3 most realistic Mets relief pitcher options to finish off their bullpen rebuild

The New York Mets made their first big bullpen addition of the offseason, re-signing Adam Ottavino on a one-year deal. Ottavino at just $4.5 million is a bargain even despite his uneven season in 2023, and should provide a big boost to a bullpen that needed it.

The Mets have a solid late-game trio now consisting of Ottavino, Brooks Raley, and Edwin Diaz, but they need more if they want to compete for a Wild Card spot. Adding one more reliever should be paramount, and any of these three would make sense financially.

1) Wandy Peralta

Wandy Peralta would fit the mold of former Yankees coming to Flushing this offseason, as the Mets already hired Carlos Mendoza to manage and signed Harrison Bader and Luis Severino to one-year deals. Peralta is not as big of a name as Bader or Severino, but he'd arguably be the most impactful signing of the three.

The southpaw has spent parts of each of the last three seasons with the Yankees and has posted sub-3.00 ERA's in each season. This past season he posted a 2.83 ERA in 63 starts and 54 innings of work.

What makes Peralta such an intriguing target for the Mets is his ability to get left-handed hitters out. Lefties posted a .483 OPS against Peralta this past season and have a .638 against him in his career. While Brooks Raley proved to be a very solid left-handed reliever for the Mets this past season, he fared much better against righties than lefties.

The Mets need a pitcher they can rely on to get left-handed mashers like Matt Olson and Bryce Harper out in big moments, and Peralta can be that guy. The Mets can use a second lefty to come out of their bullpen, and Peralta is easily the best one available with pitchers like Josh Hader and Matt Moore off the board.

2) Ryne Stanek

Ryne Stanek doesn't get major recognition for the job he's done out of the Astros bullpen in each of the last three seasons but he's been key forming the bridge to closer Ryan Pressly. The Mets could use another arm to help form their bridge to Edwin Diaz, and Stanek would fit in seamlessly.

The right-hander has appeared in 186 games in the last three seasons for Houston, posting a 2.89 ERA in that stretch. That'll work! He's made at least 55 appearances and has thrown at least 50 innings in each of those seasons, proving to be a very reliable arm.

This past season was a bit of a down year for Stanek who posted a 4.09 ERA in 55 appearances and 50.2 innings of work but he posted his lowest walk rate since 2019 and while his strikeouts took a bit of a dip, he was still fanning hitters at an above-average clip, thanks to a 23.9% K-rate.

Stanek is 32 years old which isn't young, but is also six years younger than Ottavino giving them a pitcher they can potentially keep around for more than just the one season at a semi-reasonable price. The Mets will undoubtedly face a lot of competition for his services, but with their obvious need for another bullpen arm it's very possible they end up with him.

3) Phil Maton

Phil Maton was nothing more than a journeyman for the first five years of his career but broke out in 2022 with Houston and followed that up with an even better 2023 campaign before hitting free agency for the first time at age 30.

Maton posted a 3.00 ERA in 68 appearances and 66 innings pitched, pitching in all sorts of situations for the Astros. He'd work early in games if there was a need and also got key outs late in games to help his team win.

The right-hander is nowhere near a hard thrower as he averaged just 89 mph with his four-seam fastball this past season, but he still struck out over ten batters per nine and avoided hard contact at an elite rate. Maton ranked in the 100th percentile in hard-hit rate and the 99th percentile in average exit velocity according to Baseball Savant. Soft contact hit at a much-improved defense should translate to outs at an efficient rate.

Maton's age might get him more than one year in free agency which could scare the Mets away (it shouldn't) but the AAV should be reasonable enough to keep them in discussions with him. Maton being as versatile as he's shown to be in Houston could be a real weapon for New York if they were to get him.