Mets sign Tom Gorzelanny to minors deal

Gorzelanny has done well against lefties in his career

According to Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports, the Mets have signed veteran Tom Gorzelanny to a minor league contract. The 34-year old will receive an invitation to spring training and could earn $1 million if he makes the Opening Day roster. Also, he can receive an additional $1.8 million with incentives, and has a March 24 opt-out clause in his contract. 

Gorzelanny saw time with Baltimore and Cleveland in 2016, posting a combined 3.65 ERA in 24.2 Triple-A innings. The veteran had a cup of coffee with the varsity squad in Cleveland, but was shelled and ultimately let up seven runs in just three innings of work. 

As a 12-year MLB veteran, Gorzelanny has seen the majority of his work come from the bullpen. From 2012-2014, he was looked at as a solid bullpen piece, pitching to a combined 3.13 ERA in 111 appearances with the Nationals and Brewers. 

The Mets have been in the market for left-handed relief help and it seemed like their top target was Jerry Blevins. Since Gorzelanny is merely a minor league signing, there is still a good possibility that Blevins returns to Queens for the 2017 campaign. However, let's take a closer look at Gorzelanny's statistics in comparison to the other left-handed options for the Mets. 

Career #’s	Gorzelanny	Blevins	Edgin	Smoker
v. RHB	.274	.243	.248	.200
v. LHB	.229	.214	.201	.360
BB/9	3.9	3.2	3.3	2.3
SO/9	7.3	8.7	8.7	14.7
H/9	9.1	7.6	7.2	9.4

As you can see, each pitcher brings an interesting set of skills to the table. For Smoker, he has struggled against left-handed hitting in his brief MLB career, but his incredible SO/9 ratio makes him a good player to keep an eye on next year. With Edgin, he has not seen success for a few seasons now, but should have a chip on his shoulder as he continues to fully recover from Tommy John surgery. 

The two to take a closer look at are Gorzelanny and Blevins, who have appeared in 314 and 425 career games, respectively. Across the board, Blevins has outperformed Gorzelanny in his career but the latter is not too far behind, What separates Blevins is his ability to get right-handed hitters out, and pitch full innings at a time to avoid taxing the rest of the bullpen. 

In Gorzelanny's case, lefties have hit .229/.302/.356 against him in his career. As someone who is only a few years removed from solid play, this is a very nice gamble by Sandy Alderson and rest the Mets front office. I still expect the team to pursue Blevins, but Gorzelanny provides a low risk, moderate reward option that could serve as a fallback piece if Blevins fails to return to the Big Apple.