Lost in the shuffle of a terrific 2024 season was how large of a loss left-handed relief pitcher Brooks Raley was after undergoing Tommy John surgery. Losing Raley, who has quietly been one of the best left-handed reliever in the major leagues over the last few seasons, was a huge blow to a Mets bullpen who was largely up-and-down throughout the successful season.
His injury left Jake Diekman as the lone established left-handed reliever in the bullpen. Diekman struggled mightily, resulting in his departure from the club, and the Mets relied upon a pair of Youngs, Danny (4.54 ERA across 37 2/3 innings) and Alex (3.29 Era across 13 2/3 innings), the rest of the way.
It would behoove president of baseball operations, David Stearns, to address this area of the bullpen this offseason. The free agent market does have a few large fish at the top of the left-handed reliever market, in Tanner Scott, Aroldis Chapman, and the quickly-emerging Tim Hill. Outside of that, what else does the free agent market have to offer when it comes to southpaws?
Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images
In somewhat of a surprise, the Baltimore Orioles declined the $4 million option of Danny Coulombe earlier in the offseason, making him a free agent. The 35-year-old is coming off a two-straight seasons of superb play in Baltimore. Across these two years, Coulombe tossed 81 innings with a 2.56 ERA to go along with 90 strikeouts and only 17 walks. His WHIP was below 1.000 (0.951) and FIP backed up how impressive his traditional numbers were at 2.83.
So, why was the veteran’s option declined? It may have to do with some concern regarding injuries. Coulombe had hip surgery in 2022 and an elbow procedure in 2023, both leading to him missing considerable periods of time. Now, he will be entering 2025 at age 35.
Regardless, there is no doubt the only 5-foot-10 tall reliever can be extremely effective when healthy. Including the terrific last two seasons, since returning to the major leagues in 2020, Coulombe has a 2.69 ERA. There is also no doubt that he does what most left-handed do well in destroying left-handed hitters. Last season, opposing lefties had a .400 OPS against Coulombe. For his career, left-handed batters have a .607 OPS against him. He does the main job of any left-handed reliever extremely well.
Interestingly enough, Coulombe has done all of the above with a fastball that only tops out at just under 91 mph. He mixes pitches well (threw five pitches in 2024 more than 12% of the time) and doesn’t walk batters. If he stays healthy, he has all the ability to be one of the more underrated left-handed weapons out of the bullpen in 2025.
Jalen Beeks had the pleasure of pitching in the high altitude of Colorado in 2024, before being traded to Pittsburgh to finish out the season. Before arriving in Colorado, Beeks spent back-to-back seasons with Tampa Bay after missing 2021 with injury. Beeks had an extremely successful 2022, posting a 2.80 ERA and 70 strikeouts across 61 innings.
However, in 2023, he posted a 5.95 ERA across 42 1/3 innings resulting in being placed on waivers after the season and subsequently claimed early in the 2023 offseason. Interestingly enough, in 2023, Beeks appeared to have been a victim of incredibly bad luck and fielding behind him. His FIP of 3.82 was 2.13 points better than his ERA and his xERA of 3.61 and starling xBA of .215 further told that story. The 5.95 ERA on the surface is extremely deceiving.
Regardless, he got a shot with the Rockies in 2024 where he posted a 4.74 ERA and 4.36 FIP in the high altitude before being dealt to the Pirates. He got much better, pitching in the more friendlier environment the rest of the season. With Pittsburgh, Beeks dropped his ERA to 3.92 and FIP all the way down to 3.12. His ERA+ was 109, well above the 100 average. With Pittsburgh, Beeks was much more the pitcher he was in his career-best 2022 season.
Further, in 2024, Beeks was terrific against left-handed hitters. He held lefties to a .202/.283/.287 slash line (.570 OPS). The three-pitch pitcher (four-seam fastball, changeup, and cutter), who does struggle with walks sometimes, would instantly fill a hole the Mets have had in their bullpen since Raley went down with injury early on in 2024.
Mandatory Credit: Orlando Ramirez-Imagn Images
The youngest arm on this list is 28-year-old Caleb Ferguson. Ferguson struggled mightily with the New York Yankees to begin 2024, before being trade to the Houston Astros in July. Following the deal, across 21 innings, Ferguson posted a 3.86 ERA and 2.88 FIP with the Astros, after holding marks of 5.13 and 4.28, respectively, with the Yankees.
Ferguson, as is the case with the rest of the arms on this list, excelled against left-handed hitting last year, allowing a .662 OPS. Over his career, lefties hold an OPS just a shade over .700. Interestingly enough, the same goes for right-handed hitters. So, Ferguson has shown the ability to succeed against both, which is helpful due to the three-batter minimum rule.
Over his career as a whole, Ferguson’s best work came over his five-year stint to begin his career with the Los Angeles Dodgers. With L.A., he posted a 3.43 ERA, including an outlier 2019 season where his ERA inflated to 4.84. Outside of that season, his ERA was sub-3.50 across the other four.
Ferguson has relied on a relatively high strikeout rate over his career (27.5%) to get hitters out. He has a four-pitch mix, featuring a four-seam fastball, cutter, slurve, and sinker. The best of which has always been his cutter. One of the areas that does get Ferguson in trouble is his walk rate; his 9.4% career average is almost a full percentage point over the big-league average.
Regardless, Ferguson provides any team with a younger arm, who has less mileage. He has also shown throughout his career to be effective against both left-handed and right-handed hitters, which helps tremendously given the three-batter minimum rule. If his new teams get the pitcher he was with the Astros to end the season, and the pitcher he was for the majority of his Dodgers career, he can be a force.
The 35-year-old Scott Alexander will be entering his 11th big-league season, as he is looking to join his fifth different team. Outside of the 2023 season (4.66 ERA), Alexander has posted a sub-4.00 ERA in every other season of his veteran career (excluding his six inning debut year in 2015). And, even in that one-off 2023 season, Alexander owned a FIP of only 3.26, so he was letdown big time by the defense behind.
Like the rest of the players on this list, Alexander excels at what left-handed pitchers do best; getting left-handed hitters out. Over his career, Alexander is allowing a .211 batting average and .564 OPS to lefty hitters. Last year, specifically, the 6-foot-2 southpaw held left-handed hitters to a .161 batting average and a .419 OPS.
Alexander, who only throws three pitches (low-90 mph sinker, slider, and changeup), had a very successful 2024 with Oakland. He posted a 2.56 ERA across 38 2/3 innings. Alexander excels at inducing soft contact on the ground, usually posting one of the highest ground-ball rates in the big leagues (66.8% career ground-ball rate, 43.2% is the major-league average). As a result, he also owns an extremely low home run rate (career 1.6%, which is much lower than the 3.1% MLB average).
With that being said, Alexander does not induce many strikeouts (career 6.75 K/9). He also did struggle with walks last season (9.4% walk rate), but for his career sits right around the major-league average. Regardless, Alexander would be an extremely cheap option for the Mets to fulfill their lefty specialist out of the bullpen.
It is still very early in the offseason, so the Mets’ plans have yet to come to the forefront. However, with a bullpen whose current top left-handed options consist of Danny and Alex Young, adding to that area should be high up on president of baseball operations, David Stearns, and staff list. Any of the above would be great additions and would all come at a relatively cheap rate.
The post Four Cost-Friendly, Left-Handed Reliever Free Agent Options appeared first on Metsmerized Online.
