Wagner finally makes Hall of Fame on final try, with Beltrán not far behind...
Former Mets closer Billy Wagner is elected to the Hall of Fame in his last year of eligibility. Plus, more thoughts on the Mets HOF ties.
What’s up with the Mets? 🍎
In his final year of eligibility, former Mets LHP Billy Wagner was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame with 82.5 percent of the vote
CF Carlos Beltrán fell just 19 votes short of being elected, receiving 70.3 percent of the vote and setting him up to likely make it in next year
3B David Wright received 8.1 percent of the vote, enough to keep him eligible on Hall of Fame ballots for at least another year
Rumor Mill 💨
The Tigers and free agent 3B Alex Bregman are reportedly at a “standstill” in their contract negotiations (Detroit Free Press)
The Blue Jays and Astros are among the teams showing interest in free agent INF/OF Jurickson Profar (MLB Network)
Reactions to the Hall of Fame, and how some former Mets fared… ✍️
The results for the National Baseball Hall of Fame came in on Tuesday night, with three new members being elected to the most prestigious honor the sport allows.
Three prominent former Mets were on the ballot – here are my thoughts and reactions to how they fared last night…
⭐ Billy Wagner (Elected to HOF, 82.5% votes) ⭐
It’s been a long road for the former Mets closer, but finally, in his tenth and final year of Hall of Fame eligibility, Billy Wagner was officially elected to the Hall of Fame.
Over the last several years, there has been a steady upswing in support and chatter when it came to Wagner’s Hall of Fame chances. It’s truly been amazing to see the contextualization of Wagner’s numbers over the last several years as advanced stats and more savvy eyes have allowed a greater appreciation of the left-hander’s career to grow.
It’s incredible to think that in 2016, his first year of eligibility, Wagner received just 10.5 percent of the vote and finished with the 18th most votes on the ballot.
Wagner’s incredibly emotional reaction to the news was captured on video. He was also seen wearing an Astros hat in his first interview after receiving the call, indicating that will likely be the cap on his plaque in Cooperstown.
Carlos Beltrán (70.3% votes)
In his third year of eligibility, Carlos Beltrán fell just short of becoming a Hall of Famer. The Mets former center fielder finished with 70.3 percent of votes, just 19 shy of the minimum amount required to be elected to Cooperstown.
This puts Beltrán on an easy trajectory to be elected to the Hall next year, which means that this time next year we can reconvene on the futile debate of whether or not he should wear a Mets cap on his plaque.
Spoiler alert: It’s going to be a Mets hat. Beltrán had a 25.0 fWAR over seven partial seasons with the Kansas City Royals, compared to the 28.6 fWAR he compiled with the Mets over eight partial seasons (and that’s despite missing time due to injuries).
David Wright (8.1% votes)
One of the more interesting discussions, in my opinion, is the one that surrounds the likes of Mets legend David Wright. The former captain received just 8.1 percent of votes in the 2025 election process, above the five percent minimum required to remain on the ballot.
As much as I loved (and still loved) Wright, I don’t ultimately believe that he meets the requirements to make the Hall of Fame, mostly due to the injury-marred ending of his career that really stopped him in his tracks.
What I do think requires more of a nuanced conversation, however, is how Wright continues to barely hold onto his Hall of Fame eligibility by a thread while Chase Utley received 39.8 percent of the vote. I’m sorry, and I know I will forever be an Utley hater, but that guy is not a Hall of Famer, and if he is… you need to seriously consider David Wright.
The overall numbers for their entire careers had a gap when it comes to WAR, but that is in large part due to the fact that Wright started experiencing back issues in his age-28 season, eventually leading to the spinal stenosis that derailed his career and caused him to play in just 77 games over the final four years of his career before he was forced to retire at age 35.
Prior to that back injury, Wright was on a Hall of Fame trajectory, compiling a 48.6 bWAR & 34.9 fWAR through his age-30 season.
While the overall WAR shows a discrepancy – 51.3 fWAR for Wright compared to a 61.5 fWAR for Utley – just remember to account for the fact that Utley wound up playing in nearly 400 additional games with a thousand additional plate appearances. Yet despite those complications, Wright finished his career with a higher batting average (.296), on-base percentage (.376), slugging percentage (.491), OPS (.867), OPS+ (133), and more stolen bases (196) while hitting just 17 less home runs and driving home 55 less runs.
As of now, Utley seems strongly on track to eventually get elected to the Hall of Fame, while Wright continues to be an afterthought. If that’s the case, it’s about damn time we start a conversation here.
Around the League 🚩
OF Ichiro Suzuki was officially elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, falling just one vote shy of becoming the second unanimous selection in history
LHP C.C. Sabathia was also elected to the Hall of Fame, receiving 86.8 percent of the vote
The Dodgers have struck yet again, reportedly signing RHP Kirby Yates to a “tentative” contract (USA Today)