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Mets Release Joey Wendle

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The Mets have released veteran infielder Joey Wendle, tweets Mike Puma of the New York Post. He was designated for assignment last week.

The 34-year-old Wendle signed a one-year, $2MM deal with the Mets in free agency. President of baseball operations David Stearns was hoping to bring aboard a low-cost bench piece who could provide quality defense at multiple spots and bounce back with the bat after a rough showing with the Marlins in 2022-23. That didn’t prove to be the case. Wendle, after batting a combined .238/.274/.335 in his two seasons in Miami, gave the Mets a .222/.243/.250 slash (45 wRC+) in sparse playing time. The team only gave him 37 plate appearances over the course of 18 games.

At his best with the Rays, Wendle offered outstanding defensive versatility and a slightly better than league-average bat. From 2018-21, he slashed .274/.330/.414 (105 wRC+) while bouncing between second base, third base, shortstop and the outfield corners. He graded well at all of those positions, though his marks at second base were particularly strong.

Now that he’s once again a free agent, Wendle will be able to sign with any club. He’ll only be owed the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the active roster with a new team. The Mets will remain on the hook for the rest of this year’s $2MM salary, although any money he earns with another club will be subtracted from what the Mets owe him through season’s end. With three straight seasons of below-average offense, Wendle might have to settle for a minor league pact, but his versatility and broader track record should lead to some interest on that sort of contract.

Mets Trade Yohan Ramirez To Dodgers

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The Mets traded right-hander Yohan Ramirez to the Dodgers in exchange for cash, per announcements from both teams. New York designated Ramirez for assignment five days ago. He’s out of minor league options, so he’ll go directly into L.A.’s big league bullpen. The Dodgers have not yet announced the corresponding transactions that’ll be necessary to add Ramirez to the roster. They’ll need to open both a 40-man spot and a 26-man spot.

Ramirez, 29, has split the 2024 season between the Mets and Orioles thus far, pitching a combined 14 1/3 innings with 11 runs allowed (6.91 ERA) on 14 hits and six walks. Those struggles notwithstanding, he’s set down 26.2% of his opponents on strikes against a 9.2% walk rate that’s less than a percentage point north of the 8.5% league average. He’s also averaged 95.3 mph on his four-seamer and 94.8 mph on his sinker while inducing grounders at a roughly average clip (42.1%).

The 2024 season is Ramirez’s fifth straight in the big leagues, though his status as an up-and-down arm in Seattle before he began to bounce around the league in journeyman fashion resulted in him only accruing two-plus years of big league service before he exhausted his slate of options. In 138 1/3 innings at the big league level, Ramirez has a 4.29 ERA, 23.5% strikeout rate, 12.2% walk rate and 44.6% grounder rate. The strikeout and ground-ball numbers are both a tick above average, but command has been an obvious issue for the right-hander throughout his time in the majors. This year’s 9.2% walk rate would be a career-low in a full season.

The Dodgers currently have six starters on the roster, including yesterday’s spot starter, Landon Knack. Speculatively speaking, he could be sent back to Triple-A Oklahoma City to open a spot on the active roster, but they’ll still need to open a 40-man spot. Los Angeles has already been without right-hander Bobby Miller for nearly six weeks; he’s throwing bullpen sessions, but if they anticipate his absence stretching beyond June 10, they could transfer him to the 60-day injured list to accommodate Ramirez. If not, they’d likely need to designate someone for assignment.

The relief corps in L.A. is quite banged up at the moment, with each of Brusdar Graterol, Evan Phillips, Joe Kelly and Ryan Brasier on the injured list. They’ve patched things over with multiple acquisitions cut from the same cloth as this Ramirez pickup. Minor league signee Elieser Hernandez was recently selected to the MLB roster, and the Dodgers acquired lefty Anthony Banda for cash just days ago and added him to the big league ’pen as well. President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman is no stranger to regularly shuffling the deck with the final few spots in his bullpen, so further turnover and short-term, stopgap acquisitions shouldn’t come as a surprise — at least while more established relievers like Phillips and Graterol continue to mend.

