The Mets, who are surely facing a very busy offseason after a disappointing 83 win 2025 which saw them miss the playoffs, made their first signing prior to the 2026 campaign, signing left-handed reliever
Richard Lovelady to a one year, Major League contract today, the team announced.
Lovelady, who was drafted by the Royals and stayed in the organization from 2016-2022, spent time in the Braves, Athletics, Cubs, and Rays organizations in 2023 and 2024, had a whirlwind 2025 season on a personal level.
Lovelady began his 2025 journey for the eventual 2025 American League Champion Toronto Blue Jays, surrendering four runs in 2.1 innings pitched before getting designated for assignment, eventually electing free agency in lieu of a trip to Triple-A Buffalo.
He then signed with the Minnesota Twins organization and logged 20.2 innings at Triple-A St. Paul and was excellent, earning a 1.31 ERA with a 26.5% strikeout rate before opting out of his contract on June 18th. A few days after opting out from his Minor League deal with the Twins, he signed a one year, Major League deal with the Mets on June 23rd.
The Mets, at the time, were in the midst of a seemingly never ending cycle of bullpen churn, and Lovelady was a part of it. He was designated for assignment, and re-signed one other time, on June 27th and June 29th respectively. He was designated for assignment again on July 18th, but chose to stay with the organization instead of electing free agency. He was called back up to the Major Leagues in late September, and elected free agency on September 29th before getting re-signed this afternoon. Overall, he was ineffective at the Major League level, earning an 8.32 ERA over 11.2 innings (6,30 ERA in 10 innings as a Met).
Lovelady is hardly a big splash, but before the World Series ends and the offseason starts in earnest, these are the only types of signings available. Lovelady will provide very deep depth in the bullpen throughout Spring Training, and will not prevent any other bullpen signings on top of him. He will compete for the very last bullpen spot, and may even be a candidate for the Triple-A Syracuse bullpen if he gets beaten out in the Spring, even though he is currently out of options, according to his FanGraphs page.
