The Mets have signed three right-handed relievers to minor league deals, according to their transactions tracker at MLB.com. Tommy Hunter, Sean Reid-Foley and Jimmy Yacabonis have joined the organization and will presumably be invited to major league Spring Training, though no formal announcement of that nature has been made.
Hunter is the oldest and most experienced of the bunch, as he’s currently 36 years old and has 494 MLB games under his belt. He has an even ERA of 4.00 thus far in his career, often succeeding with strong control. His career walk rate is 5.5%, well below this year’s MLB average for relievers of 9.1%. Outside of an injury-marred 2021, he’s never posted a rate higher than 6.9% in any single season. In 2022, he posted a 2.42 ERA but injuries limited him to just 22 1/3 innings. That’s been a recurring issue in recent years, as Hunter hasn’t reached 25 innings in a season since 2018.
Reid-Foley, 27, has pitched in the past five MLB seasons, the first three with the Blue Jays and the last three with the Mets. He came to New York from Toronto in the Steven Matz trade. He underwent Tommy John surgery in May and will miss at least part of the 2023 season. He was non-tendered by the Mets at the end of the season. He has a 4.66 ERA in 102 1/3 career innings, along with a 23.6% strikeout rate, 13.7% walk rate and 40.4% ground ball rate.
Yacabonis, 31 in March, put up an 8.36 ERA in 14 big league innings in 2022 but was much better in the minors. He tossed 33 2/3 innings down on the farm for various teams with a 3.21 ERA, 31.4% strikeout rate and 10.9% walk rate. He was outrighted by the Rays in November and elected free agency.
The Mets have a lot of work to do in rebuilding their bullpen as Adam Ottavino, Seth Lugo, Trevor Williams, Joely Rodriguez and Trevor May all hit free agency. Edwin Díaz was also in that group, though he was quickly re-signed. They will likely have more moves to come in bolstering the bullpen, but it’s understandable why they would look to add multiple depth options to the system.
Tommy should have a major league contract. He’s a proven good pitcher.
Chronic back issues is what probably kept his contract a minor league deal.
And a proven big eater.
Figured Reid-Foley would return on a minors deal with rehabbing from TJS.
Decent depth options.
SRF is one of the worst pitchers I’ve ever seen. Tommy Hunter used to be really good but his back injury has definetly made him just barely servicable as a major leaguer. Despite his strong ERA from 2022, he was put in mostly low leverage situations because it was obvious he was not the same. As far as Yacabonis goes, the Mets have pretty much owned him throughout his career. Curious as to why they sign guys that do bad vs them instead of guys that do well vs them
He’s shown flashes of potential. It’s clearly a low risk move that may pan out
Can’t have enough arms.
More big signings, Mets fans!
Tommy Hunter feels like he should be 46 not 36.
We on baby
a lot of good arms in the rule 5 draft, TJ Sikema, Yovanny Cruz, a number of others with strike out stuff
These are good moves.
Eppler. Enough said.
All minor league deals = low risk high reward. I’ll take these contracts every day and twice on Sunday. Given of course they sign a few MLB ready bullpen pieces as well.
@af1257 Not a one of these is “high reward.” None of the three has any chance to be even a mediocre contributor, say 50 innings of league average ball.
These are simply ‘guys because you need bodies.’ They’re not even depth. Other than Hunter, who will be lucky to get 20 innings in, they’re pitchers you never want to see on an MLB mound.
any reward, even those 20 hunter innings is reward. because they have no expectations other than to exist, any kind of production is a positive. no idea why people still pan these minor league signings
Low risk possible of decent reward moves. Like all clubs just the typical Minor League moves but I hope Tommy Hunter works out.
These guys are the depth behind the depth.
Behind the depth.
Other than Hunter they only exist because the next options are even worse, and wrt Tommy, who can’t use his projectable 15 innings of above average work?
The other two are the #14 and #16 bullpen options on a serious contender.
That’s not the problem. The problem is Billy “I just don’t understand pitching” Eppler is at the helm and the Mets haven’t added *anybody* worth having, yet. Waiting for guys to shake out of trees isn’t a plan.
Do the Mets have a clue, let alone a plan? Where’s the sense that to build a contender for the WS they’ll need two more postseason-caliber starters and superb lefty and righty set up men to get to Diaz?
They look like the 2021 SF Giants. A 100+ winning team headed for .500 the following year. The idea of Alderson, Eppler, and Cohen in charge is bone-chilling. They’ve already put the Mets in a hole that even a $330m payroll won’t dig them out of.