Mets Sign Matt Festa To Minor League Deal

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The Mets signed right-hander Matt Festa to a minor league contract, per the transaction log at MiLB.com. He’s been assigned to Triple-A Syracuse and actually made his team debut yesterday, tossing 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief while picking up a pair of strikeouts. Festa was granted his release from a minor league deal with the Padres last week and had a rather brief stay on the free-agent market.

The 31-year-old Festa has pitched in parts of four big league seasons, all coming with the Mariners. He’d spent his entire career in the Seattle organization prior to signing with San Diego in the offseason. Festa is a former seventh-round pick whose career has been slowed by injuries, most notably including 2020 Tommy John surgery. That wiped out his entire 2020 campaign and the bulk of his 2021 season as well.

Festa saw big league time in the two years prior to that surgery (2018-19) and the two years following the completion of his rehab (2022-23). In 93 2/3 innings, he has a career 4.32 earned run average with an above-average 25.3% strikeout rate and plus swinging-strike rates despite fairly pedestrian velocity. His 10.9% walk rate is also a couple percentage points above the league average, however.

Festa pitched fairly well with the Padres’ top affiliate in El Paso. He logged 16 innings and yielded eight runs, though a .360 average on balls in play didn’t do him any favors in that small sample. He fanned 21.6% of his opponents during that brief stay in the Padres organization and turned in a 9.5% walk rate. Yesterday’s outing with Syracuse brought Festa to a total of 110 Triple-A frames in his career. He’s been excellent at the top minor league level, notching a 2.13 ERA, 27.2% strikeout rate and 9.4% walk rate across parts of five seasons.

Even with Edwin Diaz struggling to a 5.50 ERA in his return from last year’s knee injury, the Mets still have one of the top bullpens in baseball. No team’s relievers have combined to post a higher strikeout rate than their 28.5% mark, and the Mets also sit sixth in reliever ERA (3.27), fourth in FIP (3.45) and fifth in SIERA (3.39). Command has been the bullpen’s primary flaw, as manager Carlos Mendoza’s relief corps has the third-highest walk rate in baseball at 11.8%.

The Mets have already used a whopping 17 relievers this season, showing no reluctance to shuffle up the few flexible spots in a veteran-laden bullpen. None of Diaz, Adam Ottavino, Jorge Lopez, Jake Diekman or Sean Reid-Foley can be optioned, and the same was true of southpaw Brooks Raley, who’s now facing a lengthy absence due to an elbow injury. Righty Reed Garrett has a minor league option left but has made himself indispensable and won’t be sent down anytime soon after posting a 0.72 ERA and 41% strikeout rate through a team-high 25 innings out of the ’pen.

The Mets have cycled Josh Walker, Grant Hartwig, Michael Tonkin, Yohan Ramirez, Tyler Jay, Danny Young, Cole Sulser, Dedniel Nunez and others through the final couple spots in the bullpen in an effort to keep a stable of fresh arms available for Mendoza. It’s possible Festa could join that growing line of arms riding the Mets’ bullpen carousel at some point, although he’s also out of minor league options, so if he’s added to the roster he’ll have to stick in the big leagues or else be designated for assignment.

Mets Offered Pete Alonso Seven-Year, $158MM Extension Last Summer

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After the Mets’ record-setting spending failed to bring them even a winning record heading into late July of last season, the team instead generated headlines by selling instead of buying, moving Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, and several others in a variety of deals prior to the trade deadline.  Since the Mets were reportedly open to considering all options on shorter-term talent, the club even had some discussions about moving Pete Alonso, who is a free agent this coming offseason.  The Brewers and Cubs were among the teams that at least checked in on Alonso’s status, but obviously no deal was struck, and the Polar Bear remains in a Mets uniform to this very day.

The trade explorations came after, however, the Mets made an attempt to lock Alonso up for the remainder of the decade.  Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports that the Mets offered Alonso a seven-year, $158MM extension last June, which would’ve kept him in Queens through his age 29-35 seasons.  According to Sherman, “the sides never got close to a deal,” which is why the Mets then shifted to at least testing the waters to see what Alonso might net on the trade market.

