The Mets announced this morning that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Jose Urena. Urena will replace southpaw A.J. Minter on the roster as the southpaw heads to the 15-day injured list due to a left lat strain. Minter’s placement on the shelf is hardly a surprise, as he exited yesterday’s game with what was termed triceps soreness at the time. The Mets have a 40-man roster spot open, so no corresponding move was necessary.
Urena, 33, has pitched in the majors for parts of ten seasons but has struggled to post average results throughout most of his career. The righty debuted with the Marlins back in 2015 and spent the first two years of his career struggling badly in the majors in a swing role, though he converted to the rotation full-time in 2017 and had a solid two-season run as an effective back-end starter. From 2017 to 2018, Urena pitched to a league average 3.90 ERA despite a microscopic 16.9% strikeout rate, though his well-below average 4.68 FIP suggested regression was likely not far away. That came to pass during his final two seasons with the Marlins, where he posted a 5.25 ERA and 5.02 FIP in 108 frames before being designated for assignment shortly after the 2020 season concluded.
In the years following his departure from Miami, Urena was typically used as a back-end starter or swingman while bouncing around various clubs outside of the playoff picture. From 2021 to 2023, the right-hander pitched for the Tigers, Rockies, Brewers, and White Sox with a combined 5.61 ERA and 5.29 FIP in 242 1/3 innings of work. He struck out just 14.6% of his opponents while walking 9.8% during that time, leaving him with weak ratios that even a 50.2% groundball rate couldn’t make up for.
Lackluster as his performance in the majors had been over the years, however, Urena managed to turn things around in Texas last year. He signed a minor league deal with the Rangers during the 2023-24 offseason and managed to crack the club’s Opening Day roster as a long reliever. He joined the rotation for a brief stretch in May and June but mostly pitched out of the bullpen, and did multi-inning relief work with intriguing effectiveness. While he still punched out just 15.1% of his opponents, his 8.4% walk rate was a bit more palatable and he maintained his strong grounder rate while adding a tick of velocity to his fastball and managing to give up fewer homers. In all, he posted a 3.80 ERA with a 4.62 FIP in 109 innings, though his 2.92 ERA in 64 2/3 frames of relief work was more impressive than his 5.08 ERA in nine starts.
Despite the improvements in his performance, Urena’s shaky work in the rotation and lack of strikeouts limited him to minor league deals once again this winter, and he eventually landed with the Mets. The righty had the ability to opt-out of his deal with the club before Opening Day but instead opted to stick with the club and pitch at Triple-A until an opportunity arose in Queens. That patience has now paid off, and he’ll join the big league roster as a multi-inning relief option or potential sixth starter should one be necessary at some point.
As for Minter, the extent of his injury won’t be known until results of the imaging he’s expected to undergo today are announced. Regardless, the Mets are clearly confident he’ll be down for long enough to justify holding him out for at least the next 15 days. That leaves Danny Young as the only left-handed option in the Mets’ bullpen for the time being, though Genesis Cabrera and Anthony Gose are both available as non-roster depth options in the minor leagues.
