The Mets have declined their end of a mutual option with reliever Mychal Givens, general manager Billy Eppler informed reporters (including Will Sammon of the Athletic). He’ll collect a $1.25MM buyout and head back to the open market.
New York added Givens from the Cubs at the trade deadline. Chicago had inked him to a $5MM guarantee over the offseason, and the righty provided them with a 2.66 ERA through 40 2/3 innings. New York sent minor league pitcher Saúl González to the North Siders to add him for the stretch run, but Givens had a somewhat disappointing couple months in Queens.
The 32-year-old posted a 4.79 ERA over 20 2/3 innings for skipper Buck Showalter. He had a roughly average 22.7% strikeout rate and a 45% ground-ball percentage, but he was plagued by an elevated .368 batting average on balls in play. Givens cut his walks to just 6.8% with the Mets, but he’d walked 11% of opposing hitters as a Cub.
The longtime Oriole heads back to the open market. He’s appeared with five different teams over the last three years, generally missing bats in the middle innings but battling inconsistent control. Givens has posted an ERA between 3.00 and 4.00 in each of the last three seasons, and he’s likely to find another one-year deal in free agency this winter.
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