Mets Interested In Tanner Scott

The Mets are looking to add a reliever or two, reports Will Sammon of The Athletic, with left-hander Tanner Scott identified as one specific name they have interest in. Scott is one of the top free agent relievers and has also been connected to Atlanta, the Yankees and Dodgers this winter. Sammon adds that the Mets have already met with Scott, likely over phone or video.

Scott’s appeal is obvious in the numbers. Over the past two years, he has tossed 150 relief innings, allowing 2.04 earned runs per nine. His 10% walk rate over those years was a tad high, but he struck out 31.3% of batters faced and got grounders on 50.4% of balls in play. He also added 5 1/3 innings of scoreless postseason work over those seasons, which included four strikeouts of Shohei Ohtani in last year’s NLDS.

At the start of the offseason, MLBTR predicted Scott to land a four-year deal worth $56MM, but it’s possible that will prove to be light. Essentially every starting pitcher has surpassed expectations this winter and that could spill over into the bullpen market as well. It was reported this week that Scott has enough interest that a deal with a $20MM average annual value is a possibility.

For the Mets, this represents a different tack to their rotation-building strategy, something that Sammon notes in his report. While owner Steve Cohen has seemingly unlimited financial resources, president of baseball operations David Stearns hasn’t gone for the top free agent pitchers.

Last year, he gave short-term deals to starters like Sean Manaea and Luis Severino, but the Mets were entering something of a reset year in 2024. After they outperformed expectations and made the playoffs, it was speculated that Stearns could get more aggressive and go after arms like Corbin Burnes, Blake Snell or Max Fried. Instead, he has re-signed Manaea, is trying to convert Clay Holmes from the bullpen to the rotation, and has taken buy-low fliers on guys like Frankie Montas and Griffin Canning.

While that pivot to more aggressive spending didn’t happen with the rotation, perhaps it will come to pass with the bullpen. Stearns has never made huge financial investments in relievers, neither for the Mets nor the Brewers, as shown on MLBTR’s Contract Tracker. The deals for Holmes and Manaea top the list, followed by an early-career extension for Freddy Peralta, who eventually emerged as a viable big league starter in Milwaukee. No other reliever has received more than a $5.4MM guarantee from Stearns.

Last winter, as mentioned, the Mets were going into a year of uncertainty. Stearns gave modest deals to a number of relievers like Adam Ottavino, Jake Diekman, Jorge López and others, none of them even getting a $5MM guarantee. The interest in Scott suggests that the Mets might have some willingness to pivot from that trend in the coming weeks, though time will tell if they actually follow through.

If they do, Scott would be a great fit for the bullpen. The Mets have Edwin Díaz as their closer but things are fairly open apart from that. José Buttó, Reed Garrett and Dedniel Núñez project as some of the top options beyond Díaz but none of those three have even two years of big league service time. Danny Young is the only lefty reliever currently on the 40-man roster and he still has less than a year of service time. Slotting in Scott would bolster the group in terms of talent, experience and left-right balance.

According to RosterResource, the Mets are projected for a payroll of $280MM this year. That’s about $50MM shy of last year’s Opening Day payroll, so there could be lots of room to add bullpen help, even if they end up re-signing first baseman Pete Alonso. RR has the competitive balance tax number at $277MM, which means the club is already within striking distance of the third threshold of $281MM. However, they have blown way past the fourth and final tier in previous seasons, so that isn’t likely to be an obstacle for them. As a third-time payor, the Mets will face a 95% tax rate for spending beyond the third tier and a 110% rate for anything above the fourth.