The New York Mets have played a lot of extra-inning games, so they've added reliever Luke Jackson as a depth piece.
The New York Mets are still figuring out their bullpen, and they’ve signed reliever Luke Jackson to a minor league deal with that in mind, according to a report from AJ Eustace of MLBTradeRumors.com via Will Sammon of The Athletic
Jackson is basically a veteran depth piece who could get called up at some point during the season. The 34-year old right-hander made his big league debut back in 2015 with the Texas Rangers, and he’s played in parts of ten MLB seasons since then, according to Eustace.
His longest stint occurred from 2017-2021 when he pitched with the Atlanta Braves, but Jackson underwent Tommy John surgery in April of 2022 that caused him to miss the rest of that season.
Since then the 34-year old Jackson has bounced around. Last year he made 52 appearances and pitched 51 innings for the Texas Rangers, Detroit Tigers and Seattle Mariners, so he had a busy itinerary. He had a 4.06 ERA but finished strong for the Mariners, posting a 2.38 ERA in 11-1/3 innings for the Mariners. He also appeared three times for Seattle in the postseason, Eustace added, allowing one earned run in three seasons.
It was that performance in Seattle that probably got the Mets intrigued, and Jackson is also outstanding when it comes to getting ground balls, as he’s never had a ground ball rate of less than 50 percent. His peak year came when he posted 18 saves for the Braves back in 2019, but of course the Mets aren’t expecting anything at that level.
The Mets’ bullpen has been stretched by a lot of extra-inning games early in the season, and they’ve been reduced to using hurlers like Richard Lovelady as part of their relief lineup. Huascar Brazoban has been strong out of the pen so far, but relying on him for a full season of excellence feels like a stretch right now, and Sean Manaea is the Mets’ other bullpen option early in games when things get out of hand.
The Mets may also decide to elevate Tobias Myers from the swing man to the rotation if Manaea and starter David Peterson continue to struggle, and Jackson would represent a bullpen piece to plug in if they want to go that route.
Lovelady would likely be the odd man out if the Mets decide to make that kind of move, but it’s too early to predict anything that drastic, and it would be surreal for the Mets to continue at their current pace when it comes to extra-innings affairs.