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Barely a week after declining to tender him a contract, the Mets have re-signed right-handed pitcher Jeremy Hefner to a minor league deal. Hefner pitched surprisingly well for the Mets this year before his arm fell off and he needed season-ending Tommy John surgery, from which he will spend all of 2014 rehabilitating.
The move costs the Mets next to nothing, as they'll pay Hefner a minor league salary while he's recovering from the ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction. The upside is that Hefner fully rebounds and can help the back of the Mets' rotation—or their bullpen, conceivably—in 2015 and beyond. As of November 11, Hefner was doing "[b]asic arm movements (bench press, rotator cuff exercises) with light weights."
In 130 innings with the Mets this season Hefner had a 4.34 ERA (4.49 FIP) with 99 strikeouts and 34 walks. His 2.68 ratio of strikeouts to walks bested the marks of Jon Niese (2.19) and Zack Wheeler (1.52).
