1 NY Mets player whose future is wounded most by the Griffin Canning signing

The free agent addition of Griffin Canning to the New York Mets roster elicited two reactions. Diehard fans of David Stearns praised the addition because he can seemingly do no wrong. Others questioned the addition of yet another project brought in to compete for a rotation spot. As long as Canning is willing to accept a minor league assignment to begin the year, we should be okay with this signing.

One of his Mets teammates won’t publicly admit it, but the signing shoots an arrow through his future. Tylor Megill is coming off of what turned out to be his best season statistically in a variety of ways. He prevented runs at his best pace. He struck out batters far more frequently.

Megill had been a perceived sixth starter for the Mets heading into 2024—a role he did well with last season. Add Canning to the mix, Megill has more competition and could have a few starts stolen from him in a year where it’s make or break.

It’s make or break for Tylor Megill in 2025 and moving down the Mets depth chart won’t help

Megill goes into 2025 with one final minor league option remaining. It’s one of the factors that makes him an appealing player to keep around as the Mets can weave him up and down from the majors to the minors as necessary. This isn’t an easy role to take on. David Peterson somehow managed to excel in doing this back in 2022 when everything seemed to go well for the Mets, until it didn’t.

Over the past two years, Megill has shown he can bounce back after a trip to the minors. He was very good late in 2023 and again last season in his final six starts when he replaced injured Paul Blackburn on the roster.

The Mets have yet to truly toy with the idea of moving Megill to the bullpen. Just one relief appearance last year and 6 others back in 2022, a potential shift in 2025 can at least help give him some sort of a clearer future with the Mets. Once his final minor league option is exhausted, he’ll either need to be a permanent fixture on the 26-man roster or DFA’d or maybe even traded to a team in need.

Through four seasons, Megill has struggled to be consistent enough to remain in the big leagues for a prolonged period of time. He has been a “break glass in case of emergency” type of player. No example is better than when he got the Opening Day start in 2023. At the tail end of this most recent season, the Mets asked for him to help them defeat the Atlanta Braves in Game 161. He had a no-decision, but a strong effort kept the game close enough for Francisco Lindor to play hero late.

Peterson was previously headed down this same path. Luckily for him, the Mets had room in 2024 and he delivered. Megill, shoved further down the depth chart these days, might not get the same opportunity.

Megill’s quick ascent from minor leaguer we hardly knew to a guy fans were making connections to proclaim him as a potential next Jacob deGrom continues to have some hoping of better days ahead. Megill now seems bumped out of the starting rotation entirely. The 2025 season could have been a chance for Megill to do what Peterson did in 2024. While not completely damaged, the windshield is cracked.