NY Mets pass over a Yankees free agent they had rumored interest in last winter

Can a New York Yankees free agent go into the open market without the New York Mets making them an offer? The theme of many offseason transactions, it appears there are players who suited up for the Yankees who can go untouched by the Mets after all even when the contract is completely reasonable.

Last offseason, aside from Juan Soto, the Mets were interested in Jonathan Loaisiga. “Johnny Lasagna” as he became known was a successful Yankees reliever for several years. He ended up back with the Yankees for $5 million after an almost completely lost 2024 campaign where he logged only 4 innings.

Staying healthy has been a bit of a problem for Loaisiga. It helps explain one of the reasons why a minor league contract is what he’ll receive this winter. And it won’t be coming from the Mets.

The Mets didn’t revisit, or at least secure, a deal with Jonathan Loaisiga

No one is losing sleep over not signing Loaisiga. A good arm with MLB experience who has handled New York, it would have been a natural fit to get stashed in Syracuse until needed. The Mets have already added several experienced big league arms to the depth chart, most of whom are guys with a poor history of staying healthy. Not many have the extensive experience Loaisiga does, though.

It would have been a very appropriate signing to bring in a surer option for the depth chart, but we always have to consider the other side of things. Looking at the stacked Mets depth chart full of other pitching options, Loaisiga has a much clearer path to the majors elsewhere. The incredibly active Arizona Diamondbacks were the winners in the scratch-off sweepstakes for him.

A heavy ground ball pitcher with career numbers at 54.4%, he’s coming off of a “sound the alarms” type of season. Although his 4.25 ERA isn’t horrible, he had a .281 batting average against and 7 home runs allowed in only 29.2 innings.

There’s still at least one spot on the Mets major league roster where they could afford to add another reliever. Loaisiga wasn’t going to be it after the year he had. Did the Mets consider him? The Mets have circled back to previous targets. Ryne Stanek was a name mentioned prior to 2024 and Nick Pivetta is someone they had interest in last offseason and continues to be a match, this time via trade.