Biggest Mets free agent bust of 2024 elects to free agency again

Where did the New York Mets whiff the biggest in free agent last offseason? Was it Michael Tonkin who didn’t even get through April? Was the endless ineffectiveness of Jake Diekman where they missed the mark the most?  Easily the biggest bust of all was a player who failed to appear in a single major league game.

The MLB offseason includes several layers, one of which involves players who were outrighted off of the 40-man roster but didn’t have enough service time or previous outrights to reach free agency. The Mets had a player on their 40-man roster to begin the season who ended up filling in this description. Shintaro Fujinami officially became a free agent.

The Shintaro Fujinami experiment is over for the Mets

The Mets were hoping Fujinami’s failures as a MLB rookie in 2023 were something they could fix. A dastardly 8.57 ERA with the Oakland Athletics and a much improved yet still sour 4.85 ERA performance for the Baltimore Orioles made him a questionable call to add altogether. But because they had minor league options available with him, there was little to complain about.

Fujimami signed a one-year deal worth $3.35 million to join the Mets and battle for some innings as a reliever. A wild spring training had him as a somewhat early roster cut. He’d get a chance to work on things in the minor leagues.

Fujinami did plenty of work. It was too little, too late for him to ever become any kind of contributor for the Mets. 

August was a terrific month for him, tossing 12 innings and striking out 14 while walking only 4. He continued to pitch with better control in September, but a 7.88 ERA in the final month helped keep him out of the conversation as an option for the major league club.

It was a horrendous April which sidetracked Fujinami most. He gave up 10 earned runs (3 more unearned) in only 4.2 innings. A whopping 10 walks allowed plus 2 hit batters contributed to the mayhem. In 32.1 innings in Triple-A, Fujinami had a 6.68 ERA with 33 walks.

The Mets were willing to give Fujinami a major league deal last offseason. Would someone else be willing to repeat the mistake? He does have minor league options left. Outside of him eating up a 40-man roster spot, there isn’t any sort of major negative to it unless you’re tapped for time.

Praised for his high potential when the Mets brought him in last offseason, the Fujinami excitement extinguished quickly.