Having spent the entirety of his major league career with the Braves, Minter is a free agent.
With pitchers and catchers set to report to spring training in less than a month, the Mets could still use some help in the bullpen. And with Danny Young currently penciled in as their best option for a left-handed arm out of the bullpen, it wouldn’t hurt if the team were to bring in more of a sure thing lefty to add to its relief corps.
Longtime Braves reliever A.J. Minter is still available in free agency, and the 31-year-old is a left-handed pitcher. At the time of this writing, the Mets haven’t been linked to Minter, while several other teams have, but there’s no harm in wondering if he could be a fit for the team.
In 348.2 innings of major league work over the course of his career, which started in 2017, Minter has a 3.28 ERA and a 2.89 FIP with a 29.3 percent strikeout rate and an 8.6 percent walk rate. He’s coming off a 2024 season that saw him finish with a 2.62 ERA and a 4.45 FIP, albeit in just 34.1 innings thanks to season-ending hip surgery that ended his season in August.
Minter lost velocity on his fastball last year and saw his home run rate skyrocket. If the hip issue played a significant role in those changes, though, he could still be a very useful reliever for whichever team he signs with before the 2025 season starts. And the Mets’ options for a left-handed reliever beyond Danny Young are currently Génesis Cabrera, Anthony Gose, and perhaps—if they were to move him off being a starting pitcher—Brandon Waddell. The team could do worse than taking a chance on Minter.