The Mets announced that left-hander Chasen Shreve was released. Shreve was designated for assignment earlier this week, to make room for Max Scherzer’s activation off the injured list.
Shreve signed a minor league deal with the Mets shortly after the lockout, returning to Queens after spending 2020 with the Mets and then the 2021 season with the Pirates. While Shreve was eligible for arbitration last winter, the Pirates essentially gave him an early non-tender by outrighting him off the 40-man roster after the season, and Shreve then opted for free agency.
After making New York’s Opening Day roster, Shreve locked in a $1.5M salary for himself, but his performance over 26 1/3 innings had plenty of ups and downs. As recently as June 10, Shreve had a respectable 3.86 ERA, but then allowed 10 runs over his next 5 1/3 innings of work. In total, the southpaw has a 6.49 ERA for the season, with an above-average 25.4% strikeout rate but plenty of subpar Statcast numbers in other major categories. Shreve’s old problems with the home run ball have also resurfaced, as he has given up six homers in his 26 1/3 IP.
The Mets are responsible for paying the remainder of Shreve’s guaranteed salary, so any new team will owe him only the prorated portion of a minimum salary. With teams constantly on the lookout for (especially left-handed) bullpen help, Shreve seems likely to catch on somewhere, particularly since his 2022 performance is something of an outlier. Over 181 1/3 relief innings from 2017-21, Shreve had a solid 3.72 ERA, despite some unimpressive walk totals.
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