The length and amount of the Mets’ offer exactly matches the final seven years of Matt Olson’s extension with the Braves, signed back in March 2022.  Olson was two years away from free agency at the time of that long-term deal, and the final dollar figure was an eight-year pact worth $168MM in guaranteed money, plus the Braves hold a $20MM club option for the 2030 season.  New York’s offer to Alonso apparently didn’t involve a club option, but it otherwise mirrored Olson’s deal minus the $15MM Olson earned in 2022 (the first year of the extension).  Freddie Freeman’s six-year, $162MM contract with the Dodgers was another comp, as the Mets’ offer gave Alonso more actual money than Freeman due to the deferrals involved in the L.A. first baseman’s contract.

Olson and Freeman were obvious benchmarks for Alonso as fellow star first basemen, and reports from last November suggested that Alonso wants a “much bigger” contract than either of those two deals.  In the least surprising news possible, Alonso’s agent Scott Boras feels the same way, as Boras told Sherman that Alonso’s market stands apart from other recent major first baseman contracts due to Alonso’s age (he’ll be 30 on Opening Day 2025) and because the dynamics of extensions and free agent deals differ.

“The market for consistent 40-homer, durable, infield-capable, true middle-of-the-lineup sluggers is the question,” Boras said.  “Note there are none available in free agency and none coming [in the next few years].  Plus, he’s New York proven, which is an unanswered question for many others — not Pete.  It’s elite-level durability and production at a prime age, which is simply something most MLB teams do not possess.  They will covet the opportunity to have free-agent access to such talent.”

It is worth noting that Alonso was a client of Apex Sports when he and the Mets were negotiating that extension, and Alonso then changed representation to the Boras Corporation after the season.  With a few notable exceptions over the years, Boras clients generally end up heading to the open market rather than signing a contract extension, so it would count as a big surprise if Alonso and the Mets agreed to a new deal this close to Alonso’s arrival on the open market.

Alonso burst onto the scene with a 53-homer season in 2019, earning both NL Rookie of the Year honors and the first of three career All-Star berths (and the first of two Home Run Derby crowns during All-Star festivities).  Naturally this made Alonso an instant star in New York, and he has kept up the power by hitting 202 homers and slashing .249/.340/.524 over his career.  Those 202 homers is the most of any player since the start of the 2019 campaign.

This season has largely been more of the same, as Alonso has hit .226/.307/.458 with 10 homers in his first 189 plate appearances of 2024.  However, Alonso is now in his second consecutive season with a below-average hard-hit ball rate, even if his barrel rate remains outstanding.  Overall, Alonso is still mashing the ball when he makes premium contact, but is having trouble with anything less than a barrel, giving how his batting averages have declined — a .261 average in his first four seasons but only .219 since.  Beyond these numbers, teams could also have the usual concerns attached to giving any first-base only player a big guaranteed deal into his 30’s, and beyond the bat, Alonso’s defense is considered average at best.

Leaving $158MM on the table could loom large for Alonso should he hit an extended slump that drags down his overall production, or if he gets injured.  (Though Alonso has been very durable over his career, with only two minimal trips to the injured list.)  There is also the possibility that this winter’s free agent market could somewhat resemble the staid proceedings of this past offseason, when several top free agents — including several Boras clients — had to settle for smaller deals than expected.  If any of Alonso’s red flags become more glaring over the course of the 2024 campaign, teams might first attempt to see if they can wait out the market to see if Alonso could be had for the kind of short-term, opt-out heavy contracts signed by the “Boras Four” this past winter.

On the other hand, a standard Alonso type of season should provide a very nice platform, and the Polar Bear ranked fourth in MLB’s most recent Power Rankings of the 2024-25 free agent class.  The first baseman’s chances of scoring a deal closer to $200MM than $158MM are also helped by the fact that Mets owner Steve Cohen has expressed his hope that Alonso will remain with the team over the long term, and Cohen hasn’t been shy about spending big to obtain his preferred targets.  President of baseball operations David Stearns will obviously have a way in whatever direction the Mets take with pursuing Alonso, but if Cohen is willing to outbid the market for a particular fan favorite, Alonso might have a particular edge that other free agents don’t, depending on how aggressive the Mets will be on players beyond Alonso.

