Once the Oscars have finished doing what they do [1], the curtain goes up on Faith and Fear in Flushing’s salute to the Mets who have left us — in the baseball sense — over the past year. This is the twentieth annual edition of our tribute to those stars, characters, and bit players who have moved on from the organization. Or twenty-first if you include the montage FAFIF originally screened in 1978 [2].
Like the 2025 Mets, let us start strong…
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BRANDON TATE NIMMO
Outfielder
June 26, 2016 – September 28, 2025
Brandon Nimmo is more than just happy to be here, but make no mistake: he’s happy to be here. Look at the smile that accompanied him around the bases after he bopped the first home run of his career, the one that elevated the Mets to a 7-1 lead en route to a soggy 10-2 drubbing of the presumed invincible Cubs Friday night. That’s a happy person. I’d include a picture, but I assume Nimmo’s grin is still visible everywhere there is sky. It lit up the atmosphere at Citi Field, it brightened the broadcast wherever you were watching or listening, it took over the league lead in OPS+ — Outstanding Player Smile. The plus is for how contagious Nimmo’s enthusiasm is to the rest of us. That’s a commodity not to be curbed.
—July 2, 2016
(Traded to Rangers, 11/23/2025)
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JEFFREY TODD “Jeff” McNEIL
Infielder-Outfielder
July 24, 2018 – September 28, 2025
Thursday night in Pittsburgh, I rooted for […] Jeff McNeil to continue to get acclimated to big league surroundings…which will doubtlessly take a little more doing (witness Rosario’s stubbornly incremental progress to date). McNeil started at third for the first time in a Mets career that commenced Tuesday. The first ball hit toward him eluded him completely. The first time he was on second, he raced to third despite Jose Bautista having very recently slid into it and not showing any intention of leaving it. Rookies, even the 26-year-old late bloomers who were tearing up every level of the minors, will be rookies. Jeff didn’t have jitters with the bat, though. The relatively young man singled once, walked once, was intentionally passed once and Nimmo’d once (a.k.a. was pinged by a pitch). He’s not a flop. He’s not a star. He’s Jeff McNeil, New York Met, and he just got here. May he have plenty of opportunity to let us discover what he’s all about.
—July 27, 2018
(Traded to Athletics, 12/22/2025)
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PETER MORGAN “Pete” ALONSO
First Baseman
March 28, 2019 – September 28, 2025
Though it wasn’t the definitive turning point of the evening, no moment resonated as more milestone than Pete Alonso’s eighth-inning swing for the fences, and by fences, I mean the fences at LaGuardia’s Delta terminal. Oh, that baseball he connected with was soaring, all right — it flew high enough to slice Venus, never mind the space above the left field pole — but of more concern was the angle his breathtaking launch was taking. Fair? Foul? Somewhere in between somehow? I paused, as I imagine we all did, to gauge its flight pattern. I hoped it was fair, I thought it was foul, I heard silence, I looked around. Was that Pete going into a trot? Was that a roar rising from the modestly sized crowd? Was that the Apple accurately elevating? Hey! It’s a home run! A Pete Alonso late & clutch home run at Citi Field! And I am there, Walter! Being in proximity to a Met doing a superb Met thing doesn’t usually strike me as overly noteworthy, but as I mentioned, I’d not been to a game yet this season, and this season has been the dawn of the Pete Alonso Era at Citi Field, so this was also the first time Pete and I linked our fates in the same facility. Yes, Pete Alonso gets his own era capitalized. We are all in his Polar Bear Club.
