Yet another hero from the 2021 World Series squad finds a new home via free agency.
So far during this offseason, the Atlanta Braves have gotten used to saying farewell to some of the familiar faces of this particular baseball club. On Friday afternoon, another familiar face found a new uniform to play in for 2025 (and potentially beyond), as LHP A.J. Minter signed a two-year, $22 million deal with the New York Mets. Andy Martino of SNY was the first to report the news and Joel Sherman of the New York Post was the first to deliver the details on the deal.
The Mets are in agreement with AJ Minter pending physical. Deal is for 2 years, $22M
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) January 17, 2025
New York’s bullpen certainly needed some fortification, as the Mets don’t have a lot of reliable firepower in their relief corps outside of Edwin Díaz and a couple of other high-leverage relievers. Minter should easily slot into things with the Mets, so this is a pretty solid signing for them. This is despite the fact that Minter didn’t exactly set the world on fire during what turned out to be his final season with the Braves in 2024, as he finished with a 2.62 ERA (63 ERA-) but a whopping 4.45 FIP (112 FIP-) over the course of just 34.1 innings pitched.
With that in mind, Minter was one of many Braves players who suffered from the injury bug hampering his season, as a hip impingement and surgery to rectify it ended his season in late-August. The Mets will be hoping that the Minter who was a left-handed stalwart for Atlanta’s bullpen for the better part of six seasons will be the one who shows up in Queens once the regular season rolls around.
As far as the Braves go, yeah man, I don’t like it any more than y’all do. Minter did make it abundantly clear that he wanted to stay with the Braves but at the end of the day, baseball’s a business and Minter had plenty of other suitors who were in search of acquiring his services. MLB Trade Rumors projected that he’d end up signing a two-year deal worth $16 million, so I’d say that Minter did pretty well with getting that deal (and an opt-out after the first season, to boot!). When it comes to the Braves, it’s just another goodbye in an offseason that’s seen plenty of them so far.