The Mets have built themselves a secret weapon...
The latest hot stove buzz. Plus, how the Mets have become a destination for starting pitchers.
What’s up with the Mets? 🍎
The Mets formally introduced RHP Clay Holmes on Tuesday after agreeing to a three-year, $38 million contract earlier this offseason
Holmes told reporters that his goal is to reach 160 innings over the course of the 2025 season
Prior to signing with the Mets, Holmes did not speak to the Yankees, his former club, about returning as a starting pitcher
Rumor Mill 💨
After coming up short in their pursuit of free agents Juan Soto and Max Fried, Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow says the club is still looking to add starting pitchers and right-handed hitters (MLB Network Radio)
The Yankees are showing interest in free agent 1B Paul Goldschmidt (Nightengale)
The Blue Jays are among teams showing interest in RHP Nick Pivetta (Heyman)
Have the Mets become the next great destination for pitchers? ✍️
It’s been a long time since the Mets franchise was able to hang their hat on one specific thing that they do better than everyone else, but those days appear as if they may be over.
Just over a year into the David Stearns regime, it would appear that this organization really has something going for them in the pitching department. Not only have we heard about the “pitching lab” that they have built within their infrastructure alongside a beefed up analytics department but the club also still employs Jeremy Hefner, a pitching coach that many in the league still think very highly of.
It’s become clear that Hefner’s mind and ability to work with pitchers has been a thing that people covet, as the pitching coach has spanned not one but several different managerial, front office and even ownership regimes. Prior to the 2020 season, Hefner was hired to become the Mets’ pitching coach. At this time, the Wilpons still owned the team and Carlos Beltrán had just been named manager; Beltrán eventually stepped down from the position after the Astros cheating scandal.
Since that first season, Hefner has remained the team’s pitching coach under two different owners (the Wilpons and Steve Cohen), six different front office leaders (Brodie van Wagenen, Jared Porter, Zack Scott, Sandy Alderson, Billy Eppler and David Stearns), and four different managers (Carlos Beltrán, Luis Rojas, Buck Showalter and Carlos Mendoza).
It goes without saying, but Hefner is now one of the longest tenured members of this organization whose start date goes back before several players, such as Francisco Lindor, ever became a part of this organization. It is unbelievably rare to see a coach survive this many regime changes – honestly, it’s borderline unprecedented in professional sports – and there is a clear reason for that.
Between Hefner and the team’s new pitching lab, they were able to get the most out of low-level free agent signings like Sean Manaea and Luis Severino over this past season, both of whom became two of the team’s best pitchers on their way to a surprise NLCS appearance. Severino bounced back from a miserable 2023 season where he pitched to a 6.65 ERA with the Yankees and nearly cut that number in half while making the most starts he’s made in a single season in six years (31). For Manaea, he transformed into the team’s ace and pitched to the lowest ERA (3.47) and fourth-lowest FIP (3.83) of his major league career.
You can even look to David Peterson who had largely been inconsistent in his big league career, pitching to a 4.51 ERA and 90 ERA+ over his first four seasons. Peterson ultimately became one of the biggest surprise contributors for the Mets this past season as he transformed into a huge weapon as a starter in the regular season and out of the bullpen int he postseason, pitching to a 2.90 ERA in 21 appearances this year.
When the newly signed Clay Holmes was officially introduced as a Met on Tuesday, he specifically spoke about the club’s newfound acumen when it came to working with pitchers.
“There’s a lot of trust in what they’re able to do and what they see and how they’re able to develop starting pitchers and even do that in the big leagues,” Holmes told reporters. “It just gave me a lot of confidence. It’s definitely not going to be a transition that just happens, that I can do by myself. And so surrounding myself with people that I felt really good about was important.”
For a pitcher in his 30s looking to transition from a closer to a starting pitcher, with multiple teams interested in his services, those quotes go a long way toward showing the way pitchers are starting to feel about joining the Mets.
Holmes isn’t the only one to express this about the Mets this offseason, either, as the agency for Roki Sasaki – potentially the most sought after pitcher in the market this winter – is reportedly “very high” on Hefner’s ability to develop pitching, according to Jim Bowden.
For years teams like the Rays, Giants and Cardinals were viewed as perfect spots for pitchers to sign on short-term deals and find themselves again before re-entering free agency. We’re still in the early phases of this Stearns regime, but you start to wonder if the Mets are on their way to becoming one of the top destinations for those types of pitchers.
It would appear that this was a big part of Stearns’ vision when he joined the organization last offseason, as well, as he philosophically seems to avoid getting into bidding wars on pitchers unless they’re on the right side of their 30s. Otherwise, Stearns and this front office seem pretty comfortable going to Manaea/Severino route in 2024, and now the Holmes/Frankie Montas route in 2025.
This, of course, comes with it’s inherent risks as not every one of these moves will always pan out (hello, Adrian Houser). But the Mets appear to be building this sort of infrastructure and reputation around the league as a pitching haven, and that shows the continued change in the overall organizational shift that we’ve begun to see in recent years.
If this franchise continues to show success with their development and rehabilitation of pitchers again in 2025, they could become that much more desirable for free agents in the coming years.
Around the League 🚩
The Yankees officially acquired OF/1B Cody Bellinger and cash from the Cubs in exchange for RHP Cody Poteet
New York also made their signing of LHP Max Fried to an eight-year, $218 million contract official on Tuesday
Can Hefner speak Japanese? Reel in Sasaki please.