The Mets are planning to non-tender left-hander Danny Young, reports Will Sammon of The Athletic. Tomorrow at 4pm Central is the deadline to tender contracts to arbitration-eligible or pre-arb players. Once Young is officially non-tendered, he’ll become a free agent and the Mets will open a 40-man roster spot.
Young, 32 in May, underwent Tommy John surgery in May. He will therefore begin the 2026 season on the injured list. Sammon notes that the lefty has started throwing and could return in the first half of next year. Young has under two years of service time and has not yet qualified for arbitration, so the Mets won’t be saving any money by making this move. However, they have a full 40-man roster. There’s no injured list in the offseason, so Young would have to stay on the 40-man all through the winter if they wanted to keep him into next year.
There’s only one day in the year where a club can cut a player and send him directly to free agency without exposing him to waivers. That day is the non-tender deadline, which happens to be tomorrow, November 21st. Perhaps that will give the Mets a chance to quickly re-sign Young to a minor league deal and keep him in a non-roster capacity, though he will have the chance to speak with the 29 other clubs.
He has appeared in four major league seasons so far. He got cups of coffee in 2022 and 2023 before finally getting a nice opportunity with the Mets in 2024. He tossed 37 2/3 innings that year with a 4.54 earned run average. His 10.9% walk rate was on the high side but he struck out 29.1% of batters faced and induced grounders on 53.3% of the balls in play he allowed. His 64.3% strand rate seemed to push more runs across the board, which is why he had a 3.64 FIP and 3.22 SIERA.
Unfortunately, his aforementioned surgery prevented him from carrying things over into 2025 and pushed him to the fringes of the roster. Once he hits the open market, he’ll assess his opportunities, whether that’s with the Mets or elsewhere.
Photo courtesy of Brad Mills, Imagn Images
Steve Cohen is the new George Steinbrenner.
Let me know when he owns a team that wins 7 World Series championships.
Still living in the 90s huh? How many have they won in your life time ?
This is coming from a die hard Met fan but I bet he was alive in 09. Those of us around in 86 are get a bit slimmer these days. But Cohen is nothing like George at all. Cohen is a numbers guy in total. George wasn’t because analytics wasn’t something any baseball man looked at when George the owner of the Yankees.
Chew ’em up and spit ’em out.
Next!
Young n’ non-tender
Wonder what this means, if anything, for a guy like Tylor Megill. Young was pre-arb I know but Megill also had TJ surgery and is only controlled via arbitration through 2027. He probably won’t be pitching again until 2027.
I dont think so because Young’s caliber as a left handed reliever is basically a team hopper. So fairly easy to replace.
Megill i think has more value in that even depth starter between the 2 years of arbitration he is being paid (figured around 5M total .. 2,5 both years) is less than 1 year for borderline starter/long man in free agency. That and i think he will still have an option where young i believe is out of options.
Correct on the salary and the options. That said, there will also be CBT taxes on any salaries the Mets add/retain this year. How much/what level remains to be seen. From a business perspective, where is Megill going to go if the Mets non-tender him? They have the best and most leverage for non-tendering him and offer him a 2-year minor league deal for a real salary. And is he really a depth starter in ’27 with Holmes, Manaea, Senga still under contract, Scott and McLean established by then, Sproat and Tong possibly established as well, plus any of last year’s strong AA starters who will graduate to AAA this year?
Whichever way the Mets go with Megill is reasonable and should not come as a surprise. Same for Reed Garrett and Max Kranick.
“And is he really a depth starter in ’27 with Holmes, Manaea, Senga still under contract, Scott and McLean established by then, Sproat and Tong possibly established as well, plus any of last year’s strong AA starters who will graduate to AAA this year?”
I answer your question with a question how many starters did the mets go through this year? Also can you guarantee Manaea and Senga will even be starters on the mets through out the 2026 season as neither really ended 2025 as starters in the major league roster. I am hoping Senga comes back like he started the season and he was rushed back from injury.
I think other teams will could bet on his upside of starting for a team like the Pirates A’s or Marlins as a cheap flyer with basically being a starter for 4-5M commitment. Also spending a bit of money so to keep the mlbpa off their backs and not have to commit a spot to him if they sign him after the rule 5 and he might consider it if he has a clearer track to start.
Roll, Just to clarify, I’m not saying to get rid of him. I’m saying he is more likely in the bullpen at that point, as opposed to the minors as a depth starter.
In response to your questions, the Mets had 8 starters to open the season, and later turned to Sproat, McLean, and Tong. For the record, major league teams now use an average of 12 starters in a year. And I only mentioned seven. But I did reference the AA pitchers who may also be options by 2027. And while I did not mention it, the Mets are demonstrably also looking to add a starter or 2 through free agency this year.
You are correct, I can’t guarantee anything about Senga or Manaea. And the Mets could trade some of this pitching over the next twelve or fifteen months.
But, back to my original point, I still think Megill more likely ends up in the pen.
Including Young, Mets have 5 pitchers who will miss most or all of ’26, due to TJS or related elbow surgery. Suspect there will be more non -tenders. Can’t clog up that many spots on 40 man roster
That’s not including Montas who the Mets just designated, right?
yes
Well, for the moment, the Mets don’t have Young (or Kranick) anymore.
Hopefully they will resign him to a minor league contract, they need to open up some 40 man spots so this is probably the easiest way. I can see him getting a 2 year minor league contract so they can monitor his rehab.
Not sure why this one is a “hopefully”. Its not like he’s much of a loss to the org if they do not. And I don’t believe they would need to give him a 2-year deal when his surgery was last May. His rehab should be complete before the end of ’26.
This is the first official non-tender this offseason?
Santiago Espinal and Ian Gibaut were technically ones made 3 weeks before the deadline.
I’m not counting DFA/release/trade. But okay.
Pick him up, Angels!
Who’s in Angels bullpen?
Your ****!
Wish the Mets would sign local boy Anthony Veneziano to a minor league contract.
He has a decent arm but needs work to focua on his best pitches, not just throwing everything to every batter.
Good, he’s awful and can’t throw a strike
Is A.J. Minter going to be able to pitch next season after his injury this year? The Mets need to add at least one more solid lefty reliever.
@HBan22 they have Raley who is a lefty but I don’t personally think hes that good and hes going to be 39. You are 100% right
I hope that he goes to the Yankees so he can mess up their playoff chances just like Blackburn did last season. He is flat out awful
Here’s what former Mets RP Adam Ottavino 2022 – 2024 had to say about Mets bullpen usage and Carlos Mendoza
nypost.com/2025/11/20/sports/adam-ottavino-goes-of…