2:55pm: Brach’s signing has been announced. The club designated righty Chris Flexen for assignment to create roster space.
1:13pm: The Mets have struck a deal with free agent righty Brad Brach, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter). He’s said to be promised a $850K salary for the 2020 season (on top of the $500K he’s already owed by the Cubs). Brach is a client of Big League Management.
While the single-season earnings are relatively modest, the deal does include a $1.25MM player option that provides a backstop for the 33-year-old reliever. The price tag goes up based upon the number of games he appears in. ($125K at 20 games; $350K apiece upon his 30th, 35th, 40th, 50th, 60th, and 65th appearances.) There are incentives in both years of the contract, also tied to appearances (beginning with his 50th).
Brach has deep ties to the area, having grown up and played his college ball in New Jersey. It was seen as something of a homecoming when he landed in Queens in the middle of the 2019 season. As I noted in previewing the Mets’ offseason, it seemed sensible to imagine a reunion.
Both team and player obviously enjoyed the experience. For the second-straight season, Brach turned around suboptimal results after swapping jerseys in the middle of the year. In 39 2/3 innings with the Cubs, Brach limped to a 6.13 ERA with 10.2 K/9 and an alarming 6.4 BB/9. But with the Mets, he allowed six earned runs in 14 2/3 frames while posting a strong 15:3 K/BB ratio.
What changed? Brach was pumping his customary 95 mph for most of his tenure in Chicago and continued upon moving to New York. But there was some chatter that Brach had been tipping his changeup. And pitch-tracking software identified a major shift in usage in favor of a cut fastball. The new approach worked, at least in a short sample.
For the Mets, this move plugs one bullpen opening with a known quantity who has late-inning experience. Brach is now a few years removed from his best years in Baltimore, but this seems like a nice price tag for the veteran. The Mets will still need to look for creative ways of boosting their relief unit.
Good sign. He pitched pretty good for the Mets last year.
At least they didn’t overpay Wheeler….
He was a -0.1 WAR pitcher in 2019…
WAR means almost nothing for pitchers, and absolutely nothing for relief pitchers in specific.
He pitched to a .3 WAR for the Mets in only 14.2 innings. You’re including his innings pitched with the Cubs in your figure. The original poster was correct.
My bad. Although it makes more sense to trust a 55 inning sample size than 14.
That I won’t argue. But I have no problem with the signing for the salary they are paying him. It’s fairly low risk. And if at least some of his improvement after coming over to the Mets was because they realized he had been tipping pitches and /or the increased use of the cutter he should be fine.
No one overpaid wheeler.
$24 million a year for a barely above-average pitcher with a history of injuries and a career season-high of 189 innings? Plus draft compensation? Sorry, but they overpaid.
Wheeler will be ok. That’s the problem. He’s a 3 or a 4. With an injury history. Getting paid like a 1 or a 2. We can circle back in August to see how it’s working out for the Phils. Be prepared to be underwhelmed.
Wheeler is a #2. Calling him a 4 is insane. Calling him a 3 is fair, but he has shown signs that he can become a legitimate ace. Some of gis second half stats in the last few seasons were amazingly good. That being said, it’s an overpay. But not an incredibly dumb one. High risk, high reward.
Wheeler is a number 2. He took a while to recover from TJ. Thirty starts avg over the last 2 years. Fans really are just dumb. “He was injured 3 years ago he must be crappy.”
He was a -0.1 WAR pitcher last year…
This will put them over the top. A full year of Brad Bach and the Mets would have won the division last year. A difference making reliever signing to begin the Mets off season- it does not get better than that.
Are you being sarcastic?
now that’s building a win right now team!
I’m really curious whos gonna dumpster dive the hardest this year to have a pen
What do you mean? Do you mean which team trying to contend will ignore the pen to dumpster dive? If not the answer is clear- the Orioles- they just gave away Villar. Full tank year and they probably won’t have more than two guaranteed contracts among the relievers they have in Spring training.
Also- the Yankees pen is set- they will dumpster dive in the relief department because they have no need to do otherwise.
Theo Epstein
AND that’s the end of spending for the Mets.
Incredibly rare good move by Brodie
Good deal.