—May 22, 2019
(Free agent, 11/4/2025; signed with Orioles, 12/10/2025)
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EDWIN ORLANDO DIAZ
Relief Pitcher
March 28, 2019 – September 28, 2025
We’re not even claiming Edwin Diaz is dependable. We are genetically incapable of telling our closer, “You got this.” In our heart of hearts, we don’t think you do, but we’re willing to fake enthusiasm if it helps. And tap along a toe or two to the trumpet routine that heralds Edwin’s emergence from the pen — the only loud noise transmitted over the ballpark’s overwrought PA system that qualified as a somewhat welcome sound Sunday. Mark and I agreed that if Diaz comes in to pitch in the playoffs at Citi Field with a one-run edge and his music blasting, it, like our team by then, will be awesome. We were actually talking playoffs in July, with Edwin Diaz approaching the pitching rubber to face the dangerous Blue Jays. We may have used sunscreen, but you’re welcome to assume we were experiencing heat stroke. Diaz went about his business in a manner resembling cool, calm and collected. He struck out George Springer, which satisfied the many who howled at the moon (BOOOOOOOO!!!!!) every time the shamed champion Astro showed his face. He walked Vladimir Guerrero, Jr., but a base on balls is the better part of valor when facing a hitter whose slugging percentage of .663 leaps from the scoreboard and knocks your eyes’ socks off while simultaneously taking their breath away. Guerrero is a metaphor-crusher. Don’t let him be a Met-crusher, too. Walk him, just don’t let him get anywhere. Edwin did, but only ninety feet on a wild pitch. Edwin struck out Marcus Semien on three pitches in the interim. It was while facing Bo Bichette that Vlad the Younger moved to second. It was also while facing Bichette that Diaz worked the count full. At three-and-two, James McCann trotted to the mound for a word with his pitcher. From 515, one could only imagine what the word was. It was probably more family-friendly than the words we in the stands had holstered in case the worst was about to occur. We’ll save that variant of our vocabulary for another day, maybe another year. Diaz struck out Bichette to end the game, 5-4 in the Mets’ favor.
—July 25, 2021
(Free agent, 11/4/2025; signed with Dodgers, 12/9/2025)
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Now, like the 2025 Mets, let us proceed mostly with whoever happened to be passing through…
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JOSE MIGUEL UREÑA (Rodriguez)
Relief Pitcher
April 28, 2025
In the ninth, Jose Ureña proved himself worthy of inclusion in any exploration of the Unicorn Score oeuvre. He gave up a walk with one out, but nothing more, and when he fanned Dylan Crews, the Unicorn came galloping onto the field at Nationals Park, visible to anybody seeking a sighting. Mets win, 19-5, the 23rd Unicorn Score in Mets history, the first in two years, the sixth in the past decade, which is as long as I’ve been tracking them.
—April 29, 2025
(Free agent, 5/1/2025; signed with Blue Jays, 5/3/2025)
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JOHN TYLER ZUBER
Relief Pitcher
June 22, 2025
The Mets have brought up Tyler Zuber! Other than Tyler Zuber’s family, I don’t know if anybody else is bringing an exclamation point to bear over this news, but it’s big news to me. Once Zuber gets in a game, he becomes […] the alphabetical last Met in franchise history, bumping Don Zimmer to next-to-last. This has been a development more than 63 years in the making
—June 22, 2025
(Claimed off waivers by Marlins, 7/9/2025)
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BRYCE MONTES DE OCA
Relief Pitcher
September 3, 2022 – September 10, 2022
A pitcher who totaled fewer than four innings but features a name that comes in four parts…
—December 29, 2022
(Free agent, 11/6/2025; signed with Nationals, 1/23/2026)
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DOMINIC AVERY “Dom” HAMEL
Relief Pitcher
September 17, 2025
Congratulations to Hamel on escaping ectoplasm as a Mets ghost — and for becoming the Mets’ MLB-record 46th pitcher used this year. I’ll contain my excitement about the record, though, because cycling arms on and off the roster is the new normal and you can bet someone will use 47 pitchers next year.
—September 17, 2025
(Claimed off waivers by Orioles, 9/20/2025)
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GENESIS CABRERA
Relief Pitcher
May 1, 2025 – May 23, 2025
The Mets weren’t much for rallies all afternoon, and none among Kodai Senga, Genesis Cabrera, Max Kranick and Reed Garrett was at his absolute stingiest. Cabrera, a lefty, is here because neither A.J. Minter nor Danny Young is any longer available. Genesis joined Ty Adcock in supplementing a staff that is running a lot of reliever roulette of late. Brandon Waddell and Chris Devenski are already back at Syracuse. Jose Ureña is a free agent. Wait, these sound like challenges or difficulties or, heaven forefend, problems. Even first-place ballclubs are entitled to sing the blues as applicable. We are the NL East-leading, ten-above-.500 New York Mets, yet we are dealing with injuries, bullpen overuse, starting pitching that doesn’t go particularly long, a spotty offense in clutch situations, and, worst when ranking sins, not winning them all. This season has reminded me that when you’re close to winning them all, your craw gets stuck with the residue of not actually doing that.
