Who is the latest NY Mets roster addition in their growing bullpen militia?

While we await a breaking point for one side of the ongoing negotiations between Pete Alonso and the New York Mets, the team made their first roster move in several weeks on Wednesday.

No, they didn’t pull off the miracle of trading for Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Nor did they stun us all by signing a starting pitcher. The team wasn’t even able to come to terms with a veteran reliever sure to improve the bullpen. The latest Mets roster addition was a small one, claiming oft-injured pitcher Austin Warren off of waivers from the San Francisco Giants.

It’s not a move that’ll defeat a well-trained infantry. Warren is a member of the Mets bullpen militia who, with a remaining minor league option available, will have his chance to compete alongside the likes of several others we’d expect to begin the year in the minors while rotating through the circuit between Syracuse and Flushing.

Austin Warren is kind of like another waiver claim from earlier in the offseason

When a move as minor as this takes place, it’s easy to not really have much thoughts on it. Warren turns 29 next month and with only 48.2 innings of MLB experience is behind many of his peers.

He has been an excellent run-preventer at times in his limited career. A 1.77 ERA in 20.1 innings in his MLB debut season back in 2021 for the Los Angeles Angels stands out. An inflated 5.63 ERA performance the following season in 16 innings of work washed away a promising beginning.

He’s kind of like Kevin Herget whom the Mets added via waivers back in November from the Milwaukee Brewers. Older by several years yet with about the same amount of playing experience, his 1.59 ERA in 11.1 innings last year is what makes him most intriguing. He was excellent in Triple-A as well, pitching to a 2.27 ERA in 47.2 innings of work. He did so with a 2.1 per 9 walk rate and equally as excellent 11.1 strikeouts per 9.

Warren is coming off a year where he logged only 10.2 innings but again showed promising signs in the ERA department. A 1.69 ERA for the Giants last year might have been the result of Warren doing what he did back in 2021, getting groundballs.

In the two successful stints in MLB, Warren had a groundball rate over 50%. In his shaky sophomore season it fell to 35.7%. His slider has been his most used pitch in all four major league stints. He’d definitely be one of those candidates to toy with and see if developing a sweeper can assist in his evolution. His sinker hasn’t gotten the job done. Batters hit .444 against it in 2022 when he was rocked often. Last year, they batted .273 which was an improvement yet a smaller sample.

The addition of Warren pushes the Mets 40-man roster up to 38. They haven’t had to toss anyone aside yet, but with more moves on the horizon of a larger scale, expect some casualties on the way.