A free agent reliever that would be a lay up for the Mets...
With the first half now firmly in the rearview mirror, it’s all eyes on the deadline. Will the front office bring in some familiar faces for a playoff push?
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What’s up with the Mets? ⚾️
The National League beat the American League in the 2025 MLB All-Star Game via the first-ever swing-off tiebreaker (box)
LHP David Peterson got his first All-Star Game strikeout in his scoreless fourth inning against Tigers OF Riley Greene
1B Pete Alonso smoked a three-run opposite-field homer in the sixth inning
SS Francisco Lindor made a nice play to rob former Mets teammate and current Tigers IF/OF Javier Báez of a base hit
RHP Edwin Díaz struck out Rays OF Randy Arozarena in the ninth inning to send the game to the swing-off
Rumor Mill 💨
The Mets are one of several teams that have recently expressed interest in free agent RHP David Robertson (The Athletic)
Play of the Game 🌟
Peterson striking out Greene was gorgeous. Lindor’s play to rob Báez was smooth as butter. The Díaz ABS-assisted strikeout was a near-perfect way to end regulation in an electrifying, one-of-a-kind All-Star Game experience. All of these things are true.
And yet, neither of them was quite as sweet as the Polar Bear’s power surge in the sixth inning.
Without any derby fatigue to shake off, Alonso looked rested and ready to rock on Tuesday. With the NL already ahead 2-0 after getting to Tigers LHP Tarik Skubal in the first inning, Alonso smashed a Kris Bubic fastball over the right-center wall in the bottom of the sixth to put the NL up 5-0.
The blast made Pete the third Met to ever homer in an All-Star Game. The other two? Lee Mazzilli and David Wright.
Down on the Farm 🌾
All Mets minor league affiliates are off until Friday
Today’s Game 🗓️
The Mets will resume action Friday night at Citi Field against Cincinnati
Yeah, why not David Robertson for the Mets? ✍️
The Mets are heading into the second half of a so-far successful 2025 season with a few positions that are clearly in need of upgrading.
Try as Brett Baty and Mark Vientos might, the third base situation has yet to find a steady solution, and as stout a defender as Tyrone Taylor is out in center field, his bat leaves more than a bit to be desired.
And with multiple arms on the shelf for the rest of the season due to injury, the pitching staff has proven yet another area in need of bolstering that cannot be ignored.
While the Mets realistically need to add another high-caliber arm at the deadline to solidify their rotation for October, shoring up the bullpen is just as crucial, especially since they’ll now be without RHP Dedniel Núñez and likely RHP Max Kranick for the remainder of the year. This team’s reliance on pitching depth has already been on display this season, and in that context, no number of seasoned, veteran arms is enough.
Among the flurry of potential trade partners and deal proposals that I’ve seen flying around over the last few weeks, an intriguing new name has come to the forefront that I think makes perfect sense: free agent and former Met RHP David Robertson.
Robertson’s name was one I’d floated on Bluesky a few weeks ago while I was scrolling through the list of available free agents. Looking at his Savant page and watching some 2024 highlights, I was genuinely shocked to learn he wasn’t rostered somewhere this year.
So, when Will Sammon wrote in The Athletic that the Mets had “at least recently looked into” Robertson, needless to say, I was very pleased.
I’ll say this loudly and with all of my chest: there’s no reason I can think of for the Mets not to at least take a look at bringing Robertson into the fold for the second half.
I get it: he’s 40. So what? Randy Johnson won a Cy Young at 39, and Roger Clemens won one at 42.
To be clear: I am not saying that Robertson is on the same level as Johnson or Clemens — all I’m saying is that, at a certain point, age only factors so much into the equation.
Call me crazy, but what I care most about is production. And no matter how you slice it, Robertson is still producing.
Last season, Robertson threw the most innings of his career (72) at age 39 and posted a 1.11 WHIP (fifth-best of his career) in the process; he also struck out 33% of the batters he faced and produced a 2.65 FIP, both among the best marks of his career. In those 72 innings, Robertson tallied 99 strikeouts, which was the fourth-most among relievers in 2024, and he had an ERA+ of 128. All of this contributed to his 1.9 fWAR, tied for the second-highest scoring season of his career; his 1.7 bWAR would rank tied for fifth-best across his 16 seasons.
That all sounds pretty good to me!
You’re not convinced? No worries, I’ll keep going.
In 2024, Robertson’s primary weapon, his cutter, ranked third-best in baseball by Run Value (17), with opponents generating just a .163 BA and .209 SLG against it. It was a strikeout pitch against 38% of batters he faced, putting them away 27% of the time. Alongside a 29% whiff weapon in his curveball and a slider with devastating action, there’s an arsenal that’s ready to be tapped into and tinkered with.
Robertson’s 2024 strikeout rate was nearly 10 points higher than the league average. He gave up weaker contact and elicited more balls hit lower to the ground than league average, while also missing barrels at an above-average rate. Honestly, I’m not sure why anyone who needs an extra bullpen arm wouldn’t be looking at him right now.
Now, this wouldn’t be an honest analysis if I didn’t address the blips on his recent resume.
Robertson was indeed at his statistical worst last year with runners in scoring position, not a great scouting report for a potential reliever. Thankfully, the term ‘worst’, in this case, is relative to a pretty stellar career track record.
Against 86 total batters faced with RISP in 2024, Robertson allowed a .233/.329/.342 slash line, alongside a .283 wOBA. He also walked 12.4% of those batters, which was thankfully largely balanced out by a near-35% situational strikeout rate. Additionally, when you extend the sample size to account for runners on base in general, it’s evident Robertson isn’t demonstrating a blanket vulnerability to traffic on the base paths: he stranded roughly 50% of baserunners he allowed or inherited.
He was also tied for the second-most blown saves of the 2024 season, with eight — fun fact, RHP Clay Holmes led the pack with 13. Still, Robertson was also top three in the league in holds with 34. Considering we’d be using him mostly in a setup role and not as our primary closing option, I feel good about the latter figure. Though blown saves have become a bigger issue for him in recent seasons, it hasn’t proven to be a recurrent pattern across his lengthy career (avg. 3.6/season), so I’m not too worried, especially with less than 70 games remaining.
Look, I get the concerns: Robertson’s is (respectfully) an aging arm with a lot of mileage and a lot of time out of action since his last MLB appearance in September. And if the Mets or any team were to sign him, they couldn’t just feed him to the wolves. He would need a ramp up process in the minor leagues which would take a couple of weeks, at least. Still, I think his track record — recent and career — is worth attending a throwing session, at the very least.
After all, the Mets have 11 pitchers on the IL right now, only one of whom has a discernible timetable for return, and most of whom have no timetable at all. I’m not sure we’re in a position to be picky. If he can still serve it up the way he was last year, bring him in, I really don’t see why not.
Robertson was vocal about wanting to come back to Queens after the trade to Miami. Hopefully, a contract offer in the next few weeks wouldn’t be too little, too late.
Around the League 🚩
Phillies DH Kyle Schwarber hit three home runs in as many swings in the All-Star Game swing-off finale to give the NL the win
Pirates RHP Paul Skenes became the first player in MLB history to start the All-Star Game in each of their first two seasons
Hard to see a downside to bringing in Robertson. It’s “only money,” and although I realize it’s easy for me to be cavalier with Steve Cohen’s riches, we really are talking about a small risk with a big upside.
I’d definitely bring back Robertson. He was great when he was here. We need MLB caliber arms.