—May 2, 2025
(Free agent, 5/27/2025; signed with Cubs, 5/27/2025)
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JOSE ENRIQUE AZOCAR
Outfielder
April 19, 2025 – May 23, 2025
Jose Azocar played in Soto’s stead. Jose Azocar almost never plays, unless it’s to run for a less speedy Met. I don’t think this upfront substitution was entirely the reason the Mets didn’t win one game on one rainy night in May, but I wouldn’t do this again if I could help it. Nothing against Azocar. Good teams need pinch-runners, and pinch-runners oughta test the rest of their skill sets against live competition so they stay fresh for when called on to be complete players. Someday, you might need Azocar to do something besides stretch his legs. Maybe do it in left or center field next time, though.
—May 15, 2025
(Free agent, 5/28/2025; signed with Braves, 5/20/2025)
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ZACHERY MICHAEL “Zach” POP
Relief Pitcher
July 6, 2025
After the Mets made their nightly flurry of moves besides the injured list additions (Hagenman and Rico Garcia are up; Blade Tidwell is down; Austin Warren, designated 27th Man on Wednesday, sticks around), it was reported the Mets signed to a major league deal reliever Zach Pop. My reaction was, “I’ve never heard of Zach Pop.” I’d also never heard of most of the additions the Mets have made to their bullpen these past few months, even though most of them could claim anywhere from a smidgen to a modicum of MLB experience. Zach Pop has more than that; since 2021, he’s pitched in 162 games, a full season’s worth, despite my failing to notice a very noticeable name clearly destined to join our roster of very noticeable, if preternaturally obscure names. My childhood devotion to absorbing the names and faces on baseball cards notwithstanding, I’m coming to believe that just because somebody is a professional big league pitcher, it doesn’t automatically qualify him as famous.
—July 4, 2025
(Free agent, 7/10/2025; signed with Cubs, 7/23/2025)
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JOSHUA RICO GARCIA 1.0
Relief Pitcher
July 6, 2025 – July 10, 2025
Another dribble of activity, in the top of the fifth, culminated in Alonso leaving runners on first and second. Hagenman, in his second inning of work, gave up two runs. In the sixth, Justin, Dicky Lovelady, and Rico Garcia — unplanned relievers are a given with this team — combined to allow two more. The Mets stopped bothering Sugano by the sixth, and the rest of the Oriole bullpen didn’t have to sweat a whole lot en route to Baltimore’s 7-3 win.
—July 11, 2025
(Claimed off waivers by Yankees, 7/14/2025)
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JOSHUA RICO GARCIA 2.0
Relief Pitcher
July 22, 2025 – August 2, 2025
Clay Holmes is gutting out five effective if not efficient innings, which is OK, because we have Rapidly Recidivizing Rico Garcia back, following the ten minutes when he’d inexplicably wandered away from the organization…
—July 26, 2025
(Claimed off waivers by Orioles, 8/5/2025)
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GRANT ALEXANDER HARTWIG
Relief Pitcher
June 19, 2023 – May 19, 2024
Did I see the Marlins beat the Mets? We were likely getting close to that eventuality, what with the Marlins usurping that thin 1-0 lead of the Mets and transforming it into a 2-1 edge of their own in the top of the ninth off noted closers Grant Hartwig and Anthony Kay. Hey, it’s only a game with an impact on the entire postseason picture. Might as well try whoever you have out in the pen to finish off a contender.
—September 29, 2023
(Released, 6/27/2025; signed with Hanshin Tigers of Nippon Professional Baseball, 7/14/2025)
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JUSTIN CHARLES GARZA
Relief Pitcher
June 10, 2025 – June 20, 2025
You may have noticed amid the general miasma of the weekend that the Mets actually used the same pitcher one day and then the next. Justin Garza, a recent pickup from the Giants, went two innings on Friday night and an inning Saturday. He gave up no runs on either occasion. Handy guy to have around. Barring some injury we sure as hell prefer not happen, don’t look for a hand from Garza in Atlanta this week, as he was optioned to Syracuse Sunday in favor of Ty Adcock. Was Adcock a better bet than Garza for the long haul? Or was Adcock’s arm “fresh”? You know the answer. You always know the answer these days. The Mets seem to plan their bullpen usage meticulously, but when the real world of baseball intrudes, everything teeters on the brink of hell.
