With the 2026 Major League Baseball season complete, free agency is set to open within days, and the New York Mets are being urged to pursue former New York Yankees reliever Jonathan Loaisiga as a bullpen addition.
Mets writer Danny Abriano of SNY.tv included Loaisiga among his top 10 free-agent targets for the club. Eight of the 10 players on Abriano’s list are pitchers, underscoring New York’s clear need for arms as it looks to reshape its roster.
“After becoming one of the key pieces in the Yankees’ bullpen, Loaisiga’s seasons in 2023 and 2024 were seriously impacted because of Tommy John surgery. He returned for the Yanks in 2025, but didn’t round back into form until this past season,” Abriano wrote.
“In 67.0 innings for the Diamondbacks in 2026, Loaisiga had a 2.42 ERA (2.88 FIP) and 1.03 WHIP while allowing just three homers all year and walking a minuscule 1.7 batters per nine. Loaisiga relies mainly on a sinker that averages a tick under 98 mph and a changeup that averages 91 mph. He doesn’t strike out a lot of batters, but is phenomenal when it comes to limiting hard contact and generating ground balls.”
The 31-year-old right-hander from Managua, Nicaragua, logged a career-high 67 appearances for Arizona this past season. He posted a 7-3 record with two saves while striking out 48 batters in those 67 innings.
Loaisiga’s underlying numbers supported the surface results. He ranked in the 93rd percentile or better in average exit velocity allowed, chase rate, barrel percentage, hard-hit percentage and ground-ball rate, according to Abriano’s reporting.
Across his career, which includes stints with the Yankees from 2018 through 2025 and the Diamondbacks in 2026, Loaisiga owns a 3.30 ERA in 316.1 innings. He has recorded 26 wins against 15 losses with 280 strikeouts in 260 games, most of them in relief.
Injuries have limited his availability in recent years. After Tommy John surgery affected 2023 and 2024, he appeared in only 30 games for the Yankees in 2025 and posted a 4.25 ERA before the club declined its club option.
A potential labor stoppage is expected to begin around Dec. 1, which could compress free-agent activity into a shorter window this November. That timeline may encourage teams such as the Mets to move quickly on targets like Loaisiga.
The Mets’ pitching staff carries several question marks heading into 2027. Abriano’s ranking placed Loaisiga seventh overall, behind higher-profile options but among the more realistic bullpen fits given his recent performance and projected cost.
Other clubs have also been linked to the right-hander. The Athletic’s Jim Bowden has projected a two-year, $20 million contract and listed the Philadelphia Phillies among potential landing spots, alongside a possible return to Arizona.
Loaisiga’s sinker-changeup combination generates ground balls at a high rate while keeping walks to a minimum. That profile could help stabilize middle and late innings for a Mets club seeking more reliable relief depth.
At 31, he enters free agency after his strongest full season since 2021, when he recorded a 2.17 ERA in 70.2 innings for the Yankees. Whether New York pursues him will depend on how the front office prioritizes bullpen help relative to other roster needs.
The combination of recent results, advanced metrics and a relatively modest projected salary range positions Loaisiga as a practical option as the offseason market begins to take shape.