Good start, he was solid last year. Have to build pen with some low cost options. Go get McHugh next. I think Smith will be traded for 1-2 relievers. Lugo to the rotation
Yet he wasn’t solid for the Cubs. Why do you think he will pitch in 2020 more like he did for the Mets last year than he did for the Cubs? Is this just a matter of faith? More seriously, Branch’s signing illustrates the continuing difficulty of building a strong pen: the inconsistency of relief pitching from one season to the next. Few teams have been able to gather a group of relievers who consistently provide effective relief for more than a season or two. On the other hand, Brach returns to the Mets at a bargain rate.
Exactly what you said about inconsistency is why this is a good signing. Pay Familia 12 mil for next 2 years or pay Brach 880K? Plus Brach was one of most consistent relievers with the Orioles for many years. No reason he can’t rebound. Perhaps he fixed a mechanical flaw and was the reason he was so good for the Mets
“Why do you think he will pitch in 2020 more like he did for the Mets last year than he did for the Cubs?”
Why do you think he will pitch in 2020 more like he did in 39 innings for the Cubs last year than he did for the other 450+ innings in his career?
Prefer to sign a Rick Porcello type rather than move Lugo to rotation.
I agree with moving Smith for a reliever, then hope Diaz and/or Familia bounce back.
Agree. Lugo’s too valuable in the pen, plus idk too many innings is good for his UCL.
I like Alex Wood much more than porcello and he will cost less. Porcello doesn’t get many Ks and Mets D is not good. He would struggle in my opinion.
Other SP to target are Wacha, Teheran, Smyly, and Jimmy Nelson
I would love to see Teheran in flushing.
Me 2
The best use of Smith is to package him with Cano and send him to Tampa for whatever they could get. Tampa gets a first baseman and a DH and the Mets get out from under that contract.
Tampa is not taking on long term big money. We’re stuck with Cano.
Can’t throw strikes but ok
What do twins fans know about pitching? Johan Santana left a long time ago.
Never know which Brach will show up from one year to the next. Still a good gamble here.
same could be said for 90% of relief pitchers, if not outing to outing, then year to year
Brad Brach? Eh, good luck w/that. He was horrible in Chicago.
haha – Cubs fan commenting without reading the article about tipping pitches
Bullpen candy! Caramels, Candy Corn and Conversation Hearts. Three big winners.
Lol
I thought Brach was a good gamble for the Mets last season, and that hasn’t changed. They do need to keep him away from lefties to whatever extent they can, that’s been part of his issue for the past two seasons.
ugh, if only he did this last offseason
Good move. Welcome back, Brad.
For 850K they signed him and he’s more effective give than Familia at 10million.
Finally someone making some sense.
Smart signing. He was solid for the Mets in 2019.
Awesome how we can’t comment on any Addison Russel post anymore. Even when it has to do with him being a free agent and not him beating his wife….smh
You think commenters wouldn’t focus on the domestic violence? It would be a food fight.
Awesome how you need to talk about him in posts that don’t have anything to do with him. Get. A. Life.
Seems like any signing of $1MM or less is the 25% chance that they’ll work out pile.
What a bargain. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Every team in baseball should be in on these bullpen types. If you cast a wide net and sign three or four or five of these guys and strike gold with even one of them, it was worth the minimal risk.
It seems almost foolish to shell out 10mil+ on relievers with how unpredictable and inconsistent most of them are. A guy can look brilliant one year and lost the next.
I think you would have to take into consideration that each team has limited roster spots. Not every fringe reliever is going to sign a minor league deal if they can get guaranteed money elsewhere. They also have the right to refuse a minor league assignment and ask for a DFA with full pay.
The only good news here other than a yawn is that it resulted in DFA for Flexen.
Subtraction by addition is the only good news here but I will take it!
Gragme is gone; hopefully Flexen next and one more signing we can unload Oswalt.
Seawald has to go
Flexen stinks. Brad though… what happened? What happened to those good ole year. You are just not the same pitcher
Please google “Brach tipping pitches”. It’ll genuinely give you the answers you’re looking for.
Cubs legend
Yawn
Beach for more?
Mets fans all excited about the bargain price,lol.
Its as if they play in Oakland.