—June 16, 2025
(Free agent, 9/9/2025; currently unsigned)
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TRAVIS PAUL JANKOWSKI
Recidivist Outfielder
June 26, 2025 – July 8, 2025
So the Mets had another team meeting…and things got worse. Worse as in 12-1, worse as in out of it by the top of the second, worse as in Travis Jankowski finished up on the mound (before seeing a 2025 Mets AB, no less).
—June 30, 2025
(Free agent, 7/13/2025; currently unsigned)
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JANZEN BLADE TIDWELL
Pitcher
May 4, 2025 – July 2, 2025
It’s the top of the sixth at Citizens Bank Park on Friday night. Blade Tidwell, a rookie pitcher carrying a parcel of promise along with a name one can picture Carnac the Magnificent working into one of his curses after an audience doesn’t respond as he wishes to one of his prognostications (“may your Blade Tidwell turn Blade Tidrotten”), is no longer in the game. But he has given the Mets about as much as could have been hoped for, considering he wasn’t so much on their immediate depth chart as he was in somebody’s phone’s address book. The kid who was sitting in Syracuse looking forward only to playing video games the night before looked capable for three-and-two-thirds innings, giving up only two runs during his emergency start. Every Met start is an emergency these days.
—June 21, 2025
(Traded to Cardinals, 7/30/2025)
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PAUL CADY BLACKBURN
Pitcher
August 2, 2024 – August 13, 2025
Except for the top of the sixth inning, Friday night at Citi Field was a pretty good game. The Mets scored five runs versus the Tampa Bay Rays and received five solid innings from Clay Holmes. Gotta like things of that nature occurring. It’s a shame the top of the sixth, when Paul Blackburn and Max Kranick gave up the six runs that negated the 5-1 lead the Mets had built and essentially undid Holmes’s splendid limited-by-design start, had to happen. Otherwise, though, good game. Well, maybe the bottom of the seventh inning lacked whatever makes a game good, as the bottom of the seventh wasn’t much of a half-inning from a Mets perspective.
—June 14, 2025
(Released, 8/19/2025; signed with Yankees, 8/12/2025)
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TYLER NATHAN McKENZIE “Ty” ADCOCK
Relief Pitcher
June 29, 2024 – June 18, 2025
Adcock would get his chance to know the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela in the bottom of the eighth, as three different Pirates sent three of Ty’s pitches toward the mighty Ohio. Three homers for Three Rivers, thrusting Pittsburgh ahead, 14-2, or ten runs better than it was barely an inning before. The last of the dingers, bashed by Rowdy Tellez, was the Bucs’ second grand slam of the game, not to mention the seventh of their franchise record-tying home runs. Worse, somehow, was that amid all the cannon blasts (PNC literally ran out of fireworks), Adcock couldn’t mix in a third out.
—July 6, 2024
(Free agent, 11/6/2025; signed with Padres, 12/4/2025)
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JOSE GREGORIO CASTILLO
Relief Pitcher
May 19, 2025 – August 29, 2025
I sure as hell didn’t know that in the visitors’ fifth, Bohm would have problems with a parabolic microphone’s positioning, tucked as it was in the lower right corner of the center field batter’s eye…or, to be honest, that the thing that looks like a miniature satellite dish is called a parabolic microphone. The umps ordered the item moved, a process that required fourteen minutes, all so the next batter, Marsh, could have an unobstructed line of sight to ground out on the very next pitch Jose Castillo was finally permitted to throw. Castillo became the pitcher of record once the Mets took a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the fifth. The pouring on of Met runs assured he’d be credited with his first major league win in seven years, a wait that I suppose made fourteen minutes of standing around and staying warm tolerable.
—August 26, 2025
(Claimed off waivers by Mariners, 9/3/2025)
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CHRISTOPHER MICHAEL “Chris” DEVENSKI
Relief Pitcher
April 30, 2025 – September 19, 2025
Chris Devenski, who by dint of being recalled on July 4 and not being sent down since, may be the second-longest tenured Met reliever of all time (I’ll have to check) gave up a run in the seventh, but the game was still within reach at 5-2.
