A Richard Lovelady alternative the NY Mets should still have in mind

Richard Lovelady is coming back to the New York Mets, at least for a part of the offseason. Signed to a major league deal, exact details of the contract aren’t known but we can assume there’s a strong chance it’s a split deal. On a split contract, he’d earn a larger salary when in the majors versus in the minors. The benefit of this is it typically pays a player more during their time in the minor leagues, adding some incentive for them to sign.

The Mets have done this a few times. Dylan Covey (who was cut before Opening Day) and Sean Reid-Foley are two recent examples. No scenario exists where Lovelady is actually on the Opening Day roster outside of injury. Bringing him back is purely for depth and not of the satisfying variety.

Lovelady had a 6.30 ERA in 10 innings for the Mets. Now 30 with a 5.35 ERA in his MLB career, it’s difficult to see him figuring things out all of a sudden. In a case of the devil we know versus the one we don’t, fans aren’t wrong for desiring something different. In a similar state as Lovelady right now coming off a bad year but with a strong past, Cionel Perez might’ve been a more intriguing option to carry on the roster.

The Mets can still add some fresh blood to their depth chart with Cionel Perez on a minor league deal

Perez is a hard-throwing lefty who relies on a sinker more than any other pitch. A 4.22 ERA in his big league career but a far worse 8.31 ERA performance last year for the Baltimore Orioles, he falls into the category of “reclamation project” like Lovelady.

Perez has been a heavy ground ball pitcher with a lifetime rate of 55%. In his highly successful 2022 campaign that included a 1.40 ERA in 57.2 innings, it was at 51%. He followed it up with a season of 60.5% ground ball rate in 2023.

A higher than usual home run rate ravaged Perez last year. He gave up 3 in his limited action. He hadn’t given up any at all in 53.2 innings in 2024. More of a contact pitcher than someone who’s going to strike batters out, the danger of failing to miss bats regularly enough seemed to catch up with him in 2025.

His sinker was especially poor. His most-used pitch, batters had a .387 batting average against it in 2025. We can understand why the Mets aren’t in any rush to sign him. But with a more impressive track record than Lovelady, it should be understandable why fans would probably select just about anyone else.

The reunion with Lovelady feels like it might have come down to his high use of the sweeper. A pitcher the Mets coaching staff has urged several of their arms to use regularly, it was tied for his most seen pitch with his sinker. The sweeper was effective with only a .200 batting average against. The 40.5% whiff rate was enough for the Mets to think they can toy with him further.

Like Perez, Lovelady’s sinker got the best of him last year. Maybe it’s worth getting him in here too and seeing if he’s a sweeper away from rectifying his career.