NY Mets Monday Morning GM: An overlooked free agent success story

Three themes ran through the New York Mets offseason. Juan Soto, Pete Alonso, and gambles on starting pitchers. Two of the three worked out pretty well. The other is incomplete but mostly more bad than good. With Jose Iglesias fresh in our minds from how he joined the Mets in December of 2023 on a minor league deal, fans were eager to see who’d get pulled into the fray this season and possibly help repeat the kind of magic we saw in 2024.

There is no exact way to mimic the Iglesias firestorm. However, one veteran has tried.

Signed on October 31, 2024, Chris Devenski was too irresistible to the Mets to wait any longer to unite with. A minor league deal for the longtime MLB veteran had him registering as depth with a potential DFA on the way soon after. Because Devenski has played kindly by accepting minor league assignments, he has been able to stick around and even was willing to re-sign with the ball club following a brief stint in free agency at the end of July.

Chris Devenski has been one of the most reliable arms in the Mets bullpen this season and no one seems to care

His 12 games and 15.2 innings has resulted in a 2.30 ERA which has hardly been the result of nothing but luck. An average exit velocity of 84.1 mph and hard hit percentage of 31.7%, soft contact has been a strength. His brilliant 0.83 WHIP has left first base feeling very alone. Nobody is getting on base against him.

An experienced but not effective postseason pitcher who was a part of the 2017 Houston Astros, Devenski isn’t a veteran who should be judged by anything from his past. His best seasons were as a rookie and sophomore in 2016 and 2017. From 2018-2024, he pitched to a much more unsatisfactory 5.42 ERA. His 2024 season stint with the Tampa Bay Rays had him pitching to an ERA of nearly 7.00. In a short sample the year prior, he performed much better with 2 earned runs in 8.2 frames.

It took the Mets until July to use Devenski regularly. 7 of his 12 appearances happened in that month. Utilized at least once in all 9 innings, the only thing missing for his season is significant high-leverage chances. His splits have him with only 5 batters faced in what would qualify as high-leverage. Despite the results, the Mets have been hesitant to upgrade him or even keep him around often.

The Mets will have a few ways to handle a potential playoff roster. Do they load up the bullpen with their starters or have an underperformer brushed aside in favor of someone like Devenski? He has earned more than his dozen games. But with the way pitching staffs are handled, he has been the all-too-regular victim of a demotion.