2017 Mets Season Review: Josh Edgin was so-so and got DFA’d

Having entered the year as one of the longest-tenured players on the Mets, Josh Edgin didn’t complete the season with the big league club. But he cleared waivers when the team designated him for assignment in early August, which kept him in the organization through the end of the season. Unfortunately for Edgin, his year ended in mid-August because of a knee injury.

Over the past few years, Edgin hadn’t pitched exclusively for the Mets, either. He bounced around a bit between the majors and the minors, and he missed the 2015 season entirely after having Tommy John surgery. When he returned in 2016, expectations for him might have been a little unrealistic after his 27.1 innings of work back in 2014. He had a 1.32 ERA and 2.69 FIP that year for the Mets, but it was tough to buy that was indicative of the pitcher he would be, especially coming off that surgery.

Edgin threw just 10.1 innings for the Mets last year, and they didn’t go well—5.23 ERA, 4.02 FIP. But in 2017, he threw a career-high 37.0 innings with a 3.65 ERA and 4.62 FIP. Those numbers don’t jump off the page, but they certainly weren’t among the worst in the Mets’ bad bullpen. His strikeout rate, however, was just 16.3 percent, far down from the mid-20s rates he had posted in those 2014 and 2016 stints with the Mets. Unlike many pitchers in the majors, he was able to keep his home run rate right around his career norms, but that alone wasn’t enough for him to retain his spot on the 40-man roster.

Following the season, Edgin elected free agency. The Mets need to make improvements throughout their roster, and the bullpen is no exception. Bringing him back on anything more than a minor league deal would be a risky proposition, though it stands to reason that he’ll earn a shot at making a major league roster somewhere.