—July 22, 2025
(Free agent, 10/1/2025; signed with Pirates, 1/8/2026)
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FRANCELIS “Frankie” MONTAS (Luna)
Starting Pitcher
June 24, 2025 – August 15, 2025
Before the game started, SNY’s cameras spotted Frankie Montas in something of a prayer circle with his family, our starter at the railing, his kin in the stands. It was a very touching tableau, and maybe the congregating with loved ones helped Frankie on the mound. He withstood trouble in the second and third pretty well and put down the Pads on seven pitches in the fourth. But in the fifth, “where’s your God now?” felt a reasonable question to wonder.
—July 29, 2025
(Released, 11/19/2025; currently unsigned)
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GREGORY SOTO
Relief Pitcher
July 27, 2025 – September 28, 2025
In the bottom of the fifth, nothing good happened, except it ended. The season may have ended, too, but that will require hindsight. Give it a day or two. We will know soon enough. Sproat was hit hard.
Alonso did not make a makeable play.
Gregory Soto was hit hard.
Gregory Soto did not pay enough attention to what was happening on the basepaths.
Ronny Mauricio did not pay attention in general. I could go into details, but by the time six runs scored to transform a game a Mets fan could see as a continuation of progress into a game that confirmed every Mets fan doubt, details were almost beside the point.
—September 27, 2025
(Free agent, 11/2/2025; signed with Pirates, 12/9/2025)
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TYLER SCOTT ROGERS
Relief Pitcher
August 2, 2025 – September 28, 2025
Soto’s blast made it Mets 2 Rangers 0. The best efforts of Tyler Rogers and Edwin Diaz, combined with some not great moments from others stationed away from the mound, didn’t prevent making it Rangers 3 Mets 2 by the bottom of the ninth.
—September 14, 2025
(Free agent, 11/2/2025; signed with Blue Jays, 12/12/2025)
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BOYCE CEDRIC MULLINS
Outfielder
August 1, 2025 – September 28, 2025
[H]ad I been informed in advance that […] Cedric Mullins would get on base because the previous day’s designated dasher of destiny Daylen Lile would not hold onto a ball Mullins hit, yet Mullins would not advance while on base, because he had no clue at all what was going on (the ball was loose and Lile was down), and that Mullins, stuck at first rather than advanced to second, would get himself doubled off imminently (had he only been on second, he could have gotten himself doubled off there) […] well, I wouldn’t have been surprised, but I wouldn’t have stayed away.
—September 22, 2025
(Free agent, 11/2/2025; signed with Rays, 12/3/2025)
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RYAN DALTON HELSLEY
Relief Pitcher
August 1, 2025 – September 28, 2025
“Until you’ve been beside a man,” Detroit’s own Bob Seger wailed mournfully, “you don’t know what he wants.” And until you have a high-profile reliever on your team, you don’t know what he is. For the Cardinals, Ryan Helsley was lights out. For the Mets, he turns them off on his own team. Had Helsley done his job perfectly Wednesday afternoon and nothing else about the game he entered at Comerica Park had been different from what it was, the Mets would have still lost, albeit by fewer runs. But Helsley did not do his job perfectly. He came into the seventh inning of a one-run game — Tigers 3 Mets 2 — and proceeded to give up a leadoff single, a walk, then a three-run homer to Kerry Carpenter. The one-run game became a four-run game. Even a little less imperfect keeps the Mets conceivably close. The Helsleyfied margin effectively put the game out of reach. Cue Mr. Seger and “Shame On The Moon” again: When nothing comes easy, old nightmares are real. Newish nightmares, too. Ryan Helsley has been pitching for the Mets since August 1. Many bad dreams. No light at the end of his tunnel.
—September 4, 2025
(Free agent, 11/2/2025; signed with Orioles, 11/29/2025)
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JOSE ALEXANDER SIRI
Outfielder
March 29, 2025 – September 23, 2025
While Passover isn’t specifically a commemoration of repeated Met failures to pass over home plate more than once thousands of miles from their ancestral home, we are reminded that an unleavened offense can be a sign of eternal struggle. Yet where the veritable children sat, youthful Mets Brett Baty and Mark Vientos surely wondered aloud how the same bad things continue to happen to new generations of faithful people. “We are Mets, we seek to bring joy to millions, yet we continue to hit directly to rival fielders or often not at all. And why must Jose Siri endure such pain from a simple foul ball?” This is where the rabbinical wisdom of a Carlos Mendoza can come to bear. Mendy teaches in his low-key manner the importance of patience and practice, going out and getting them tomorrow. There have been many tomorrows across Met history. This one finds them again wandering the West…West Sacramento, specifically.
