4 left-handed relievers who could replace Aaron Loup

Jake Diekman

Last but certainly no least, one final free agent southpaw that the Mets should consider bringing in is another former Oakland A, Jake Diekman.

A journeyman reliever, Diekman began his career with our rival Phillies back in 2012 before being traded to the Texas Rangers mid way through the 2015 season. After 3 years in Arlington, he was traded once again, this time to the Diamondbacks at the 2018 deadline.

He his free agency for the first time the following off-season before being picked up by the Kansas City Royals on a 1 year deal, who would go on to trade him to the Oakland Athletics in July of 2019.

Diekman would go on to spend the next 3 seasons as a member of the Oakland A's, and he would go on to have arguably the most successful run of his career.

Over his 10 years in the league, Diekman has a career 3.73 ERA in 456 innings spanning over 529 games between 5 different teams as a reliever.

However, in his time with the Athletics, Diekman posted a 3.25 ERA in 102.1 innings over 116 games. His best year by far came in 2022, where the then 33 year old southpaw posted a 0.42 ERA over 21.1 innings, which was the lowest in his career.

Now that he is once again a free agent and coming off of the best run of his career, Diekman will surely have many suitors pining for his services once the current lockout ends.

However, until it finally does end we can only speculate who the Mets should sign once free agency resumes, but fans can rest easy knowing that when it comes to finding a new left hander to anchor New York's bullpen, the team has plenty of options to chose from.