The Mets have re-signed RHP Ryne Stanek to a one-year, $4.5 million contract. Stanek can earn up to an additional $500K in bonuses.
Stanek was acquired from Seattle at the trade deadline last year in exchange for Rhylan Thomas. His regular season with the Mets was plagued by a pair of bad early appearances, and he earned a 6.06 ERA while striking out 161 batters in 16.1 innings. Stanek, on the other hand, was unstoppable during the playoffs. The right-hander, who was consistently counted on to knock big hitters out in high-leverage situations, had a 3.38 ERA in eight innings of work.
This isn’t just a “getting the band back together” maneuver. Stanek has long demonstrated exceptional abilities in practically all public-facing models, to the point that his peer group includes some of baseball’s top pitchers. Stanek’s suspect command leads to too many walks and a proclivity for giving up home runs, which normally keeps him from pitching to that level, but he’s a solid arm with more promise if the Mets can make adjustments or if things suddenly break right for 60 innings.
Stanek adds to an already crowded Mets bullpen. Veterans like Edwin Diaz, newcomer A.J. Minter, and now Stanek are well entrenched. Internal options Jose Butto, Danny Young, and Sean Reid-Foley are all out of options, as are intriguing offseason acquisitions Griffin Canning and Dylan Covey. Reed Garrett is now the lone optionable arm in the Mets’ projected bullpen, and he is unlikely to be an up-and-down type arm due to his importance in the late-inning hierarchy. It will be fascinating to observe whether there is a deal that will help to clear up this situation.