced.
Not that anyone cares, just thought I’d mention.
He can put his down time to good use learning how to be a coach.
Or going to business school?
Or physical therapy school.
He should have a few life experience credits .
Just when you thought LOLmets had been vanquished …
LOLMets because a pitcher gets TJS? So every team in the league is LOL?
They claimed a pitcher with a prior TJS off waivers 18 months ago … spent all of 2024 in the minors … comes up to the big club this year and now he needs another TJS … that is worthy of LOLmets.
He ate up some innings and did well doing so and cost us less than Ottavino or Chavez or any of those guys.
A real lol would be signing Jordan Romano and paying 8M after that horrible season he had.in Toronto to be the setup / closer.
Eas a smart move. 1. He proved to be pretty capable. 2. Cant predict the future except that pitching depth is an asset, and signing bounce-back guys is one way to add depth.
@ horaceallen
Don’t feed into Chucky, he’s just a Mets hater that would find a reason to LolMets even if they won the world series.
Kinda funny actually.
@Cohen: Even funnier is that the Chuckster is a Yankees fan. He has little brother syndrome towards the Mets even though he is a Yankees fan. It’s bizarre. Over on Pro Football Rumors, he’s constantly trashing the Giants because he’s a Jets fan. At least his little bro syndrome makes sense over there. Very weird poster who always does a “LOLMets” whenever a Mets player gets hurt.
I guess he needs something else to focus on since his Yankees are in a free fall and may finish 4th in the AL East. Baltimore is only 9.5 back for last place, too.
Sad and unfortunate, the Mets leaned heavily on him because he was cheap and had options. Both he and Brazoban were thrown through the ringer. I hope this break helped Brazoban but compare his ineffectiveness to his usage among other relievers and the results may be telling. Good luck getting back to the bigs in 26/27 Kranick.
Hope it doesn’t become a Kranick condition.