The New York Mets addressed their desperate need for backend bullpen help by signing veteran lefty reliever AJ Minter to a two-year, $22 million deal.
The 31-year-old southpaw, who had spent his entire eight-year career with the Atlanta Braves, immediately projects to be the Mets’ setup man in front of Edwin Diaz, potentially forming one of the more imposing 1-2 late-inning punches in baseball.
When healthy, Minter is one of the more consistent, reliable relievers in baseball. Since the start of the 2020 season, he has a 2.85 ERA across 243 innings pitched, 292 strikeouts, and a WHIP of 1.086. His finest season came in 2022 when he posted a 2.06 ERA in 70 innings with 94 strikeouts compared to just 15 walks.
He has been bitten by the injury bug over the last two seasons, dealing with a shoulder injury that kept him out for two weeks during the 2023 season and a hip injury that sidelined him for a month in June before ending his season in August due to it needing to be surgically repaired.
Injury history has not withheld president of baseball operations David Stearns from making some prominent swings to address areas of significant need. He most notably took a chance on Luis Severino, whose career was derailed by injuries with the Yankees, and the righty provided top-half stuff in the Mets’ rotation with his best year since 2018.
Considering that Minter was ranked below Tanner Scott in the left-handed relievers’ free-agent power rankings, obvious questions have arisen about why the Mets did not go all out for the former Baltimore Orioe, Miami Marlin, and San Diego Padre.
While price likely had a lot to do with it, Minter has a longer track record of success than the 30-year-old Scott and a far more extensive postseason resume.
Scott undoubtedly had the better 2024 season, posting a 1.75 ERA across 82 innings pitched. But from 2020 to 2023, he possessed a 3.51 ERA and a 1.324 WHIP. He also has just 5.1 innings of postseason experience to his name — 4.1 of those coming in October of 2024 with the Padres — while Minter has seen the playoffs on five separate occasions. That included 12 innings (3.00 ERA, 18 strikeouts, 1.000 WHIP) during Atlanta’s run to a World Series title in 2021.
For a team like the Mets that believes they are on the precipice of significant World Series contention, experience like that matters.