NL East Notes: Diaz, Walker, Cavalli

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Right-hander Edwin Diaz is in the second-year of his record-breaking five-year contract with the Mets, and the $102MM investment has not gone how either side surely hoped it would to this point. After an otherworldly 2022 campaign that saw Diaz pitch to an incredible 1.31 ERA with a 0.90 FIP while striking out more than 50% of batters faced, the right-hander missed the entire 2023 campaign after suffering a torn tendon in his right knee during the World Baseball Classic that spring.

While Diaz has now been healthy enough to take the field in 2024, the results have left much to be desired. Entering play tonight, the 30-year-old had a somewhat middling 3.57 ERA with an elevated 4.09 FIP in 17 2/3 appearances while going just five-for-eight in save opportunities. His struggles have become particularly pronounced since Cubs slugger Christopher Morel left him on the hook for a loss on April 29 by crushing a two-run homer at Citi Field. In six appearances since that loss, Diaz had converted just one of his four save chances and allowed a 5.14 ERA with a 5.70 FIP in 7 1/3 innings entering the Mets’ game this evening against Miami.

Things went from bad to worse against the Marlins tonight, when Diaz blew a four-run lead while recording just one out in the bottom of the ninth against Miami. After the game, the longtime closer admitted to reporters (as relayed by SNY) that his confidence is down following his recent stretch of tough performances. Even so, club manager Carlos Mendoza stood by Diaz in the aftermath of tonight’s loss, reaffirming to reporters (including the New York Post’s Mike Puma) that Diaz remains the club’s closer. At the same time, Mendoza acknowledged the possibility that the club could look to get Diaz some work in “softer spots” for the time being as he works through his struggles. The rest of the Mets bullpen has been fairly solid in spite of Diaz’s struggles, and the likes of Reed Garrett, Jorge Lopez, and Adam Ottavino could all theoretically step into higher leverage roles if Diaz needs to reset in lower leverage spots.

More from around the NL East…

  • Phillies right-hander Taijuan Walker departed his start on Thursday after taking a hard-hit comebacker off his foot. While testing made clear that he had managed to avoid a break, Walker is nonetheless dealing with a bruise in his left big toe and it’s not yet clear if the veteran will make his next start, which is tentatively scheduled for this coming Wednesday. Alex Coffey of the Philadelphia Inquirer relays that manager Rob Thomson told reporters this afternoon that he’s “optimistic” about Walker’s ability to make that start, though the club won’t be sure until they see how he reacts to a light bullpen session tomorrow. In the event that Walker is unable to return to the rotation for Wednesday’s start, the Phillies figure to slot right-hander Spencer Turnbull back into the rotation mix.
  • The Nationals have been without former top pitching prospect Cade Cavalli since he underwent Tommy John surgery back in March of 2023, but it appears that the 25-year-old hurler is now nearing a huge step in his rehab process. According to Mark Zuckerman of MASN, Cavalli is “ready” to begin a rehab assignment in the Florida Complex League. It will be his first appearance in an official game since his big league debut on August 26, 2022. MLB.com’s Injury Tracker indicates that Cavalli will be built up slowly over the course of his rehab, with two or three innings being the goal for his first appearance. The Nationals have been surprisingly competitive so far this season with a 20-23 record that places them in third place in the NL East, and a healthy and effective return to action from Cavalli later this season could be a huge boost for a rotation that already features exciting youngsters such as MacKenzie Gore and Mitchell Parker.

Mets’ Nate Lavender Undergoes Internal Brace Procedure

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Mets left-handed relief prospect Nate Lavender underwent a “variation of Tommy John surgery” with an internal brace added to his elbow ligament and will miss the remainder of the 2024 season, president of baseball operations David Stearns announced yesterday (X link via Tim Britton of The Athletic).

It’s a tough blow for the Mets and for Lavender, who had a strong chance to make his big league debut this season. The 24-year-old southpaw was the Mets’ 14th-round pick in 2021 but has elevated his stock and pitched quite well in the upper minors.

