The New York Mets reportedly agreed to a one-year contract with Ryne Stanek on Wednesday, although Ken Rosenthal tried his darndest to say the contract was given out by the Tigers.
In the past, signing a 33-year-old bullpen pitcher with a career 3.65 earned run average to a one-year contract at the end of January would be the exact on-brand, Mets, type of move that would propel me to pull every single hair follicle out of my growingly irritated head. Luckily for me and my rapidly receding hairline, that is no longer the case. In fact, I am beyond thrilled.
Ryne Stanek is not an elite pitcher. For most of last season, he wasn’t even a good one. Off the top of my head, I can think of at least three separate instances where his inability to serve even the juiciest of a meat ball over the plate gave me stomach pain. The arches in my back dissipated once the St. Louis native took the mound in October.
With most of the in-season bullpen acquisitions imploding, or failing to qualify for postseason rosters, Stanek thrived. The longtime playoff veteran and his perfectly flowing head of hair allowed just a single run over the Mets first two, and only two š , playoff series wins. He faltered a bit in the NLCS, but frankly every single pitcher on the staff did. The 8-year MLB veteran finished his 2024 postseason with 3 earned runs, 8 strikeouts, and 3 walks across 7 appearances, which raised his career postseason ERA to 2.89. He was arguably the best relief pitcher on the team during the playoffs last year, and his career October ERA rose.
The postseason prowess is enough for me to become ‘Flynn’ to Stanek’s ‘Rapunzel’, or maybe the ‘Rocket Racoon’ to his ‘Thor’, but his signing indicates another key shift in the change in culture among the ‘Steve Cohen Mets’. Ryne Stanek wanted to be a Met. He loved being a Met. He was a good Met, so David Stearns kept him a Met. New York’s newest offseason acquisition is the third 2024 contributor to join the 2025 squad after electing free agency. All three, Jesse Winker, Sean Manea, and Stanek, were evidently transparent about their feelings of coming back to Queens. The fourth and possibly most obvious, Pete Alonso, is only still on the market because he has an ignorant, self-centered, nazi representing him in free agency.
This blog, like the one before it about Jesse Winker, is not a Pete Alonso rant. It is instead another love letter to David Stearns, Steve Cohen, and their ability to point this franchise in a positive direction after the former owners spent more than two decades steering it into iceberg after iceberg, after pyramid, after iceberg. The certifiably asinine amount of gimmicks and pure fun the 2024 Mets had transpired because the culture of this franchise has changed from the top down.
Juan Soto wanted to play in Queens because of more things than the money. Sean Manea basically only ever talked to the Mets. Jesse Winker likely could have received a multi-year offer from multiple teams across major league baseball. Ryne Stanek and his 2.89 career postseason ERA just signed with the Mets because he wants to win a ring. The other major bullpen signing of the offseason used to be a Brave. Atlanta is supposed to take players from New York, not the other way around.
At this point I may be ranting, and the purpose of this blog is to be excited about Ryne Stanek and Ryne Stanek only, but this particular news got me almost as excited as I was when the Soto contract was released. It’s clear this organization is putting a priority on building sustained success with players that want to be in New York. David Stearns and Steve Cohen chose to sign Stanek for $4.5 Million to leave the door open for a ‘Polar Bear Reunion’.
Sign Pete to a short-term, high-AAV contract, snag Jack Flaherty to round out the rotation, and let’s go to war with the Dodgers. Let’s. Go. Mets.
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