Former Braves player can round off the NY Mets bullpen at a bargain rate

The New York Mets have about three bullpen spots to fill. Closer is at the top of the list. A high-leverage right-handed reliever is another. Finally, there’s the least expensive of all. In place of a player like Reed Garrett, the Mets have a vacancy for those middle innings. Someone who can get them through the fifth or sixth, whether winning or losing, is a necessary addition. At a bargain rate, they can look at the list of Atlanta Braves roster cuts to find a solution.

Tyler Kinney joined the Braves last July via trade with the Colorado Rockies. They chose not to pick up his $5 million option for 2026, setting him free after posting a 0.72 ERA in 25 innings. It was a big difference from the results he had in several seasons in Colorado where Kinley was regularly getting beaten to a pulp. Two seasons with an ERA over 6.00 in Denver, he seems like a candidate to have a career-year for a team in a more pitcher-friendly ballpark.

Tyler Kinley could be a Mets steal in free agency

Projected to earn $2.8 million on a one-year deal, we can probably round this up to about $3 million to get him to sign quicker. He’s one of those guys teams may simply pass on just because they would prefer to have a more flexible roster spot. For the Mets, who should have other places to shuttle players back and forth from the majors to the minors, there’s little doubt they can find room for Kinley to be their low-risk, high-reward reliever for the coming year.

A hallmark of David Stearns’ first two offseasons for the Mets, he has coveted players of this ilk before. He took a chance on Michael Tonkin and Jorge Lopez on low contracts in year one. He upped the ante with a deal with Ryne Stanek last winter that bought into potential high-leverage innings. Kinely is better than Tonkin and Lopez and quite possibly even Stanek.

What makes Kinley especially intriguing is where he ranks among free agent pitchers in two specific categories. His 29.6% hard-hit rate was second to only Caleb Ferguson this past year. His 31.2% whiff rate ranked 9th, just ahead of Luke Weaver and Raisel Iglesias.

An ineffective fastball over the past two seasons has done most of the damage. His slider has been the most used pitch of all with fantastic results. Hitters batted .200 against it in 2024. They were a few points under this past year.

There are a lot of satisfying moves Stearns could make to please fans. For the POBO, successfully finding a player like Kinley on a bargain contract will be most pleasing.