If David Stearns is going to improve the Mets’ bullpen, it’s going to be without Robert Suarez.
The veteran reliever inked a three-year, $45 million deal to join the NL East-rival Atlanta Braves on Thursday, providing the Mets with their latest whiff of what is becoming a disconcerting winter.
In what has become the organization’s trifecta of long-standing departures, New York was dealt a significant blow earlier in the week when star closer Edwin Diaz took $3 million more to join the Los Angeles Dodgers on a three-year, $69 million deal.
The Mets offered the fireballing right-hander three years for $66 million.
Without Diaz, the plan is for ex-Brewer and Yankees closer Devin Williams to assume that role in Queens, though it’s a significant gamble after he lost his job multiple times last year in the Bronx and pitched to a career-worst 4.79 ERA.
But while Stearns continues to exude confidence in the 31-year-old, the rest of the bullpen still needs significant work.
Southpaws Brooks Raley and AJ Minter are the only other suitable options out of the bullpen, meaning notable moves are still needed to bolster the club’s late-innings picture.
The Mets were very much in on Suarez, who has a career 2.91 ERA and a 0.981 WHIP with 9.4 strikeouts per nine innings. Over the last two seasons as the closer of the San Diego Padres, he racked up 76 saves, including a league-leading 40 in 2025.
With Atlanta, though, Suarez will reportedly be the set-up man for Raisel Iglesias, which is likely the same role he would have assumed in Queens in front of Williams. Granted, it would have been a vital security blanket to have had should he repeat his Bronx struggles.
This has been the most trying week of the Steve Cohen era in Queens. After trading Brandon Nimmo to the Rangers last month, the Mets lost Diaz to LA on Tuesday and then saw their franchise home run leader, Pete Alonso, sign a five-year, $155 million pact to join the Baltimore Orioles.
It later came to light that Stearns did not even submit an official offer to the slugging first baseman.
