The New York Mets had one of the worst bullpens in baseball last season, and that trend has continued through the first part of this year. Closer Edwin Diaz has blown two games this week and setup man Jeurys Familia was recently placed on the injured list with a sore right shoulder, so now might be a good time to look for some help.
Somehow, Craig Kimbrel is still available on the free agent market. Andy Martino of SNY reports that the Mets have had “continued dialogue” with the right-hander, though he thinks they will ultimately pass on signing him because the Familia injury is not believed to be that serious.
Full context is that Mets have been in continued touch with Kimbrel but do not see the Familia injury as serious enough to impact that pursuit. Sources still see it as more diligence than likely https://t.co/RxsNK8GCnG
— Andy Martino (@martinonyc) May 2, 2019
Diaz had been solid this season before his last two outings. While he picked up two losses this week, he has yet to blow an actual save opportunity and has converted eight. He has a 2.13 ERA and 21 strikeouts in 12.2 innings, so he has obviously been plenty effective. Familia, on the other hand, has a 6.28 ERA in 14 appearances, but perhaps the Mets are confident he will return to his usual form after his shoulder heals.
Overall, things aren’t going well for Mets pitchers lately. Even reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom has struggled to start the year, though he threw seven innings of shutout ball on Wednesday and the team thinks they know what the issue has been with him.
Kimbrel’s asking price has seemingly come way down from where it was over the winter, but teams might choose to wait until June 5 so they would not have to give up a draft pick as compensation to sign him. Depending on Familia’s injury, the Mets will be a team to watch as that date draws near.
