3 internal candidates to replace Trevor Williams as the long man next season

Trevor Williams has been an enjoyable part of this year’s New York Mets team. Flipping between the bullpen and rotation all season has helped them in a lot of ways.

Williams is, however, a free agent after this season. The Mets could re-sign him and try to see if he can be just as good in the future. Or they could try to find the same success with someone else.

Wouldn’t you know, the Mets have a couple of internal candidates who could already be in line to have a similar to-do list as Williams has been handed this year.

1) NY Mets candidate to replace Trevor Williams next season: Tylor Megill

Exactly where does Tylor Megill fit into the Mets’ plans for next year? The team’s rotation for 2023 is completely unpredictable. The only guy not headed to free agency or with an option or opt-out is Max Scherzer.

Megill would be a candidate to take on a role in the rotation. He could also be someone the Mets view as a long man to try to replicate what Williams was able to do. How he is able to perform for them in late 2022 out of the bullpen could factor into any future spots he takes on the roster.

There are benefits to putting Megill in a role like this. It limits his innings, keeps him in the major leagues, and likely means the Mets have better options ahead of him on the starting pitcher depth chart. The only reason Megill didn’t begin this season in the minor leagues was because Jacob deGrom was hurt to start things off.

Next season will be Megill’s third in the big leagues so the Mets might want to push him a little harder to eat up the number of frames veterans typically will. We should expect the Mets to have only one roster spot available in the rotation for a player with Megill’s lack of experience. If it’s not him, a long man and emergency starter job could be ideal.