3 Mets pitchers who could compete for the Seth Lugo role in 2023

The days of Seth Lugo saving the day for the New York Mets out of the bullpen may reach its finale in 2022. He’s a free agent after this coming season. And if he feels enough bitterness about not getting more shots to start, fleeing Queens is very likely.

We don’t have to worry about that quite yet. There’s still a whole 2022 season—hopefully.

If Lugo does leave, the Mets could look at these three pitchers to possibly take on the niche he created for himself out of the bullpen for the last few seasons.

Mets pitcher Sean Reid-Foley is the favorite to possibly replace Seth Lugo

We saw, in limited action, what Sean Reid-Foley can do against big league hitters. Once a starter in the minor leagues with the Toronto Blue Jays, the Mets asked him to pitch for them in relief last year.

Reid-Foley had some initial success but hitters seemed to figure him out. He’d deliver a 5.23 ERA in 20.2 innings of work across 12 total appearances.

Particularly early on, SRF was taking the mound for more than an inning at a time. He debuted with three shutout frames against the Chicago Cubs. His first win came in another three-inning shutout performance. This time it was versus the Atlanta Braves.

The small big league sample size shouldn’t detour us from believing Reid-Foley can have some success over a longer period of time. The ability to pitch multiple innings in relief should not be underestimated. It is a weapon for any big league bullpen to have. The Mets have been fortunate to call upon Lugo for this duty many times over the recent years.

The coming season will be a big one for Reid-Foley. The Mets have a lot of openings in their bullpen coming up. If he can keep his control in check, he has a shot to do much more than mop-up games.