4) Shintaro Fujinami
This is an easily forgotten free agent signing because Shintaro Fujinami never played an inning in the major leagues for the Mets. They paid him $3.35 million to toil away in Triple-A and walk a small army. DFA’d midseason but remaining in Syracuse, his struggles to throw strikes is what led the Mets to avoid calling him up at any point.
In 32.1 innings, Fujinami had 33 walks and 38 strikeouts. He improved as the season went along but the 6.68 ERA on the season in a year where they were trying to compete was too daunting to make him relevant. The signing wasn’t nearly the most expensive or detrimental to the Mets in the Steve Cohen era. This is a bust of a different kind.
Heading into the season, Jeremy Hefner saw Fujinami as someone with All-Star closer potential. He never came anywhere close to it in North America. After some time with the Seattle Mariners in Triple-A in 2025, he went back to Japan.
A worthwhile attempt to steal a player in free agency believed capable of offering more, it doesn’t save Fujinami from making this list. He’s nowhere near the Jed Lowrie punchline. Nevertheless, any list of bad free agents involving the Mets since 2021 needs to include him.
