Inside The Mets

Mets Sign Southpaw Brandon Waddell to Help Bolster Bullpen

The New York Mets have signed a left-handed reliever to a minor-league deal on Monday.

Grant Young

Mar 15, 2022; Jupiter, FL, USA; St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Brandon Waddell (70) throws a pitch during a spring training workout at Roger Dean Chevrolet stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
Mar 15, 2022; Jupiter, FL, USA; St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Brandon Waddell (70) throws a pitch during a spring training workout at Roger Dean Chevrolet stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images / Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
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The New York Mets already made the biggest splash of the MLB offseason when they signed Juan Soto to a historic 15-year, $765 million contract on December 8.

That is a lot of money to give one player (which is not to say that it isn't warranted or justified). However, with that much money going to Soto, the Mets might want to get creative in improving other aspects of their roster without breaking the bank for the rest of this offseason.

And they made another move that seems to suggest this on December 16, as FanSided's Robert Murray reported on X that, "The New York Mets are signing pitcher Brandon Waddell to a one-year, major-league contract, pending physical, according to a source familiar with the deal."

Murray later clarified that they had actually signed Waddell to a minor-league contract.

According to an X post from SNY in the wake of this reported signing, "Waddell pitched in 11 games for the Pirates, Twins, Orioles & Cardinals (2020-21)

"After 23 games at Triple-A in 2022, Waddell has pitched in 55 games internationally in the KBO & CPBL from 2022-24".

Waddell holds a 5.68 ERA and 9 strikeouts across 12.2 innings pitched in MLB.

It remains to be seen how much Waddell will end up helping the Mets next season, or whether he'll even end up making their big league roster at any point. But given how widely acclaimed Mets pitching coach Jeremy Hefner is when it comes to developing talented pitchers, we wouldn't put it past him to turn Waddell into an asset for the Mets' bullpen come 2025.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers the New York Yankees, the New York Mets, and Women’s Basketball for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco, where he also played Division 1 baseball for five years. He believes Mark Teixeira should have been a first ballot MLB Hall of Fame inductee.

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