Mets Reliever Wins Arbitration Hearing

The New York Mets lost their arbitration hearing with relief pitcher Phil Bickford on Tuesday, reported the New York Post.

It may not be much money, but Bickford won the difference in the two offers. He will get paid $900,000 after the team offered him $815,000.

This was Bickford’s first year of arbitration eligibility and he cannot be a free agent until 2028.

Bickford arrived in New York in a deadline deal from the Los Angeles Dodgers last summer. In 25 games with the Mets, he went 3-2 with a 4.62 ERA and saved one game in 25.1 innings. He struck out 28 and walked 13.

Combined his numbers with the Dodgers and he went 5-5 with a 4.95 ERA in 61 appearances, along with 76 strikeouts and 39 walks.

Bickford has been in and out of the Majors since he made his debut with Milwaukee in 2020, as he pitched in one game. He started 2021 with Milwaukee and ended it with the Dodgers, going a combined 4-2 with a 2.81 ERA in 57 appearances. The Dodgers got him off a waiver claim.

He spent all of 2022 with the Dodgers, as he went 2-1 with a 4.72 ERA in 61 innings.

For his career he is 11-8 with a 4.43 ERA in 179 games.

One thing that will keep Bickford in the mix for a relief role is his high strikeout rate, as he averages 10.2 strikeouts per nine innings for his career. But he is also out of options, so if he isn’t able to win a job the Mets will have to designate him for assignment and take their changes with him on the waiver wire, if they wish to keep him.