First Mets free agent signing of the offseason has one big fault

Solid depth move? Eh, we’ve seen better. The MLB offseason officially began on Halloween. One day after the World Series came to a conclusion, the frenzy began with the New York Mets firing a shot and signing free agent Dylan Covey.

After you finish the bottle of wine you popped to celebrate, let’s move on to dissect this signing a little bit further. Another red-bearded pitcher for David Stearns to add to his collection, Covey last pitched in 2023 mainly with the Philadelphia Phillies. While there, he was 1-3 with a 3.69 ERA in 39 innings of work. The ERA was decent, however, Philadelphia used him primarily for mop-up duty. He received a single start for them in his Phillies on May 28 against the Atlanta Braves and exited in the first inning after allowing 7 runs, 5 of them coming earned.

The track record is nothing spectacular. In 20.1 innings last year all in the minors for Philadelphia during a campaign that included some time on the IL, he managed to piece together a 2.66 ERA. A guy on the rise? Think again. He’s 33 and with a lifetime 6.18 ERA in over 300 big league innings, the biggest fault in this deal is that the Mets gave him a major league deal.

Did the Mets really need to give Dylan Covey a major league contract?

We’re all smart enough to understand not every roster addition is going to break the bank or sell jerseys. Every team needs bodies to fill out an organization. Covey is a perfectly fine selection under different circumstances. The MLB deal might be more of a formality to ensure he inked a deal with the Mets. It’s all fine and dandy except for the fact he doesn’t have any minor league options remaining.

Covey is at the point of his career where this unappealing quality would have had most teams only making a minor league offer. The Mets aren’t locked into keeping him although it would be unusual to DFA a player before they pitch a regular season game (majors or minors) months after signing them. Leading up to the 2024 season, there was some thought the Mets could have done exactly that with Michael Tonkin. 

This isn’t an unusual way to begin the offseason. It’s just a bit puzzling to see the Mets feel obligated to give a 33-year-old who hasn’t done much in the big leagues a major league deal when he cannot be optioned to the minors either. It seems inevitable for Covey to end up in a similar situation as Tonkin or Yohan Ramirez last year where there is no room for error before dismissal. Will his spring training performance be enough to make a decision? An outcome of him grinding it out in Syracuse first is much more appealing.

The Mets did nothing wrong by searching high and low for bullpen arms. But if you’re going to spin this as a genius addition, you’ve drank too much of the David Stearns Kool-Aid. He could smear leftover Halloween candy on your bedsheets and convince you it’s art.