Five Mets bullpen options to target in a trade this summer

Tony Watson

The first three bullpen options on this list are all currently closing for their current teams. Should the Mets seek a true middle relief option they should call the San Francisco Giants about veteran lefty pitcher Tony Watson.

Many eyes will be on pitcher Will Smith as San Francisco will most likely look to sell this deadline as they close out the Bruce Bochy era.

However, the 34-year-old Watson is having just as good as a year as Smith is. Watson’s best season came in 2014 when he made the All-Star team while with the Pirates. He had a career-best 1.63 ERA and appeared in a league-leading 78 games.

In 2018 he joined San Francisco and had a typical Watson season as he appeared in 72 games and pitched in 66 innings. He struck out 72 batters and had an ERA of 2.59.

He also had impressive numbers against left-handed and right-handed batters despite being known as a lefty specialist. Left-handed batters only hit .231 off of Watson with 1 home run allowed and right-handed batters hit .219 with only 3 home runs allowed.

In 2019, left-handed batters are hitting over .300 against Watson and he has already allowed the same number of home runs this year as he did all of last year. Despite the struggles, Watson is headed towards another consistent season, as he has an ERA 2.70 in 26.2 innings pitched.

One benefit the Mets can get from adding Watson is his ability to hand the lead over to the next man out the bullpen. Watson is tied for 4th for the most holds in 2019 with a total of 13. The current leader Ryan Pressly from the Houston Astros has 18.

The Mets have had trouble finding consistency out of the bullpen and Watson can provide that. He shouldn’t cost you your most prized prospect so the price should be right for the Mets if they rather make a smaller move.