NEW YORK (AP) Aiming to fill out their bullpen, the New York Mets are set to bring back a pair of important pieces from last year’s playoff team.
Free-agent relievers Jerry Blevins and Fernando Salas have agreed to contract terms with the Mets, according to a person with knowledge of the deals. The person spoke Friday night on condition of anonymity because the agreements were pending physicals and had not been announced.
The person also confirmed that New York has signed veteran left-hander Tom Gorzelanny to a minor league contract with an invitation to big league camp at spring training.
Multiple media outlets reported the deals earlier Friday.
Blevins and Salas both pitched in prominent roles for the Mets last year and helped them reach the National League wild-card game, which they lost to San Francisco.
With spring training only days away, New York needs to line up some viable late-inning options for the upcoming season. All-Star closer Jeurys Familia faces a possible suspension under Major League Baseball’s domestic violence policy, and four members of the projected rotation are coming off surgery.
Reliable setup man Addison Reed, who has plenty of closing experience, could move to the ninth inning if Familia is unavailable for any length of time. But that would also open another hole in the seventh or eighth.
Re-signing Blevins and Salas could go a long way toward solving that potential problem.
A proven lefty specialist, the 33-year-old Blevins went 4-2 with a 2.79 ERA and two saves in 73 appearances last year during his second season with the Mets. He struck out 52 in 42 innings.
Blevins missed all but the first two weeks of the 2015 season after breaking his arm.
Salas was acquired from the Los Angeles Angels in an Aug. 31 trade last year and shored up the seventh inning for New York down the stretch. The 31-year-old right-hander went 0-1 with a 2.08 ERA in 17 games with the Mets, striking out 19 and walking none in 17 1/3 innings. He was 3-7 with a 3.91 ERA in 75 games overall, and all six of his saves came with the Angels.
Salas saved 24 games in 2011 for the World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals.
Gorzelanny, 34, is 50-53 with a 4.40 ERA in 12 major league seasons. He struggled in seven outings for AL champion Cleveland last season.
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