The Mets may be getting back a key reliever sooner rather than later.
According to Tim Healey of Newsday, lefty Brooks Raley threw a bullpen session yesterday and is slated to pitch in a live game this week.
Raley, 34, was acquired by the Mets from the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for pitching prospect Keyshawn Askew in December.
The Texas A&M product had a solid 2022 with Tampa Bay, as he was worth 0.9 fWAR and had a 2.68 ERA, 2.74 FIP and a 3.28 xFIP in 60 games.
Raley also excelled in several other areas, including hard hit percentage (98th percentile according to Baseball Savant), a 99th percentile barrel rate, 94th percentile xSLG and 88th percentile xERA/xWOBA among others.
With Mets closer Edwin Diaz slated to miss the entire season, the more established veteran arms the team has at their disposal the better.
Having Raley healthy will be a really big boost to the club's bullpen and will give them some much needed padding out there.
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