Inside The Mets

Mets Sign Ex-Braves High-Leverage Reliever A.J. Minter to Multi-Year Deal

The New York Mets signed elite southpaw reliever A.J. Minter on Friday.

Grant Young

Apr 29, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; Atlanta Braves reliever A.J. Minter (33) delivers a pitch against the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images
Apr 29, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; Atlanta Braves reliever A.J. Minter (33) delivers a pitch against the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images / Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images
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The New York Mets have been actively seeking additional bullpen pieces over the past few weeks, and have been linked to several top-tier relievers.

One player they have been in contact with is former Miami Marlins and San Diego Padres pitcher Tanner Scott, who is arguably the best left-handed reliever in baseball right now.

But SNY's MLB Insider Andy Martino revealed on January 17 that the Mets have just signed another high-level southpaw reliever instead.

"The Mets are signing A.J. Minter, pending physical, league sources say," Martino wrote in an X post.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post confirmed this moments later and added the years and amount of money that Minter signed for.

"AJ Minter to Mets. $22M, 2 years, pending physical," he wrote on X.

The 31-year-old Minter missed a large portion of the 2024 season due to several injuries. But when he was healthy, he produced a 5-4 record with a stellar 2.62 ERA and 35 strikeouts over 39 appearances (34.1 innings pitched).

There's no question that when he's available to pitch, Minter is among the few elite late-inning southpaw pitchers in the entire sport. This was proven when he threw 12 innings and produced a 3.00 ERA and 3 holds in 8 appearances for the Atlanta Brave during the 2021 postseason, which is the year they won the MLB World Series.

Now with Minter signed, the Mets almost certainly won't be pursuing Tanner Scott any longer, and will probably be allocating their attention in free agency toward signing a corner infielder.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers 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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