Evaluating the Mets free agents, Pt. 2

Some decisions are out of their hands, but the Mets have to evaluate other players who will soon become free agents

Oct 23, 2025

The following Mets from the 2025 roster can be free agents after the World Series:

Pete Alonso
Edwin Díaz
Starling Marte
Frankie Montas (player option)
AJ Minter (player option)
Cedric Mullins
Ryan Helsley
Jesse Winker
Gregory Soto
Ryne Stanek
Tyler Rogers
Griffin Canning
Brooks Raley (club option)
Drew Smith (club option)
Chris Devenski
Richard Lovelady

We’ve already discussed Alonso, Díaz, Marte, Mullins, Helsley, Soto, Rogers, Montas, Minter, Winker, and Stanek in previous posts. So today, I’ll discuss Griffin Canning, Brooks Raley, Drew Smith, Chris Devenski, and Richard Lovelady.

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GRIFFIN CANNING

Things were going so swimmingly for Griffin Canning before he blew out his Achilles tendon on June 26. He was 7-3 with a 3.77 ERA in 16 starts, and he appeared to be another success story among the reclamation projects the Mets have been trying to transform.

He began to regress off of a super start for the Mets before his devastating injury, pitching to a 5.90 ERA over his final seven starts of the year. But he had a 2.47 ERA over his first nine starts with the Mets thanks to a fantastic ground ball rate (51.6 percent) and an increase in the usage of his slider.

Even so, a healthy Canning projects as a back-of-the-rotation starter or potential bullpen piece going forward, and the Mets have plenty of options ahead of Canning on the depth chart who are in place and healthy going into the 2026 season.

Still, it would make some sense to bring Canning back on an incentive-laden contract, have him finish his rehab with the Mets in Port St. Lucie, and figure out how he might fit as a depth piece once he’s available sometime next season. He signed for $4.25 million in 2025 and can probably be had for a similar dollar amount in 2026, if not a little less, which is generally inconsequential to the payroll.

But if they choose not to, that would be understandable as well.

BROOKS RALEY

The Mets signed Brooks Raley back in late April on a one-year, $1.85 million contract with a $4.75 million club option for 2026.

In the end, he and Edwin Díaz were the only truly reliable pitchers in their bullpen.

Raley, 37, went 3-1 with a 2.45 ERA in 30 appearances with the Mets after he returned from rehabbing 2024 Tommy John surgery, which cost him most of that season with the Mets. The club was very careful with how they used Raley as they tried to avoid using him on back-to-back days upon returning, although they did do so on five occasions down the stretch when they needed it the most. That didn’t go very well for him, as he allowed three runs in 4.1 IP on 0 days’ rest, which really isn’t a surprise given he had missed more than a year with a major elbow injury.

Even so, I’d be stunned if the Mets don’t exercise that option on Raley. He’s one of two or three shoe-ins for the 2026 bullpen right now. It’s a no-brainer at $4.75 million given his skillset.

That doesn’t mean he should be the primary left-handed reliever, but he’s as valuable a lefty as there is in the game right now.

DREW SMITH

There was some hope Drew Smith might make it back for the end of the 2025 season given the timing of his 2024 Tommy John surgery, but that never happened, and he didn’t pitch for the Mets this season.

But, good on the Mets to sign him back this past winter. They gave him $1 million to essentially spend his entire season rehabbing in Port St. Lucie, but also put a $2 million club option in there to give him a chance with them next season, which they are sure to exercise after the World Series.

He will be more than a year and a half removed from Major League outings when he toes the rubber again in late March, but he should be fully healthy and ready to go, although the hope is the Mets will be judicious with his usage over the first half of the season, which will take him to about two years since the initial UCL injury.

As is the case with Raley, count on Smith being in camp with the Mets in February.

CHRIS DEVENSKI & RICHARD LOVELADY

Both Chris Devenski and Richard Lovelady are both bullpen fillers at this point in their careers. If they’re back, it will be on minor league deals in all probability.