Last year, Lavender breezed through a brief seven-game look in Double-A — his only career action at that level — allowing just two earned runs while posting a 19-to-3 K/BB ratio in 10 1/3 frames. He quickly moved up to Triple-A Syracuse, where he tossed 44 innings of 3.27 ERA ball with a huge 35.1% strikeout rate, albeit against a 12% walk rate. He opened the ’24 campaign with another seven frames and only three runs allowed in Syracuse, although this year’s 20.6% walk rate in that small sample raised some red flags in the run-up to his placement on the injured list.

In writing up the Mets’ nearly MLB-ready prospects, FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen credited Lavender with one of the most deceptive deliveries in all of Minor League Baseball. Longenhagen added that even though Lavender doesn’t throw particularly hard (91 mph average fastball), his heater is so difficult for hitters to track that it alone gives him the potential to be a big league reliever, despite less-impressive secondary offerings and below-average command.

Lavender doesn’t turn 25 until January, so he still has plenty of prime years ahead of him. If he can get back to his 2023-24 form, he’ll again be a candidate to make his big league debut at some point next summer. Lavender isn’t on the Mets’ 40-man roster but would be Rule 5-eligible this coming offseason.

Mets Designate Joey Wendle, Yohan Ramirez For Assignment

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May 15: The Mets made the moves for Wendle, Vientos, Lucchesi and Ramírez official today. They also optioned right-hander José Buttó and recalled right-hander Grant Hartwig. Buttó’s option may be slightly surprising since he has a 3.08 ERA on the year, but that’s despite a 13.5% walk rate. The Mets have both Tylor Megill and David Peterson on rehab assignments and they could be options to rejoin the rotation soon.

May 14: The Mets are designating veteran infielder Joey Wendle for assignment, as first reported (on X) by Ben Yoel. SNY’s Andy Martino reported earlier this evening (on X) that New York was planning to recall Mark Vientos from Triple-A Syracuse before tomorrow night’s matchup with the Phillies.

That’s not the only forthcoming roster move. Dan Martin and Joel Sherman of the New York Post report that New York will recall left-hander Joey Lucchesi to make tomorrow’s start. Righty reliever Yohan Ramírez will be designated for assignment as the corresponding move, according to the Post.

Wendle had a disappointing tenure in Queens. New York signed the former All-Star to a $2MM free agent deal. It was a buy-low move after he slumped to a .212/.248/.306 line in 112 games for the Marlins a year ago. Wendle wasn’t out to a much better start this season. In 18 contests, he hit .222/.243/.250 with one extra-base hit (a double). He punched out nine times and drew one walk in 37 trips to the plate.

New York signed Wendle largely for his defensive flexibility. He has generally rated as an above-average to plus defender throughout the infield in his career. He struggled on that side of the ball during his very brief stint in Queens, committing three errors in 89 innings. The Mets stuck with Wendle over Zack Short two weeks ago, but they’ll now move forward without a clear backup shortstop behind Francisco Lindor.

Swapping Vientos in for Wendle provides more offensive upside to Carlos Mendoza’s infield. The 24-year-old is out to another nice start in Syracuse, hitting .284/.376/.500 with six homers in 31 games. While Vientos is striking out at a lofty 28.6% clip, he has consistently hit for power in parts of four Triple-A seasons. That has yet to translate to MLB success, but he’s clearly a higher-ceiling bat than Wendle at this point.

Brett Baty has been the primary third baseman in Queens. The former top prospect hasn’t hit well, turning in a .236/.299/.325 line through 135 plate appearances. He’ll stick on the roster but could lose some at-bats to Vientos, particularly against left-handed pitching. Philadelphia will turn to southpaw Ranger Suárez tomorrow, so it seems likely Vientos will get the nod at the hot corner.

Lucchesi will take the ball against Suárez in what’ll be his season debut. The southpaw has started seven games for Syracuse, working to a 2.58 ERA over 38 1/3 innings. He also had a 2.89 mark in nine big league starts last season, though he hasn’t missed many bats at either level. Lucchesi fanned 16.4% of MLB opponents last season and has a 17.8% strikeout rate in Triple-A this year.

It’s possible this proves to be a spot start. Adrian Houser was originally supposed to take the ball on Wednesday, but Sherman and Mike Puma write that plans changed when the righty warmed up for possible relief work in today’s game. While Houser didn’t enter the game, he threw enough in the bullpen to take him out of the running to start tomorrow.

