3 NY Mets players from the 2024 Opening Day roster who’ve already signed minor league deals

The 2024 New York Mets will be remembered for a lot of things. The awesomeness of their Opening Day roster isn’t one of them.

This was a team that decided to begin the year with Zack Short and Joey Wendle on the bench. Neither would last very long.

Midseason roster cuts were a big thing for the Mets in their goal to make the playoffs. It turned out to be one of their most effective strategies. Don’t perform, you’re gone. The struggles of several of those players from last year haven’t been ignored in this winter’s free agency. Already, these three who made the 2024 ball club out of camp have been forced to settle on minor league contracts.

1) Adrian Houser

Adrian Houser should’ve been so much better for the Mets last season. His track record suggested he’d, at the very least, be a crafty bullpen piece. That did become true temporarily. Unfortunately, his struggles as a starter re-emerged in relief and the team decided to cut him loose.

Houser finished last year with the Mets 1-5 with a 5.84 ERA. He made 7 mostly miserable starts. He was 0-4 with an 8.55 ERA in those unlucky appearances. He had one more walk than he had strikeout.

Following his July 31 release, Houser made his way to the Chicago Cubs who seemed to pick up every Mets scrap they could get last year. Tomas Nido and Jorge Lopez are a pair who were featured on the MLB roster for a period. Houser never did crack it and would conclude his year in the minors for the Baltimore Orioles.

Pitching remains a premium in Major League Baseball so it’s not a surprise to see someone take a chance on him again. In 2025, it’s the Texas Rangers who decided to bring him in on a minor league contract. As a potential longman out of the bullpen or emergency starter, maybe Houser can find what made him a player David Stearns deemed worthy of last year’s starting rotation.