Dellin Betances’ 2021 season will end after a single inning, as Mets manager Luis Rojas told reporters (including The Athletic’s Tim Britton) that Betances will undergo surgery on his bothersome right shoulder. No specific timeline was given on how long Betances will be sidelined, or if Opening Day 2022 could be in doubt for the right-hander.
Betances has been on the injured list due to a right shoulder impingement for almost the entire season, since tossing his lone inning of work back on April 7. The reliever had seemingly been making good progress in his recovery while on a minor league rehab assignment, but Betances will now see his third consecutive season ruined by injury.
Since the start of the 2019 campaign, Betances has pitched just 13 1/3 total innings due to a variety of injuries. Another shoulder impingement and then a partially-torn Achilles tendon limited him to only two-thirds of an inning with the Yankees in 2019, and while the delayed 2020 season allowed Betances to recover from his Achilles injury, lat tightness at the end of August ended up cutting short that season after 11 2/3 frames.
Despite the injury cloud hanging over him following the 2019 season, Betances still landed $10.5MM in guaranteed money from the Mets in free agency, with player options for the 2021 and 2022 campaigns. After enacting the first of those player options for 2021, Betances locked in another $3MM, so he has thus far earned $13.5MM for his 12 2/3 innings in a Mets uniform. Since he obviously won’t meet his innings threshold, Betances’ player option for 2022 is only $1MM, but Betances will probably exercise the option anyway, just to ensure some guaranteed money after another lost season.
It wasn’t long ago that Betances was one of the most feared relievers in baseball, with a 2.22 ERA and 40.3% strikeout rate over 373 1/3 innings with the Yankees from 2014-18. That stretch saw Betances make the AL All-Star Game four times, quite an achievement for a non-closer relief pitcher. This dominance made the Mets’ free agent investment seem like a pretty decent bet on the team’s part, though the Mets have unfortunately received next to nothing from Betances. The question now is whether or not Betances can simply get back to any level of health necessary to resume his career as he enters his age-34 season.
RIP he will be missed
Thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery.
I feel like this response had finally hit the target. Betances will be plying his trade for Indy leagues in the future. Maybe a KBO or JPL stint in a two years with his fingers crossed.
Or he could just take the $31MM he’s made and walk away. It’s not like he needs the money.
When the Mets signed Betances, a lot of people on here said it was a bad move due to his health. I was NOT one of those people. I tip my fedora to you fine gentlemen.
@Bill M
Total respect to you for admitting you were wrong.
Let’s see how many others from your fan base will do the same. We all know of one that will not because he started denying it right after a few of us called him out for it.
Random, but if you wanna see some bad takes from mlbtr commenters read here
mlbtraderumors.com/2020/01/astros-jeff-luhnow-aj-h…
Read the comments. This is the astros cheating scandal punishment announcement. People saying it was steep. I couldn’t get over how much the narrative changed from the initial announcement. At the time I was shocked to see people calling it steep.
Meh, no one knows anything health related it’s a coin flip. You can comment ‘this guy is going to suck or get hurt’ on every single post and be right 50% of the time.
Doesn’t make them smart, just cynical. Untip your fedora
Well then, I raise my glass.
Count me on Team Betances. He was a beast with the Yankees and I’ll always root for the guy.
Dellin is on my forever-cool-with-me list, too.
Betances may never have been an astronaut, but at his peak he was one of the flat out most dominant pitchers I have ever seen.
That long stride, a triple digit FB, & a knuckle curve coming in at 90(!) mph.
Mercy.
Joe G really used (overused?) Dellin hard, man.
May have caught up to him.
I was also wrong about Betances! I was downright excited about signing the former Yankee. This will go down as one of the worst free agent signings in Mets history
Lmao at that last sentence. I hope you are joking
It is funny that he says that today of all days.
Happy Bobby Bonilla Day! Make yo’ move! We can be like my homeboys chillin’.
I thought it was a great signing. But once I saw 90-92 in his first spring training game I knew right there that it would never work out.
