As it stands, the New York Mets and president of baseball operations, David Stearns, still has a lot of work to do when it comes to filling out the team’s bullpen. Each team’s bullpen are usually eight members deep, without factoring in the importance of depth. As it stands, the Mets only have four of these spots that appear solidified, leaving four more.
Those “locks” currently consist of Edwin Díaz, Reed Garrett, Dedniel Núñez, and José Buttó, of course, pending no injuries or trade. Also notable, all four of those arms are right-handed pitchers.
Other relievers currently on the Mets 40-man roster are Huascar Brazobán, Dylan Covey, Justin Hagenman, Kevin Herget, Max Kranick, Sean Reid-Foley, Danny Young, and Tyler Zuber. Traditional starting pitchers, Paul Blackburn, Tylor Megill, and Griffin Canning, may all be considered in a long-relief type of role as well.
Of the group of middle-reliever options, Young is the only left-handed pitcher. Further, of those, Brazobán (xERA below 3.64 in each big-league season) and Reid-Foley (2.15 ERA across 29 1/3 innings the last two seasons) are the only two that have seen any sense of sustained success in the big leagues.
Elsewhere, the Mets have non-roster invitees in Génesis Cabrera (LHP), Chris Devenski (RHP), Grant Hartwig (RHP), Anthony Gose (LHP), Oliver Ortega (RHP), and Rico Garcia (RHP) set to join them in camp. Additionally, minor leaguer right-handed relievers Trey McLoughlin (1.89 ERA across 33 1/3 Double-A innings in 2024) and Bryce Montes de Oca (struggled in 2024 after returning from elbow surgery) are other potential options.
Then, there is always a possibility that a current starter in the minor leagues can emerge as a bullpen option with the big club, such as Buttó did. Some names to keep an eye on are Blade Tidwell and Dom Hamel.
Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images
Surprisingly, the bullpen market thus far through free agency has been extremely slow moving. There are still a plethora of higher-end options in Tanner Scott, Kenley Jansen, Jeff Hoffman, David Robertson, Kirby Yates, and Carlos Estévez. However, as president of baseball operations David Stearns has shown in the past, he usually builds his bullpen through lower-cost options.
There are still several that would fit the bill left. This list consists of Scott Barlow, Caleb Ferguson, Andrew Chafin, Ryne Stanek, and the list goes on and on. All signs point to Stearns either leaning more on internal options, or going shopping in this tier of player rather than the higher-tier of guys outlined above.
With all that being said, here is one option for how the Mets’ Opening Day bullpen can look:
Take the first four, one from each external left-handed and right-handed reliever option, one from a potential camp surprise performer, and one on-roster longer reliever and you have your 2025 bullpen. This plan would fit David Stearns philosophy of relatively lower-cost options in his bullpen, yet potentially effective.
A bullpen is a vital part to any team, and, as we saw in 2024, is ever-changing, just because you do not get it right at the beginning of the season, does not mean it won’t come together. Regardless, it will be interesting to see how the Mets approach the unit the rest of the offseason.
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