$3.35 million NY Mets free agent bust signs a new contract

Baseball fans were busy watching the All-Star Game while a familiar name to New York Mets fans was busy finding a new employer. Back on February 14, 2024, the Mets were finalizing a roster full of risky pitching moves. It was an introduction to David Stearns that had many doubting him. Things worked out pretty well with many of his gambles. Not all of them were a roaring success.

Shintaro Fujinami signed with the Mets on that mid-February day with the same hype he surely had when he inked a deal the year prior with the Oakland Athletics. He ended up pitching to an 8.57 ERA for them in 49.1 innings of work. He’d finish up with the Baltimore Orioles looking better but still possessing a 4.85 ERA in 30 relief appearances.

Hoping for a different result and taking advantage of his minor league options, the Mets gave Fujinami a $3.35 million offer he couldn’t refuse. The rest is easy to forget because of how badly it began and how quickly he left the picture as a depth option.

Shintaro Fujinami has a new deal and for his sake hopefully not the same control issues

Fujinami ended up sent down to Triple-A before the season began. While in Syracuse, he pitched to a 6.68 ERA. Walks were his problem. He issued 33 of them in 32.1 innings. It was unacceptably outrageous for someone with as many years of high-level experience in Japan. His home country is where he’ll play next with an announced deal to sign with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars.

Since leaving the Mets organization, Fujinami has appeared in both the Puerto Rican Winter League as a starter (pitching to a 3.05 ERA) and with the Seattle Mariners in Triple-A back as a reliever. The more recent of the two, the trip to Tacoma to represent the M’s, hasn’t been as good. A 5.79 ERA in 18.2 innings has included a horrific 12.5 BB/9 rate with 26 of them in such a short sample. The Mariners released him in mid-June, realizing those command issues were too much to bear.

Praise for Fujinami was high when he joined the Mets. Jeremy Hefner said he had All-Star closer potential.

Something about a box of chocolates and never knowing what you’re going to get—Fujinami is a perfect example of how one weakness, in this case walks, can damage a career. Fujinami has tamed walks in the past over in Japan. We wish him luck to do the same again.