The Mets made an intriguing addition to help fortify their starting rotation on Saturday, signing Dylan Bundy to a minor league deal
Bundy was the No. 4 overall pick in the 2011 draft and was a highly-touted prospect for the Baltimore Orioles. But injuries set his career on a less glamorous path, and he missed a full season after Tommy John surgery in 2013 and then battled calcification in his shoulder. He didn't get back on a major league mound until 2016.
Bundy was 38-45 in five seasons with the Orioles, where his manager was Mets skipper Buck Showalter. He followed that up with two seasons pitching for the Los Angeles Angels and one with the Minnesota Twins.
In the pandemic shortened 2020 season, Bundy flashed for the Angels with a 6-3 record, 3.29 ERA and 1.036 WHIP, each the best of his MLB career. Bundy finished 9th in the A.L. Cy Young voting that season. However, the right-hander had a ghastly 6.06 ERA and 1.357 WHIP the following season in L.A.
With the Twins last season, Bundy made 29 starts and finished 8-8 with a 4.89 ERA with the Twins. As he has throughout his career, Bundy was beaten often by the long ball. He allowed 24 home runs in 140 innings, still far better than the MLB-high 141 he surrendered in 171.2 innings in 2018 wen he also led the majors with 16 losses.
So, let's not fool ourselves, Bundy is a depth piece for the Mets rotation, fitting somewhere after David Peterson and Tylor Megill.
But Bundy could turn out to be a nice signing, as long as we forget that he was once the No. 4 pick in the draft and set those expectations aside (don't even attempt the dreaded "low risk, high reward" line). The Mets are now 10 deep in starting pitchers. That would be Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, Kodai Senga, Carlos Carrasco, Jose Quintana, Joey Lucchesi, Elieser Hernandez, Peterson and Megill. You'd have to think Bundy slots in closer to Peterson and Megill than Luchessi and Hernandez.
The 30-year-old will be a veteran option to take some turns in the rotation to keep Scherzer and Justin Verlander, in particular, fresh. If Peterson or Megill struggles, Bundy perhaps could be the fifth starter for a stretch to help get them through Quintana's injury over the first three months of the season.
With a career K/9 of 8.4 (although it dipped to 6.0 in 2022), the Mets could do a lot worse for the swing spot/5th starter role than Dylan Bundy.