The non-tender deadline of 8 p.m. ET on Friday has officially passed, and many players across the league who were eligible for arbitration were not tendered guaranteed contracts for the 2025 season and became free agents. The New York Mets, who have some holes on the roster to fill, could be a big beneficiary of this non-tender wave of 30 arbitration-eligible players.
The Mets themselves announced on Friday that David Peterson, Paul Blackburn, Tyrone Taylor, Tylor Megill, Luis Torrens, and the recently-acquired Jose Siri were tendered contracts for 2025, while they signed Sean Reid-Foley to a contract to avoid arbitration, while they non-tendered Grant Hartwig, Alex Young, and Alex Ramirez.
1) Jordan Romano, RP
This was arguably the most notable name to be non-tendered on Friday. The Blue Jays chose not to give two-time All-Star reliever Jordan Romano a contract for the 2025 season after pitching in just 15 games this season due to elbow injuries after being overused. Romano had spent his entire career in his native country's MLB team and was instrumental in leading them to back-to-back postseason appearances in 2022 and 2023. His season-ending injury in May triggered the downfall of the Blue Jays and them finishing 14 games under .500.
Romano, when healthy, is one of the most electrifying relievers in the game, as he registered 11.2 strikeouts per nine innings, and a 2.90 ERA in 229.2 innings over his six years in Toronto. He averaged 96.4 mph on his fastball and 86.4 mph on what is a nasty slider last season in limited action. His ERA in 2024 was 6.59, but that won't deter many teams that would take a chance on him.
Romano would instantly become the set-up man for the Mets for Edwin Diaz should the Mets add him this offseason. and create a dynamic 1-2 punch in the back end of the Mets bullpen.