Metropolis signed right-handed Julian Merryweather Relayed by MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo tonight’s minor league deal.
Merryweather, 33, was a fifth-round pick for Cleveland in 2014. Josh Donaldson Deal, his debut with the shortened Blue Jays in the 2020 season. The right-hander showed some hope in 13 innings of that rookie season with a 4.15 ERA and 2.27 FIP, but he never failed it in the coming season after he was derailed by elbow and tilt issues over the years. He brought together 5.64 ERA and 4.36 FIP in 47 games, and the overall Blue Jays were designated as a mission in January 2023.
The right-handed was quickly pulled from the waiver by the Cubs and enjoyed the best season of his career that year. Merryweather’s high leverage was released at a 3.52 FIP at 3.38 ERA and hit his 32.3% of his opponents in 72 innings. Those huge strikeout numbers are enough to overcome career-high walking rates, Merryweather Adbert Alzolay and offseason increase Hector Neris. Unfortunately, Merryweather was part of the bullpen burst early this season, which was fatal to Chicago’s chances last season. He was far ahead of the season with a knee injury and eventually needed surgery, even though he was so healthy that he worked hard to reach a 6.60 ERA, and the strikeout rate dropped to just 18.9%.
Blaming Merryweather’s struggle in 2024, which is easily injured, could have caused him to mechanically throw him away and contribute to his fastball speed, which lost two ticks to his fastball speed compared to last season. But anyway, a healthy offseason is obviously not all that is needed to solve Merryweather’s problem. His speed has remained lower this year, and 2025 is the same as his 5.79 ERA, while hitting 17.0% of his career and heading to a career-high 12.5%. Right-hander obviously has too many 21 outings in Chicago this year as he was designated as a mission as the team turned to a more reliable late-stage choice Brad Keller,,,,, Drew Pomeranzand Daniel Palencia People who have appeared in recent weeks.
Merryweather ended up being unclaimed on the waiver, and the Cubs could choose to choose him as a minor as a deep choice as a non-member, as his ability to refuse tasks was a few days behind him while retaining his full salary. Chicago chose to grant him the release, but he returned to free agent late last month. Now, he heads to New York to join a Metropolitan club tied for the National League Best Record with Chicago. The Mets will try to work with the Cubs so efficiently as a potential depth when they work with the Cubs on Triple-A Syracuse in 2023, like Justin Garza and Colin Poche.
