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.

3) Jose Quintana should be good for the entire 2023 season

The Mets signed Jose Quintana to a two-year $26 million dollar deal which for how much pitchers received, is a steal of a deal. Taijuan Walker for example got four-years $72 million dollars from the Phillies. A gross overpay.

Quintana looked like he was just about done after really struggling in 2021 with the Angels and Giants. To my surprise, he looked like the Quintana from back in his White Sox days and had an unbelievable season splitting time with the Pirates and Cardinals.

Quintana had a 2.93 ERA and a 2.99 FIP this past season. He allowed just eight home runs in 165.2 innings pitched. His 0.4 HR/9 led the National League. Part of this can be attributed to playing in a weak NL Central, but a HR/9 that low can't be a total fluke.

Quintana made all 32 of his starts and qualified for the ERA title. Taijuan Walker has thrown at least 162 innings just once in his career.

In his two seasons in Queens, Walker was a completely different pitcher in the first half than he was in the second half. First half Taijuan Walker is an all-star. He made the all-star team in 2021 after posting a 2.66 ERA. He was an all-star snub this season after pitching to a 2.55 first-half ERA.

Walker's second halves are completely different. His first season in Queens saw him post a disastrous 7.13 ERA in 13 starts. This season he was better, but his 4.80 ERA was very different from the first half number. With the postseason coming in the second half, that doesn't make me feel very comfortable with Walker doing anything productive when the Mets truly need him to.

Quintana was solid in the first half with a 3.99 ERA. He really dialed in after the all-star break and posted a 1.67 ERA. Do I expect that again? No, but Quintana showed that he doesn't run out of gas after the all-star break like Walker. Quintana even gave the Cardinals 5.1 scoreless innings against a red-hot Phillies lineup in the postseason.

I don't expect Quintana to be as good as he was in 2022. I do however, expect him to be better than Taijuan Walker, particularly in the second half, in 2023.