There is always going to be a strong market for relief pitchers considering how important solid bullpen play is to playing winning baseball. To that end, even a reliever who didn't have an excellent 2025 season in ex-New York Mets pitcher Ryne Stanek is reportedly drawing plenty of interest in free agency as a sort of bounce-back candidate should he land with the right coaching staff.
And Stanek's market isn't just limited to one or two teams. In fact, according to Mark Feinsand of MLB.com, “most of the National League Central” are interested in picking up the 34-year-old reliever.
The pros and cons of signing ex-Mets reliever Ryne Stanek
Stanek posted an ERA of 5.30 in 65 appearances for the Mets last season, and his FIP wasn't that much better at 4.40. It would be one thing if his only issue was command, but he also allowed over one home run per nine innings yet again, and opposing batters tend to generate solid contact against the 34-year-old.
His best year came four years ago in 2022, when he notched a 1.15 ERA in 59 relief appearances for the Houston Astros. Even then, his production was worth 0.9 fWAR, suggesting that that season was very much flukey.
Nonetheless, it's easy to see why many teams are interested in Stanek even though his overall production in 2025 does not warrant too much strong interest on the market. For starters, teams still believe in Stanek's stuff; he's still throwing 98-99 on his four-seamer, and velocity is always a good indicator for strikeout rate.
He's still striking out over a batter per nine innings, which suggests that he's still missing bats at a healthy rate. However, he's losing command of his pitches, as he posted the second-worst strikeout to walk ratio of his career in 2025 at 1.81.
If a team such as the Milwaukee Brewers, who've been known to strike gold on reclamation projects, manage to sign Stanek, then there might be something there to work with.