—April 13, 2025
(Free agent, 9/29/2025; signed with Angels, 2/1/2026)
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BRANDON CARL SPROAT
Starting Pitcher
September 7, 2025 – September 26, 2025
We now know Sproat as well as we can know any pitcher after six innings. Hey, remember when throwing six innings was something only one Met starting pitcher ever did? Our transformed gang suddenly contains a trio of guys who do it like it’s no big deal, and none of them was with us even one month ago. Brandon, who debuted in Cincinnati Sunday, had a little trouble with control, none with giving up hits for an extended period, and ran into the bad luck of having his teammates come up against a masterful pitching performance from the other side.
—September 8, 2025
(Traded to Brewers, 1/21/2026)
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DANIEL ALEXANDER “Danny” YOUNG
Relief Pitcher
May 2, 2024 – April 26, 2025
We declare that, although we maintain the contracts of many higher-profile relief pitchers, if we have to ring the bullpen, lately we most hope Dedniel Nuñez or Danny Young answers the phone…or even Adrian Houser!
—June 6, 2024
(Free agent, 11/21/2025; signed with Braves, 12/2/2025)
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GRIFFIN ALEXANDER CANNING
Starting Pitcher
March 29, 2025 – June 26, 2025
Who could or would be happy that the Mets beat the Yankees in the Bronx on Saturday? Us, obviously. The Mets beating the Yankees is a thing for us. We’re Mets fans. We like when the Mets beat anybody. We especially like the Mets beating the Yankees. We like Griffin Canning, he of the 2.47 ERA, continuing to start games the Mets win; it’s probably not a coincidence that that happens. Griffin gave up only two solo home runs (one that could have been featured in one of those SNY salutes to local little leagues) over five-and-a-third.
—May 18, 2025
(Free agent, 11/2/2025; signed with Padres, 2/14/2026)
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MAX JOSEPH KRANICK
Relief Pitcher
March 29, 2025 – June 15, 2025
We didn’t remain on the victory track in the sixth without Kranick continuing to set aside major league hitters. Maybe some other pitcher takes care of the Jays in that situation, but then depth gets tested. Kranick was the depth there. So was Senger, whose walk from the nine-hole commenced the Mets’ lone inning of scoring, the third. Hayden’s base on balls preceded his more famous teammates’ contributions to the cause. Juan Soto walked. Pete Alonso singled to score Senger and send Soto to third. Brandon Nimmo lifted a deep fly to score Soto. Those were the two runs off Bowden Francis that put Peterson in position to be the winning pitcher, if not for his stomach issue. Those instead became the two runs that allowed Kranick to earn his first Met win, and the club its fourth in a row, including all three from Toronto.
—April 7, 2025
(Free agent, 11/21/2025; currently unsigned)
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RYNE THOMAS STANEK
Relief Pitcher
July 28, 2024 – September 28, 2025
We could pretend through the tops of the seventh and eighth that maybe we could string a couple of hits together and grab our lead back, but we were only borrowing the lead to begin with. And, to string hits together, you’d have to start with one. In the bottom of the eighth, Ryne Stanek , who’s maintained Syndergaardian flow beneath his cap if not vintage Thor command around the plate, comes in to, among other items, shake James Wood out of his deep slump. Wood’s three-run homer thrusts the Nats ahead, 9-3, and ensures any hits the Mets suddenly collect in the ninth will make only for sumptuous box score window dressing (window dressing for Low-Leverage Barbie’s Dream House sold separately).
—August 22, 2025
(Free agent, 11/2/2025; signed with Cardinals, 1/9/2026)
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JOSE ALEJANDRO BUTTO
Pitcher
August 21, 2022 – July 29, 2025
On the cusp of 60, maybe it shouldn’t be surprising that Doc Gooden showed up Sunday as the old pro, as polished as a Seaver or a Mays in elder statesmanship, but we still reflexively think of him as being 20 winning 20. He seems to be winning his days nowadays. Those are the victories that count most going forward. After the ceremonies and a 46-minute rain delay, the sun came out and the Mets won a game that you figure can’t but help them going forward. It certainly couldn’t hurt. You couldn’t miss Jose Butto paying proper homage to Dr. K with no runs and nine strikeouts in six innings.
