The Mets continue their very early rebuilding of the bullpen by signing 2025 Met Brandon Waddell to a one-year, major league contract. The financial details have not been disclosed at this time.
Waddell was up and town from Triple-A Syracuse this season, making 11 appearances (one start) for the major league club and 19 appearances (15 starts). For the Mets, Waddell put up a 3.45 ERA, with a 5.02 ERA in Syracuse.
The Mets signed Waddell last offseason after playing in Asia for the better part of two years for both the Korean Baseball Organization’s Doosan Bears and the Rakuten Monkeys of the Chinese Professional Baseball League. Prior to that, he had logged innings for the Pirates, Twins, Orioles, and Cardinals.
While Waddell was clearly a solid hand who helped the team down the stretch, it is really interesting to see the Mets loading up their 40-Man Roster with, frankly, fungible bullpen arms this early in the offseason. There is every chance that the Mets have identified players like Richard Lovelady and Waddell as folks who they see a lot of potential in, but with the Rule 5 draft a month or so away and a number of players likely needing to be added to the 40-Man Roster, it is surprising to see these major league moves announced this early.