Frequent NY Mets trade partner of the last year now looking at one of our free agents

If MLB teams could skip through a field holding each other’s hands, the New York Mets would have their fingers locked with the Boston Red Sox. The two teams have made multiple trades during the David Stearns era. Many were of the smaller variety. The most impactful was the one that sent Rule 5 Draft pick Justin Slaten to Boston for a prospect.

It does seem like the Mets and Red Sox have a good relationship. Comparing the two rosters, their plan for 2025 also matches when it comes to pitching. Their pitching includes multiple targets of the Mets over the last two seasons. They’ve approached things in a similar manner and may now be on the hunt to take a free agent reliever the Mets declined their option on for the coming year, Phil Maton.

Boston has already added Aroldis Chapman and Justin Wilson. Chris Martin won’t be coming back. Eager for at least one more bullpen piece, Maton is on the long list of free agent bullpen arms they’ve reportedly “checked in on.”

Mets free agent Phil Maton is beginning to gain some attention

The relief pitcher market has moved slowly this offseason. Some have signed, but those top-level closers remain MLB nomads with no deal in place. Maton is on the next level down. He’s not a closer. Some may not even view him as a good enough high-leverage reliever.

The Mets managed to get the most of Maton last year when he delivered a 2.51 ERA in 28.2 innings of work. The regular season performance was even better than those numbers suggest. His 0.83 WHIP had us wondering where he had been all of our lives.

In 31 appearances, only 6 included any earned runs crossing the plate. Two in September, including his final outing against the Atlanta Braves, had a pair doing any sort of damage to his ERA. Maton was a smart decision to add in early July before the trade deadline frenzy began. The Mets bought into a guy struggling on the Tampa Bay Rays roster. A guy whose whole career has included a reliance on soft-contact, he dropped it down to 28.8% from the 36.4% he had as a member of the Rays. His walks more than halved. His strikeouts went from 19.7% up to 26.5%.

There are certain teams around the league who have a reputation for getting the most out of pitchers. The Rays are one of them and the Mets do seem to gravitate toward any of their available arms. He didn’t do so well for Tampa Bay and until his last regular season outing followed by a rough postseason, bringing him back felt like a must for the Mets.

It will be interesting to see if Maton can get more than the $7.75 million option he had for this coming year that was bought out for $250K. A shrewd baseball mind, Stearns probably wouldn’t be opposed to a return at a price point more within range of what he thinks Maton is worth.