Mets bring back injured flamethrower who might miss 2025 season
The Mets are reuniting with a flamethrower from their bullpen with an eye toward next season.
Drew Smith, who is expected to miss most (if not all) of this season rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, has reached agreement with the team on a one-year contract that contains a club option for 2026, an industry source confirmed.
Smith’s deal will pay him $1 million for this season. If the Mets pick up his option, the contract will be worth an additional $2 million.
The longest-tenured Mets hurler — he arrived in the 2017 trade that sent Lucas Duda to the Rays — Smith, 31, pitched to a 3.06 ERA in 19 appearances for the team last season before he was shut down with elbow discomfort. Smith underwent Tommy John surgery with an internal brace on July 13.
“He is a guy that, when healthy, takes the ball,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “It was sad that he went down the way he went down, but he means a lot to the guys in that locker room.”
Smith also missed the 2019 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
Clay Holmes threw three innings of live batting practice to complete the Mets’ first official workout of the spring for pitchers and catchers.
The right-hander has been working out at the team complex since mid-January, putting him ahead of the other pitchers in camp as he transitions from reliever to starter.
“The fact that on Day 1 [of workouts] he’s already at three [innings], that’s pretty impressive,” Mendoza said. “You have got to give him credit because that shows all the work that he did.
