1 clear NY Mets roster upgrade, 1 likely downgrade, 1 strong push from last year

Push: Griffin Canning from Adrian Houser

The exact role Griffin Canning will have with the Mets seems undefined. He has been a starter previously, but with six other starting pitchers on the roster, he seems more likely to find his spot in the bullpen with the purpose of becoming a starter only if absolutely necessary. It’s a far less bold plan than what they have for Holmes who is doing the opposite. Canning has been a below-average pitcher trying to become a good reliever—or so we can surmise.

Canning feels a lot more like this year’s Adrian Houser with the exception being that the latter actually had several good years in the past. Houser just happened to, for whatever reason, turn into a pumpkin with the Mets. He was a decent relief pitcher once they eliminated him from the rotation. Decent isn’t good enough. And with the club’s roster filling up, they decided to part with him in favor of high-leverage arms rather than a player used mostly for mopping up.

Theoretically, going from a starter to a reliever should yield better results than the opposite. In his career, batters haven’t hit much different based on the time facing him. The first time through they’ve hit .243/.317/.447. The second time they’re slightly better at .263/.331/.460. Finally, when seeing Canning for a third time, hitters have slashed .253/.318/.423.

As a starter, I’d expect Canning to look similar to the results Houser gave us last year. As a reliever, maybe he is significantly better.