Mets release recently acquired reliever

The Mets announced to reporters, including Tim Healey of Newsday, that right-hander Chris Flexen has been released.

Flexen, 29, was designated for assignment by the Mariners just over a week ago amid a frustrating season. He posted a 7.71 ERA in 42 innings for Seattle, leading to him losing his roster spot. He was then flipped to the Mets in what amounted to a salary dump for the M’s. Flexen is making $8M this year and still has almost half of that to be paid out, but the Mets agreed to take that on in order to acquire right-hander Trevor Gott. They promptly designated Flexen for assignment again and have now released him.

Normally, players with less than five years of service time can’t reject an outright assignment while retaining their salaries, but players coming from international leagues often get language in their contracts to circumvent the normal service time rules. MLBTR confirmed that Flexen could not be sent to the minors without his consent, which prompted this release.

The Mets will remain on the hook for what remains of that money for the rest of the season. Any of the 29 other clubs could sign him and would only be responsible for paying him the prorated league minimum salary for any time spent on the roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Mets pay.

Although he’s undeniably struggled this year, Flexen could garner interest based on his previous work. In 2020, he headed to Korea to pitch for the Doosan Bears of the Korea Baseball Organization. He posted a 3.01 ERA over 21 starts there and parlayed that into a two-year deal with the Mariners that came with a $4.75M guarantee. Over 2021 and 2022, he tossed 317 1/3 innings with a 3.66 ERA, triggering an $8M vesting option for 2023 in the process.

With various clubs around the league dealing with injuries to their pitching staffs, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see some of them give Flexen a shot to recapture his previous form, especially considering it would come with essentially no financial risk.