—April 15, 2024
(Traded to Giants, 7/30/2025)
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SEAN IAN REID-FOLEY
Relief Pitcher
April 22, 2021 – June 19, 2024
When Reyes departed with one out and one on, England Dan and Sean Reid-Foley entered. The Rangers really loved to see him last night. Sean proceeded to walk the ballpark. It’s no exaggeration. The paid attendance of 23,849 each received a base on balls, courtesy of SR-F. Of more use to the visitors, so did Corey Seager, Nathaniel Lowe and Adolis Garcia, all on full counts, all in a row. That’ll manufacture a run. It was 3-2, the bags were juiced and you knew what was going to happen next. No, you didn’t. The Texas Rangers certainly didn’t. Despite Reid-Foley pitching like nights were forever with him, he struck out Mitch Garver and then Jonah Heim, the latter at the end of his fourth full count and second nine-pitch battle of the inning. Sean threw 35 pitches to five batters. Sixteen were balls. Somehow the Mets were still ahead and the Rangers were still behind.
—August 31, 2023
(Released, 5/23/2025; signed with Diamondbacks, 5/30/2025)
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JESSE WINKER
Outfielder
July 28, 2024 – July 10, 2025
Mister Secretary, no delegation at this convention is more enthusiastic to have a presence here, no delegation is happier to come off the bench when needed, and no delegation has waited longer to have these words said on its behalf: IT’S OUTTA HERE! Mister Secretary, the great state of Winker not only casts a pinch-hit walkoff home run to defeat the Baltimore Orioles, four to three, but casts aside its batting helmet and inhibitions in quest of the most memorable trip around the bases Winker has ever known! Mister Secretary, Winker votes for a Mets win today, Wednesday, and hopes it will be the first of many in the nights ahead.
—August 21, 2024
(Free agent, 11/2/2025; currently unsigned)
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LUISANGEL JOSE ACUÑA
Infielder
September 14, 2024 – September 27, 2025
The ‘X’ factor among the ‘A’ team was Luisangel Acuña, whose game is allegedly more about slashing and speed. For Syracuse this year, he homered seven times. In no minor league campaign had he exceeded a dozen longballs. Well, in his fourth major league game, he blasted his first home run, which represents a pace of awesome. After going 3-for-4, including delivering the double that carried his first ribbie, Luisangel’s batting .455. That would certainly be a pace to keep up.
—September 18, 2024
(Traded to White Sox, 1/20/2026)
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ANDREW DAVID “Drew” SMITH
Relief Pitcher
June 23, 2018 – June 23, 2024
Enough with Garrett, onto Drew Smith, forever the reliever I forget is on the roster. Bryce Harper recognized Drew and singled to right the first pitch he saw. Smith’s delivery was addressed with such authority that the Phillie runners already on first and second couldn’t advance more than one base, and Harper didn’t have time to make like Jamie Tartt and perform a soccer-style celebration. A modicum of Phillie exultation would have its chance five pitches later, when Smith completed a bases-loaded walk to Bohm. It was now 6-5, Mets. The bases were still philled with Phillies. There was still only one out. Genuine power threat Nick Castellanos was still due up. Drew Smith was still Drew Smith. I neglected to check the Win Probability calculations, but counting on the Mets getting out of this jam rated as folly. But if you were feeling lucky, perhaps you wished to wager a quid or two on the Mets’ good fortune. It’s only some other country’s money, right?
—June 10, 2024
(Free agent, 11/4/2025; signed with Nationals, 2/16/2026)
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STARLING JAVIER MARTE
Outfielder
April 7, 2022 – September 27, 2025
Value in various quantities was palpable up and down the roster. And yet, it’s Starling Marte who felt most like the measurable difference between the 2021 Mets who evaporated by August and the 2022 Mets who couldn’t quite bring it home in September and October but had absolutely reached the plateau where we knew they could make our dreams come true. Starling Marte had or was that certain something. When the Mets had it, they had you convinced they were the best team from coast to coast. When the Mets didn’t have it, they drifted off course.
