Danny

Young

A split contract is an agreement in which the player will earn two different salaries depending on whether they are on the Major League Baseball roster or the Minor League Baseball roster. Young’s MLB salary would be for $925K in 2026. The left-hander pitched just 8 1/3 innings for the Mets in 2025 and had previously pitched for the Braves in 2023. In 60 2/3 MLB innings, he has a 4.01 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, and 78/25 K/BB ratio.

The Kranick and Young moves, reported earlier today, are now official. Joining them is Castillo, who was briefly a Met during the season and rejoined the team after claimed off waivers from the Orioles earlier this month. He could stay with the club on a minor league deal.

Sammon adds that Young recently began throwing and is on track to return during the first half of next season after undergoing Tommy John surgery back in May. The 31-year-old left-hander has recorded a serviceable 4.50 ERA, 1.34 WHIP and 61/21 K/BB ratio across 60 2/3 innings during 63 appearances for the Mets over the past two seasons.

Young is set to undergo season-ending Tommy John surgery. Given the timing of the procedure, he’s likely to miss a significant portion of the 2026 campaign as well. It’s a pretty significant hit to New York’s left-handed relief depth considering they basically don’t have any at the moment.

Not great. New York’s left-handed relief depth took a hit with Young landing on the injured list ahead of Wednesday’s game against the Diamondbacks with a left elbow sprain. It certainly sounds like season-ending surgery is on the table. There should be a final decision on his status in the coming days.

No word yet on how much time Young is going to miss, but it figures to be a lengthy absence. The 30-year-old southpaw has made 52 relief appearances for the Mets over the last two seasons.

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza made it official that Reed Garrett, José Butto and Danny Young will open the year in New York’s bullpen. The decision to jettison Walton leaves Brett Baty and Luisangel Acuña as the Mets’ primary bench options, but they haven’t officially made the team yet, added Mendoza. It also means that A.J. Minter and Dedniel Nuñez are probably headed to the injured list.

It’s probably irrelevant for fantasy purposes, but Young has been working at 92-95 mph this spring. His 93.8 mph average with his fastball is 2.5 mph better than last year and five mph higher than where he was in 2022 and ’23. It could make him a really good second lefty in the Mets pen, which already added A.J. Minter over the winter.

Young will rejoin the bullpen 10 days after being sent down. He has a 5.11 ERA in 13 relief appearances for the Mets this season.

Young has been up-and-down from Syracuse to Flushing quite a bit in 2024, and it’s unlikely to stop over the summer months. He’s sent down to make room for Matt Festa, who had his contract selected in the corresponding transaction.