That proved to be an unfortunate sequence of events for Ramírez, who cedes his roster spot to Lucchesi. This will be the third DFA of the season for the 29-year-old, who can’t be optioned to the minor leagues. It’s the second time the Mets have cut him loose. Ramírez started the year in Queens and was DFA within a few weeks. New York traded him to the Orioles and claimed him back last week after Baltimore waived him.

Around the roster shuffling, Ramírez has tossed 14 1/3 innings over 10 appearances. Despite striking out 17 of 65 opponents (a strong 26.2% rate), he has conceded 11 runs. Ramírez has mid-90s velocity and has missed bats at a roughly average level in the majors, but he has walked more than 12% of batters faced over his career.

The Mets will have a week to trade or waive both Wendle and Ramírez once they officially announce the DFAs. Wendle has more than enough service time to decline a minor league assignment while retaining his salary, so he’d very likely become a free agent if no team swings a trade for him. The moves will drop New York’s 40-man roster tally to 38.

Mets Outright Max Kranick

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Right-hander Max Kranick has cleared waivers and been outrighted off the Mets’ 40-man roster.  Kranick was designated for assignment earlier this week, and he’ll now report to Triple-A Syracuse.

New York claimed Kranick off waivers from the Pirates in January, and he started his Mets tenure on the 15-day injured list due to a hamstring strain.  He was officially activated on April 23 and then optioned to Triple-A, and Kranick has a 2.57 ERA in two starts and seven innings already in Syracuse.  Kranick still has a minor league option remaining so the Mets can freely move him back and forth between the majors and minors, though he’ll first have to be placed back on the 40-man roster before his next call back to the Show.

An 11th-round pick for the Pirates in the 2016 draft, Kranick made his Major League debut in 2021 and had a 6.28 ERA over 38 2/3 innings.  He only threw five big league innings in 2022 before his career was put on hold by Tommy John surgery in June of that year, and he made it back to toss 20 2/3 minor league frames in Pittsburgh’s farm system near the end of last season.

The long layoff resulted in Kranick receiving a fourth minor league option year, as the league often grants the extra option year to players who have missed an extended amount of time due to injury.  The Mets can therefore send Kranick back and forth between the majors and minors, though they’ll first have to carve out a 40-man roster space before bringing him back to the active roster.  Kranick has a 3.63 ERA over 84 1/3 career Triple-A innings, and he’ll continue to build his arm strength back up and serve as a rotation depth option should injuries arise in New York’s rotation.

Latest On Kodai Senga

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Kodai Senga threw a live batting practice session on April 29, seemingly a sign that the Mets hurler was making good progress on his way back from a moderate posterior capsule strain in his right shoulder.  However, the latest updates on Senga’s status aren’t as promising, as Mets manager Carlos Mendoza and pitching coach Jeremy Hefner told reporters (including MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo) that Senga has dialed back his rehab to work out his pitching mechanics, which will come in the form of bullpen sessions and lighter sessions of catch.  This will be the plan for at least the next week, Mendoza said, until Senga indicated that he was ready for more.

While Mendoza said that having Senga face live hitters could be a possible injury risk for either the pitcher or the batters, Mendoza repeatedly said that Senga was physically fine, and that the change of course in rehab work wasn’t a true setback.  Hefner compared the situation to Spring Training, “where a guy is working through mechanics and feeling things out and he wants to throw another bullpen instead of a live [session], or push it a couple days.  That’s what’s going on.  He wants to work through some mechanical stuff, and he wants to feel good in the bullpen before he does maybe another live or goes into a game.  He just wants to feel good before he starts that clock.”

Senga’s shoulder injury arose early in the Mets’ actual spring camp, and he began the season on first the 15-day injured list and then the 60-day injured list.  The expectation was that Senga would need an extended ramp-up period to make up for all his lost prep work, and though the 60-day IL designation will keep him sidelined until at least late May, it now looks like it will be longer than that before Senga is a candidate to join New York’s rotation.  Neither Mendoza or Hefner mentioned even a loose timeline for Senga’s return, leaving everything quite fluid.

