Edwin Díaz wasn’t the only member of the 2025 Mets bullpen to head out of town on Tuesday.
Left-handed reliever Gregory Soto has agreed to a one-year, $7.75 million contract with the Pirates, ESPN’s Jorge Castillo reported.
The hard-throwing Soto now joins a Pirates team that had a middle-of-the-pack bullpen with a 3.83 ERA, ranking 13th in MLB in 2025.
Soto started last season with the Orioles and then joined the Mets at the trade deadline when they tried to shore up their bullpen by acquiring him, Ryan Helsley (Cardinals) and Tyler Rogers (Giants).
The super bullpen never materialized, and Soto had a 4.50 ERA and 1.625 WHIP with 26 strikeouts across 25 outings as he struggled with command while the Mets collapsed over the last three months to miss the playoffs after losing a tiebreaker with the Reds.
Soto, 30, is predominantly a sinker-slider pitcher who averages nearly 97 mph on the former pitch, according to Baseball Savant. Despite his struggles with the Mets, Soto ranked in the 97th percentile in barrel percentage in 2025.
Across seven seasons, the lefty has a 4.26 ERA and 1.435 WHIP with 410 strikeouts in 378 1/3 innings.
His two best seasons — both with All-Star nods came in Detroit in 2021 and ’22, as he held 3.34 ERA over 126 outings with the Tigers.
Soto’s departure bookends a day that saw Díaz, the longtime Amazin’s closer, leave for the Dodgers on a three-year, $69 million contract.
“There are different ways to build a bullpen and we are going to explore all of them,” Mets president Dave Stearns told reporters Tuesday.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
