It’s been a frustrating offseason for the New York Mets, as they’ve lost two of their marquee players to free agency in Pete Alonso and Edwin Diaz. On Wednesday morning however, the Mets made a significant move to upgrade their bullpen heading into the 2026 MLB season.
New York signed former Yankees‘ reliever Luke Weaver to a two-year, $22 million contract. Weaver is the second Yankee to enter free agency and head across town to Queens, joining Devin Williams as two of the newest Mets.
The Mets are the seventh team Weaver has been a part of in his 10 year MLB career. The journeyman sports a career ERA of 4.74, but is coming off of two of the best seasons of his career in the Bronx. In the last two seasons with the Yankees, Weaver put up ERA’s of 2.89 and 3.62, respectively, and struck out 175 batters in 148 innings pitched.
A heavy fastball pitcher, Weaver is in the 80th percentile or better in three of the most important advanced stats for pitchers: chase percentage, whiff percentage, and strikeout percentage. When he’s at the top of his game, Weaver is a dangerous late-inning arm who can certainly make an impact with his new team.
Mets Bullpen Update Heading Into 2026
With the acquisitions of Weaver and Williams, the Mets’ bullpen is in a decent spot, considering they lost their closer to free agency in Edwin Diaz.
New York acquired A.J. Minter in free agency last season, but he only threw 11 innings before being shut down for the season as he underwent surgery. Minter was a high-end, high-leverage reliever in his time in Atlanta, so if he comes back fully healthy, he could do wonders for the Mets late in games.
Williams had his worst MLB season in his one and only year with the Yankees in 2025. From 2020-2024, Williams was among the best relievers in the MLB; his ERA was under 2.00 in four of those five seasons. He had a massive regression in 2025 though, as his ERA ballooned up to 4.74 while his walk and barrel rates sank to the bottom of the league.
The Mets are banking on the hope that Williams’ 2025 season was just an anomaly, not the beginning of a trend.
If New York gets the best versions of Weaver, Williams, and Minter, it could very well be one of the best bullpen trios in the league.
Mets Looking to Pick Pieces Up After 2025 Collapse
The Mets entered the 2025 season with the second highest payroll in the MLB, only behind the Los Angeles Dodgers. After a hot start to the season, a summer collapse led to them missing the playoffs entirely, and now the team has been significantly shaken up as we head towards 2026.
Losing Alonso, Diaz, and Brandon Nimmo hurts, make no mistake about it. But New York still has some of it’s most elite pieces still in place, namely in Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor. Their rotation features a good mix of young, high-potential starters like Nolan McLean, Jonah Tong, and Brandon Sproat, and veterans like David Peterson and Clay Holmes.
Maybe a shake-up is what the Mets needed after last year’s collapse.
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