After signing a five-year, $75MM deal to join the Mets in the 2022-23 offseason, Senga more than lived up to expectations in his first MLB campaign, posting a 2.98 ERA over 166 1/3 innings.  Even though the Mets started a partial rebuild or retooling at last year’s trade deadline, the team could take solace in the fact that Senga was looking like a rotation staple, though his shoulder injury has now thrown a wrench into that plan.

As DiComo notes, there is a contractual element at play to Senga’s extended stint on the IL.  The right-hander can opt out of his contract following the 2025 season if he amasses at least 400 innings in 2023-25.  His workload last year left him with the very manageable figure of 233 2/3 remaining innings to trigger the opt-out, yet hitting that threshold now looks a bit more difficult if Senga misses an increasingly large chunk of the 2024 campaign.

Senga’s absence also has the more immediate problem of hampering the Mets’ chances of contending this season.  Though new president of baseball operations David Stearns wasn’t overly aggressive with big-ticket moves this past winter, the organization still had some expectation of playing competitive baseball.  The Mets haven’t exactly been on fire yet, but even with a 19-20 record, they are a game out in the crowded NL wild card race.  This has been despite an inconsistent showing from the rotation, as Jose Quintana and Adrian Houser have both struggled badly.

Brooks Raley Facing Potential Long-Term Absence Due To Elbow Injury

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TODAY: Raley spoke with Newsday’s Tim Healey and other reporters today, and revealed that while his situation is “a little more complex” and that he doesn’t “know all the details,” he is dealing with bone spurs and some level of UCL damage in his left elbow.  Raley will meet with Dr. Keith Meister on Tuesday to explore surgical and non-surgical options.

MAY 2: Mets reliever Brooks Raley is facing a possible long-term absence after testing revealed “at least fraying” in an elbow ligament, reports Joel Sherman of the New York Post. Sherman writes that Raley and the team are currently weighing whether he’ll need to undergo surgery.

Raley landed on the 15-day injured list with what the team called elbow inflammation two weeks ago. Manager Carlos Mendoza was initially optimistic that the left-hander would return around the time he was first eligible. Subsequent imaging has evidently revealed the issue to be more serious than the team first believed. Mendoza told reporters this afternoon that Raley’s recovery timeline was being pushed back, albeit without providing much in the way of specifics (via the MLB.com injury tracker).

Acquired from the Rays over the 2022-23 offseason, Raley has been a quality bullpen piece in Queens. He turned in a 2.80 ERA over a career-high 54 2/3 innings last season. He punched out more than a quarter of opposing hitters and found success against batters of either handedness. The Mets fielded some trade interest on Raley last summer but elected to hold him and trigger a $6.5MM option for this season.

The first three weeks could hardly have gone much better. Raley rattled off seven scoreless innings with nine strikeouts and only five baserunners allowed (two hits and three walks). He was credited with four holds in eight appearances and was among the club’s highest-leverage arms. Depending on the results of upcoming testing, he could be out for an extended stretch — perhaps the entire season.

That would leave the Mets rather short on experienced left-handed bullpen depth. Free agent pickup Jake Diekman is their top healthy option. The veteran has huge swing-and-miss ability, though his results have been somewhat inconsistent throughout his career thanks to well below-average control. Josh Walker and Tyler Jay have seen limited action, while recent call-up Danny Young made his team debut in this afternoon’s win. Walker was recently optioned to Triple-A Syracuse, while Jay was outrighted off the 40-man roster and is back in the minors as well.

Depth starter Joey Lucchesi has fared better against left-handed hitters and could theoretically work out of the bullpen. The same is true of David Peterson once he returns from hip surgery that will shelve him at least into late May. (Peterson’s overall platoon splits are neutral, but his strikeout and walk rates have been much better against southpaws.) Still, this looks like an area the Mets could look to upgrade from outside the organization if Raley misses a significant amount of time.

A long-term absence would be particularly unfortunate for Raley as well. He turns 36 next month and will be a free agent next winter. With a 2.58 ERA and 27.3% strikeout rate since the start of 2022, he has a good chance at a solid two-year deal if he’s fully healthy. It’s too soon to tell how his market might be affected by this injury, but any kind of surgery (particularly if he’s out into 2025) would be a tough blow.

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