—December 20, 2022
(Free agent, 11/2/2025; signed with Royals, 2/28/2026)
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Finally, unlike the 2025 Mets, let us finish with a little extra oomph…
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JEFFREY TODD “Jeff” McNEIL
The Batting Champ
July 24, 2018 – September 28, 2025
Jeff McNeil was himself and then some on Friday. Jeff McNeil hit the lead-taking homer, made the lead-preserving play, and earned himself a piece of above-the-marquee Subway Series history. You know The Dave Mlicki Game. You know The Matt Franco Game. You know The Mister Koo Game. You’ve just met The Jeff McNeil Game. It’s not like you haven’t met Jeff McNeil before, but it’s always nice to remind ourselves who he can be.
—July 5, 2025
(Traded to Athletics, 12/22/2025)
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BRANDON TATE NIMMO
The Dean
June 26, 2016 – September 28, 2025
Brandon, the rare Met who we’ve watched come of age gradually and therefore not necessarily wondered where the time went, connected for a long and high fly to right. Would it be so long and so high to negotiate the wind and avert the grasp of a leaping Castellanos? It would. Just barely. But it counted. Mets 2 Phillies 1 after six.
—September 23, 2024
(Traded to Rangers, 11/23/2025)
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EDWIN ORLANDO DIAZ
The Closer
March 28, 2019 – September 28, 2025
Mendoza would be turning a tenuous one-run lead over to…you’re kidding. Diaz is going out there for the ninth. He threw, I’m estimating, a million pitches in the eighth. His psyche has to be scarred like he just saw the ghost of Kurt Suzuki. And he didn’t get off the mound when that was paramount. Diaz? Cripes, just get Benitez loose. They showed Ryne Stanek warming up in the bullpen. I can’t say I would trust my baseball life with Ryne Stanek and a one-run lead in the ninth inning in Atlanta with everything on the line, but I can tell you I wasn’t using my one phone call to keep Edwin Diaz in the game. Which may be why they don’t give me access to the bullpen phone. It was ride or die with Diaz. Is that too much hyperbole or not enough? There was little opportunity to mull the question during Matt Olson’s leadoff at-bat, because it was over in one pitch — one effective pitch that Olson popped to Lindor for the first out. OK, maybe this wasn’t a disaster in the making. White singled, then stole second. OK, maybe this is a disaster in the making. Laureano, with three hits on the day, struck out. Two outs, leaving it all up to d’Arnaud. I was 70% leaning toward doom, 30% thinking it was too obvious. And it was. The latter, that is. Old Friend™ Travis did the right neighborly thing and grounded to Lindor, who threw to Alonso for the third out, and Oh My God, the New York Mets defeated the Atlanta Braves in Atlanta in September to make the playoffs. We were in.
—October 1, 2024
(Free agent, 11/4/2025; signed with Dodgers, 12/9/2025)
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PETER MORGAN “Pete” ALONSO
The Franchise Home Run King
March 28, 2019 – September 28, 2025
Pitching, however, could not be the theme of the night when Pete Alonso was crashing and remaking history. When he swung off Spencer Strider — now there’s a swing-off that means something — and the result was laser-tagged until it landed in the visitors’ bullpen, it dawned on those of us fortunate enough to be in attendance what we just saw. We saw seven seasons of Alonso culminate where we projected he’d land as soon as we got a load of what he could do as a rookie. We saw the Straw Man wave him into the top spot on the Met home run chart. Darryl hit career home run No. 155 on May 3, 1988, to take the all-time Met lead from Dave Kingman. It was noteworthy, to be sure, but the lead story from Shea that evening was David Cone making his first start of the year and bulling his way into the rotation to stay, shutting out the Braves (them again), 8-0. Pitching was the theme of that night. Pitching was often the theme while Darryl was adding 97 more home runs to his record between 1988 and 1990. Pitching has been the theme of the Mets most of their life. Darryl’s 252nd home run, off Greg Maddux of the Cubs on September 23, 1990, supported eight winning innings from Dwight Gooden. When you’re hitting home runs and your pitchers are the likes of Cone building a 20-win season and Gooden heading for 19-7, your home runs are only part of the story. Pete Alonso won the Rookie of the Year award in 2019, the same year Jacob deGrom earned his second consecutive Cy Young. From there, it seems the paths of Met hitters and Met pitchers have diverged. Pitching is something we never have enough of in the 2020s. Hitting (recent trends notwithstanding) is more the Met signature in this generation. It is, after all, the Polar Generation. Drink it in, drink it in, drink it in.
—August 13, 2025
(Free agent, 11/4/2025; signed with Orioles, 12/10/2025)