Two of the best NY Mets chess pieces out of the bullpen may be interchangeable

Bullpens are supposed to have labels. Closer. Setup man. Lefty specialist. Nice, neat little boxes managers can point to when the game calls for them. The New York Mets have a couple of arms capable of handling far more than one box on that chart. They are not locked into one inning, one pocket of hitters, or even a clean start to a frame. Instead, they are built more like Swiss Army knives with a pulse.

Some nights, the game will demand a move no bullpen pre-game chart can predict. Sixth inning jam with two on and one out. Seventh inning, heart of the order, one swing from trouble. Tenth inning, ghost runner parked on second and zero room for a mistake. That is when roles don’t matter, and getting outs is the only currency. Two relievers on this roster have shown they can collect them against anyone.

Luke Weaver and Brooks Raley are built as Mendoza’s ultimate leverage weapons

Brooks Raley did not just return from Tommy John surgery in 2024. He returned and became one of the steadier arms in the Mets' bullpen almost immediately. Most of his work came in the seventh inning, but he recorded at least one out in every inning from the third through the ninth. That kind of usage is not accidental. It shows he can enter a game whenever needed and get settled without a runway.

In high leverage situations, hitters managed just a .182 batting average and a .227 slugging percentage against him. Right-handed hitters hit .177. Lefties hit .103. That balance is what makes him more than a situational arm. Add in barrel rate, exit velocity, and hard hit numbers that have ranked near the top of the league during his time with the Mets, and Mendoza is not playing matchups. He is playing trust.

Weaver offers the same freedom with a different look. His so called “down” year with the Yankees still ended at a 3.62 ERA, hardly a collapse after a stellar 2024. Even during a rough stretch last season, he was steady when the leverage climbed. In those spots, he held hitters to a .200 batting average with a .411 slugging percentage. The year before, it was almost unfair, a .118 batting average and a .118 slugging percentage against him.

The splits tell the rest of the story. He held right-handed batters to a .216 average with a .378 slugging percentage, and lefties to .176 with a .352 slugging percentage. Those marks were even lower than the previous season. Add strikeout, whiff, and chase rates that rank in the top 20 percent of MLB, and he becomes the kind of reliever you do not need to hide from any part of a lineup.

That is why Weaver and Raley are Mendoza’s ultimate chess pieces. They get outs against righties, lefties, in high leverage and with traffic on base. All Mendoza has to do is reach for the bullpen phone and call either number.