It’s funny how very few of the Mets’ huge moves have worked out so far, but the majority of their smaller ones have more than exceded expectations.
This wasn’t a huge move. It was a flier they took that didn’t work out.
It was a fine risk to take, but the Mets were the wrong team to take it. A team with a better track record of reclaiming these kinds of players’ careers would have had a better shot.
Another one of Brodie Van Lunchwagaon’s bad moves; and as Mets fan I did call it at the time but hey Bill M Kudos to you for ponying up.
I have had my share of wrong calls but that’s why this board is so much fun; we all throw it out there, pun intended, and see what sticks
Hope he can get healthy and make a comeback. That said, I knew he wouldn’t wear the Mets uniform again when he went in the IL.
$1 million an inning…nice work if you can get it.
Should have DFA long time ago.
What difference would that have made? They still would have been on the hook for the player options and money.
The amount of guaranteed money they gave him really confused me from the onset. Granted, he would have easily gotten more if he hadn’t hit free agency coming off an injury, but they didn’t pay him like a bounceback candidate. It was obvious that he wasn’t right from his first outing. It’s a real shame because that 2014-2018 stretch was incredible. I doubt the Mets will keep him regardless of the player option, but I hope he’s able to work things out.
Also, we can’t forget that they signed him on Christmas Eve. I would have happily taken the coal instead.
You don’t get hits if you don’t swing.
Well sure. If forced to decide between Gerrit and Dellin, who wouldn’t choose Coal?
I’m not a Mets fan by a long way, but I sure hate to see a guy SO snakebitten. Hope his medical problems clear up and he can have a proper shot at playing next season.
I have had 2 shoulder impingements in my life. They are brutal. Couldn’t even golf for 2 years. I am amazed that pitchers can come back at all.
Perhaps he was overused as a Yankee.
He was elite for a long while.
I had TJ surgery 15 years ago and I don’t see how some pitchers can come back better than before the surgery.
How far the mightly have fallen. He was a top 5 RP in all of baseball not even 3 years ago. Now, he’ll be going into his age 34 season and only have pitched 13.1 innings since 2019.
As a Yankees fan, I do not take any joy in this news. I appreciate the accomplishments of a healthy Betances and I am sorry the Mets have not seen that version. I don’t know what the future holds but I hope he has another opportunity to make good for the Mets.
That ankle injury was so hard to watch.
I had forgotten (or never knew) about the 2022 player option. The original signing was a reasonable gamble if there was no future commitment. Giving him player options like that with no performance requirements to activate them was just a terrible idea, and certainly one of Brodie’s worst moves.
I don’t think it exists. It’s a player option if he reached certain appearances numbers this season, which he hasn’t reached. He would need 50 games this year.
Good point. I just checked Cot’s, and it does appear that the 2022 option doesn’t kick in without requisite 2021 appearances, so hopefully this article is incorrect.
Which deal was worse: Betances or Jed Lowrie? Man, Brody did a number of this team, including the Cano trade. At least Cano’s salary is off the books this year after cheating yet again.
Dorothy_Mantooth Spot on!!
*shrugs using only one good shoulder*
Dellin can go have a hamburger and a milkshake with Bobby Bonilla.
A little over a Mil per inning? And the players whine about the greedy owners!
This is a fantastic take /sarcasm/
So far a total waste of money BUT 2022 for just a million dollars could prove to be a value down the stretch
No way he pitches in 2022; end of career!
Anyone who has had shoulder surgery can tell you
Career ending
When a reliever leaves the Yankees, DO NOT sign them. Robertson, Betances, Hale…from gold to garbage. The Yankees only let them go when they’re done.
Seems to be the case but at the time, I was absolutely jumping for joy when the Mets signed Betances. Their pen was horrendous at the time & they got a proven reliever who was a beast in New York. I should have known something was wrong when the Yankees didn’t pursue him
I thought it was a good signing too.
Lol Mets SUCK
At 33 the shoulder means he’s most likely done as an athlete. Godspeed.