Club tenders everyone else, including Blackburn
NEW YORK — The Mets have spent most of the early offseason fortifying their bullpen with a series of minor deals. Friday, they continued to reshape that group.
The Mets agreed to a new one-year contract with right-hander Sean Reid-Foley, avoiding arbitration, but non-tendered righty Grant Hartwig and left-hander Alex Young. Those two are both free agents. The Mets also parted ways with Alex Ramírez, who once rated among the most promising outfield prospects in their organization.
Although Ramírez and Hartwig were not eligible for arbitration, their departures open 40-man roster spots for the Mets.
The team tendered contracts to each of its other arbitration-eligible players, including pitchers Paul Blackburn, Tylor Megill and David Peterson, catcher Luis Torrens, and outfielder Tyrone Taylor.
Reid-Foley, 29, was effective in 23 appearances this season, striking out 25 batters over 21 2/3 innings with a 1.66 ERA. But he missed Opening Day due to a right shoulder impingement, which resurfaced in June and cost him the entire second half of the campaign. Due largely to his inability to stay healthy, Reid-Foley has averaged 13 1/3 innings per season over the last five years.
Young, 31, produced a 3.29 ERA in 14 games after the Mets claimed him off waivers from the Giants. He’s changed organizations five times over the last four seasons.
Ramírez, 21, appeared to break out with a strong performance over two Class A levels in 2022, but he has produced OPS marks of .627 and .590 in the two seasons since.
Hartwig, 26, appeared in 32 games for the Mets the past two years but missed the second half of this season after undergoing surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee.
Friday was the deadline for clubs to tender contracts to anyone not under guaranteed deals. That includes the group of players with less than three years of service time, who all make close to the Major League minimum, as well as arbitration-eligible types with between two and six years of service time. Sometimes, the arbitration process increases those players’ salaries beyond what their employers think they’re worth, resulting in non-tenders.
The only other notable non-tender candidate for the Mets was Blackburn, who might not be ready for Opening Day after undergoing October surgery to repair a spinal fluid leak. Blackburn is entering his final year of team control and will be due for a raise over the $3.45 million he made last season. Tendering him was a risk, but the Mets’ need for as much starting pitching as possible outweighed any thought of austerity.
