Minor league fliers aren’t exclusive to the New York Mets. Every team makes them. Most fail to work out no matter how hard they try. It’s rare you find a Jose Iglesias.
Unfortunately, even when we ignore injuries which’ll be the case here, the Mets had multiple free agent fliers that became disastrous additions. All five of these players the Mets took a chance on with a minor league contract turned out to be exactly what the rest of the league knew they were: not very good.
Honorary mentions go to Mike Tauchman who has been hurt all year and Craig Kimbrel who, while not very good with the Mets, wasn't a complete disaster. These other deals were far worse.
Five biggest failed Mets minor league free agent fliers
1) Tommy Pham
How were we ever excited about this one? Tommy Pham signed a minor league deal with the Mets on March 27th. He’d end up 0 for 13 with a walk and 7 strikeouts in the big leagues. It wasn’t for a lack of hard work. Apparently, Pham caught whatever bug was destroying the team. The fact that he couldn’t even survive much after their 12-game losing streak shows how little faith they had in him turning things around. He has since parked himself in the minors with the Baltimore Orioles and currently with the Philadelphia Phillies. He hit .197 with Baltimore’s Triple-A team and came into this week hitting .118 with Philly’s Triple-A squad.
2) Adbert Alzolay
The Mets recently cut bait with Adbert Alzolay after a full year of rehab in 2025. Just a 10.38 ERA in 8.2 innings with Syracuse, it was becoming clear Alzolay didn’t have much of a place within the organization. He was meant to be a midseason call-up to help them in a playoff run. Shaky since returning from Tommy John surgery, he’ll look to catch on elsewhere and work his way back to the majors.
3) Jackson Cluff
During the uncertainty of whether or not Francisco Lindor would be ready for Opening Day, Jackson Cluff was one of the players regarded as a candidate to make the club. He didn’t and it’s probably for the best because his Triple-A performance hasn’t amazed. Batting .169 through 269 trips to the plate, he would have played even less than Vidal Brujan did during his underwhelming Mets stint. Before a recent placement on the IL, he had only a .598 OPS.
4) Luke Jackson
From one Jackson to another, the Luke Jackson experience wasn’t much better. Although seasoned in the majors, the veteran righty did very little in his short Syracuse stint to suggest he deserved big league innings for the Mets. 4 innings and 6 earned runs on only 2 hits, walks were his issue. He had 7 of them! He left the Mets organization with an outrageous 11.57 ERA.
5) Grae Kessinger
Another one of the minor league fliers taken on infielders without an impressive track record, Grae Kessinger was a failed Mets experiment. His .151 batting average and .506 OPS makes Cluff look like the second-coming of…take your pick of any average hitting infielder. Kessinger has already been released, putting an end to any possibility of him becoming an aggravating Zack Short replica.
