Mets lefty reliever options: 1 underrated free agent, 1 bold target, 1 trade to make

Last year, the New York Mets had two left-handed pitchers throw at least 30 innings out of the bullpen. One was Danny Young, and the other was Jake Diekman. Diekman is now a free agent after he put up an ERA over 5.50 with the Mets in his age-37 season, while Young put up an ERA of 4.50, albeit with some decent underlying numbers. But that leaves Young as the only lefty reliever currently on the Mets’ 40-man roster.

Luckily, the Mets should have a handful of options to pursue this winter to solve their bullpen’s needs. The free agent and the trade market should allow the Mets to boost their bullpen and add a quality left-handed reliever. So, let’s look at two options on the free agent market, one under-the-radar and one bold option, along with someone they could look to acquire via trade.

1 Underrated Option

Tim Hill’s season can be divided into two very different parts. The first part was with the Chicago White Sox, where he had a 5.87 ERA and 2.22 WHIP. Hill only had an 11% strikeout rate with an 8.5% walk rate but did not allow a single home run. Hill was riddled with bloop hits with a .436 batting average on balls in play despite just an 87.2 MPH exit velocity and 1.1% barrel rate.

The White Sox eventually released Hill in June and would then sign with the New York Yankees. The southpaw went on to put up a 2.05 ERA, 3.62 FIP, and 1.02 WHIP in 44.2 innings while wearing pinstripes. Hill still carried a lowly 10.4% strikeout rate but cut his BB% down significantly to 5.2%. Hill allowed just two home runs with an 88.4 MPH exit velo and 2.1% barrel rate. Hill’s BABIP with the Yankees was significantly lower, clocking in at .238.

Hill is a soft-tosser who uses his ability to induce weak contact to be effective. Baseball Savant had both his groundball rate (68.1%) and his barrel rate (1.7%) in the top 100th percentile of pitchers in 2024. Hill averages out at just 88.7 MPH with his sinker, but he adds a ton of deception with his negative-degree arm angle. At -20 degrees, the only pitcher in baseball with a lower arm angle was SF Giants’ righty Tyler Rogers. But he and Hill are the only pitchers with an arm angle in the negative double-digits.

Hill was also one of the Yankees’ best bullpen arms during their AL Pennant winning run. He pitched 8.1 innings out of the pen and allowed just a single earned run. He struck out three batters, allowed a pair of free passes, and didn’t give up a single barreled-up batted ball during his Postseason run.

Hill is older, as 2025 will be his age-35 campaign. But he did great with the crosstown rival Yankees. His time with the White Sox could arguably be chalked up to a fluke, given his remarkably high BABIP and the fact the Sox likely didn’t provide a good environment for him to thrive. Hill would be a great addition to the Mets’ bullpen.