Leading NL contender signs a recent Cubs' bullpen DFA to minor-league deal

As the bullpen picture solidified and the Chicago Cubs more or less established a pecking order for the late innings, it quickly became clear that struggling veteran Julian Merryweather was the odd man out. His walk numbers were up, strikeouts down and the same ineffectiveness that plagued him last season was again a common theme in his appearances.

That led to the Cubs designating him for assignment and, after he cleared waivers, Chicago opted to cut him loose rather than option him to the minors. Now, he has a new home, with the New York Mets adding the 33-year-old on a minor-league deal.

Merryweather is just two years removed from playing a critical role in the Cubs' bullpen. In 2023, the veteran had the best year of his career, making 69 appearances and working to a 3.38 ERA and 3.52 FIP while punching out more than a dozen batters per nine.

New manager Craig Counsell came into the picture last year expecting Merryweather to play an important role in his bullpen, but a knee injury changed everything. The right-hander pitched better than his 6.00 ERA indicates, but it was clear he wasn't anywhere close to the pitcher he was the year prior.

Julian Merryweather heads to the Mets looking to get back on track

The hope was the knee injury was to blame for his 2024 struggles, but even healthy this year, he wasn't getting the job done. Opponents roughed him up for 23 hits in 18 2/3 innings of work and he ranked near the bottom of the league in hard-hit rate, among other metrics.

He now joins a Mets bullpen that ranks third in the National League in ERA (2.85) and fourth in opponent batting average (.220) as further depth. New York has weathered several big pitching injuries in early-going en route to the Senior Circuit's best record and Merryweather just adds some insurance behind their go-to arms in the pen.

Since cutting ties with Merryweather, the Cubs have leaned on the likes of Daniel Palencia in the ninth and have gotten key contributions from a number of other arms, including Brad Keller, Chris Flexen, Caleb Thielbar, Drew Pomeranz and even former closer Ryan Pressly, who has looked better after a rocky start to the campaign.