Dream Weaving

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The Mets continue to pilfer the Yankees’ bullpen. First, they signed Clay Holmes. Then, Devin Williams. And yesterday, 32-year-old Luke Weaver. The Mets reportedly signed the converted starter to a two-year, $22 million contract. The deal does not include option years or an opt out. It’s pending a physical, of course.

Weaver grew up in DeLand, Florida, where he rooted for the Tampa Bay Rays. He never cared for Nyjer Morgan and his alias Tony Plush because it always made him cringe. Weaver was drafted out of college by the Toronto Blue Jays but elected to go to Florida State University instead. In the 2014 Draft, the St. Louis Cardinals selected Luke with the 27th overall pick. This time, Weaver agreed to go to the pros. He was a starter for the Cardinals off and on from 2016-2018. He was demoted to the bullpen in the latter stages of 2018 and then traded to the Diamondbacks with two other players and a draft pick for Paul Goldschmidt. 

Weaver continued to start in the desert, where he continued to be mediocre or just plain bad. In 2020 he led the National League in losses, for example. Weaver only made 13 starts in 2021 due to a 60-day IL stint over a right shoulder strain. In 12 games with the DBacks in 2022 he had a 7.71 ERA. On August 1st, he was dealt to the Kansas City Royals. The Seattle Mariners claimed him off waivers after the season, but was non-tendered three weeks later and became a free agent. 

For 2023 Weaver signed up with the Cincinnati Reds. After pitching to a 6.87 ERA in 21 starts, he was DFA’d. The Mariners picked him up then DFA’d him a fortnight and change later. 

Everything changed when he signed with the Yankees in September of 2023. He became a free agent after the year and the Yankees liked what they saw in three starts for them enough to sign him to a one-year deal with a $2.5 million 2025 club option. This would prove to be a major bargain. In 2024 Weaver served as the set-up man for Clay Holmes through September, when he replaced Holmes as the closer. In 84 innings of work during the regular season, Weaver had a 140 ERA+ and a 3.33 FIP, striking out 11 batters per nine innings. He became a fan favorite by being good on the diamond and a likable smartass off of it. His entrance music was “Dream Weaver” by Gary Wright. 

2025 wasn’t nearly as good. While his ERA+ was still an above-average 113, his FIP ballooned to 3.89. Long story short, Weaver started off strong - he had 13 consecutive scoreless appearances to start the season. He had a 1.05 ERA (3.10 FIP)  when he went down with a hamstring injury. In the 39 innings he threw after he came back from his IL stint, the ERA was 5.31 (4.42 FIP). He lost his closer spot to David Bednar. It’s possible he returned from the injured list too soon. However, Weaver also dealt with pitch tipping issues. When he tried to rectify those, it messed up his delivery and took a mental toll on him. The Athletic pointed out that there’s positive news: his expected batting average against was still within the top five percentile in the big leagues, not to mention his expected ERA was only 3.02. 

Perhaps he should throw his cutter more? In his excellent 2024 campaign, Weaver threw his four-seam 48 percent of the time, the change 28 percent of the time, and the cutter 22 percent of the time. Last season, he threw the fastball 59 percent of the time, the change 30 percent, and the cutter just nine out of 100 times. We’ll see what new pitching coach Justin Willard has in mind for the newbie. 

Weaver joins lefties A.J. Minter and Brooks Raley as set-up guys for Devin Williams. It would behoove the Mets to get one more solid or better reliever, considering Minter’s injury history and Raley’s age (38). 

According to Fangraphs, the Mets’ current 2026 payroll sits at $305 million. Their estimated 2025 payroll was $340 million. 

It’s a good signing by the Mets, considering they only have to pay Weaver $11 million annually and they aren’t tied to him for that long in case his 2024 was a total fluke. Would I prefer Edwin Díaz? You bet your posterior I do. 

Both Clay Holmes and Nolan McLean will be pitching for team USA in the World Baseball Classic next March. Most Met fans didn’t want to read such news because of what happened with Díaz in 2023. That was a freak accident though. My concern is Holmes and/or McLean overexerting themselves when they would otherwise still be in Spring Training. But most MLB teams have that problem. 

The Mets claimed C Drew Romo off waivers from the Orioles and designated LHP Brandon Waddell for assignment. Romo, who seems psyched about getting picked up by New York (NL),  is a former 1st round draft pick by the Rockies that hasn’t panned out, at least so far. He’s appeared in 19 MLB games, 16 of which were in 2024. The move gives the Mets a fourth catcher on their 40-man roster (Francisco Alvarez, Luis Torrens, Hayden Senger, Romo). Waddell getting DFA’d gives the Mets 23 pitchers on their current 40-man (not counting Luke Weaver, whose signing isn’t official yet.)

The Mets also signed RHP Zach Peek to a minor league contract. He’s gone as high as Double-A in his pro career. Busy day!

Jorge Polanco will wear #11. That was last worn by…Jose Iglesias. You sure about this, Jorge?

Ronny Mauricio for some reason is switching from #10 to #0.

The Phillies, maybe an hour before the Weaver signing was revealed, signed reliever Brad Keller to a, you guessed it, 2-year, $22 million deal.

Sam Dykstra at MLB.com wrote of five reasons to be optimistic about the Mets farm system.

The Nationals hired former Phillies assistant GM Anirudh Kilambi as their new general manager. He’s 31 years old.

On this day four years ago, Buck Showalter was named the new manager of the Mets.