Former Braves reliever cut by the Yankees isn't worth a NY Mets minor league deal

If the New York Mets want to improve their long reliever position, they're going to have to either make a free agent signing or make a trade for someone reliable. At the moment, they have a big hole in that area of the bullpen, which has struggled a bit as of late. Although it would be ideal for the team to acquire someone who's well-suitable for that hole, they should be careful of who to sign. One of the available long relievers is Tyler Matzek, who isn't worth bringing in on a minor league deal.

Why Mets shouldn't sign Tyler Matzek to a minor league deal

It's been a bit of an up-and-down baseball career for Matzek, who was just cut from the New York Yankees. The 34-year-old former Atlanta Braves phenomenon lefty reliever has an injury history that essentially caused him to not be the same player he was in his early stages. As much as he was successful with the Braves from 2020-2022, including helping them in their 2021 World Series victory, the Mets should note his elbow and shoulder injuries have plagued him a lot to the point where he had Tommy John surgery in 2022.

Since the surgery, Matzek's statistics are fairly questionable. After missing the 2023 season because of the surgery, he put up a 9.90 ERA in 11 games with the Braves in 2024, followed by seven games with the Yankees this season with an ERA of 4.26. What's concerning about him now is that he has been having a hard time keeping runners off base. With the Yankees, he allowed at least one baserunner via a hit in all but one game.

In comparison to Matzek's recent pre-surgery ERAs, he was able to keep it below four from 2020-2022. Clearly, there is a change in his ability and potential, which is the lack of dominance and effectiveness since the surgery.

If Matzek ends up in the Mets farm system, it would be unknown if they would call him up at some point or recall someone like Dedniel Nuñez, who the team recently sent back to the minor leagues and is a solid reliever. However, because of injuries causing inconsistency on the mound as of late, the team may be better off not signing Matzek to a minor league deal.