3 Mets who will outperform the player they replaced on the roster

The New York Mets had a very busy offseason trying to improve a team that just won 101 games but lost in the Wild Card round. While many make the argument that the Mets haven't improved, I'd argue otherwise. A big reason for that is because of these three players who will be better than the players that they were brought in to replace.

1) Brooks Raley will be the reliable left-handed reliever the Mets missed last season.

The Mets broke camp with a bullpen that did not have a good enough left-handed reliever. Aaron Loup was elite in 2021 but signed with the Angels that offseason. The Mets replaced him by signing Chasen Shreve to a minor league deal and trading Miguel Castro for Joely Rodriguez. It's safe to say both moves did not pan out the way Billy Eppler hoped.

Shreve posted a 6.49 ERA in 25 appearances for the Mets in 2022 before being DFA'd in early July. Shreve was supposed to be a good option as a second lefty but he was unusable.

Joely Rodriguez was supposed to be the main left-handed reliever who could also get righties out. He only allowed three home runs in 50.1 innings pitched but walked 4.6 batters per nine and was not trustworthy enough to be used late in games. I think Rodriguez did get pretty unlucky as shown by his 3.23 FIP, but he also wasn't the lockdown reliever the Mets needed him to be.

Brooks Raley on the other hand, was exactly that last season pitching for the Rays. Raley posted a 2.68 ERA in 60 appearances and 53.2 innings pitched. He held lefties to a .155/.200/.282 slash line in 76 plate appearances. This was nothing new for Raley as he's held left-handed hitters to a .171/.237/.254 slash line in his career.

Raley is a guy who can be trusted to get left-handed hitters like Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper, and Matt Olson out late in any given game. He should be a big piece to a much-improved Mets bullpen.