3 early NY Mets minor free signings that will matter most in 2025

3) Brandon Waddell

The Mets' scouting department must have seen something while looking at the Doosan Bears as they added yet another player who found success in Korea inking Brandon Waddell, 30, to a minor league deal.

Waddell, just by nature of being a southpaw, adds value to the Mets as the pitching staff is comprised almost entirely of righties with only starter David Peterson and reliever Danny Young serving as left-handed options. Most of the depth at AAA is also right-handed, limiting the Mets' options to match up and shuttle arms back and forth to keep everyone fresh.

Waddle only has 11 appearances spanning 12.2 very poor innings at the Major League level. He owns a career ERA of 5.37 in AAA over the course of 186 innings spread over four seasons. Nothing about these numbers is remarkable.

However, he left the US for greener pastures abroad during the 2022 season. While he was primarily a reliever in the Minors, he reinvented himself as a starting pitcher in Korea where he pitched to a 2.98 ERA while making 43 starts across the better part of the last three seasons.

While the same caveat that applied to his Doosan Bears teammate Jared Young regarding the level of competition in Korea also applies to Waddell, it's hard to deny that his success over there isn't intriguing, especially considering the relatively large sample.

At the end of the day, the Mets will get a chance to see if he unlocked something during his years in Asia, and at the very least, have acquired an arm with the versatility to eat some innings either as a spot-starter or reliever while throwing from the left side where options are scarce.

None of these moves are splashy, but there's a good possibility that one if not more of these players will end up playing a valuable role for the Amazins' in 2025.