The New York Mets released right-handed reliever Phil Bickford on Tuesday after clearing waivers, according to The Associated Press. Bickford becomes the second big league player this month to be released after winning in salary arbitration.
The 28-year-old reliever will receive $217,742 in termination pay. This number is a bit south of the $900,000 salary chosen by a three-person panel over an $815,000 offer from New York.
Now-Oakland Athletics third baseman J.D. Davis is the other player who was released by San Francisco on March 11 after winning $6.9 million in arbitration. He nabbed $1,112,903 in termination pay. However, he agreed to terms five days later with the Athletics for one year, $2.5 million, and up to $1 million more in performance bonuses.
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The Mets designated Bickford for assignment on Sunday to make room for his former Los Angeles Dodgers teammate J.D. Martinez, who agreed to a $12 million, one-year contract. In his 25 games with the Mets, Bickford went 3-2 with a 4.62 ERA and one save. Overall last season between New York and the Dodgers, he was 5-5 with an ERA of 4.95 in 61 games.
New York originally brought Bickford in along with Adam Kolarek to refill their bullpen that had been emptied out by other deals. At camp this year, the Mets invited a slew of relievers on guaranteed and minor league deals which made it tough for Bickford to break camp on the Opening Day roster. With no options remaining, the Mets didn’t have much of a choice and had to DFA him in order to remove him from the 40-man roster.
He didn’t make a strong case for himself during Grapefruit League either. His ERA was 5.79 through 4.2 innings and he struck out seven in five games. He allowed three earned runs but the Mets bullpen is crowded and instead of outrighting him to Triple-A Syracuse, they chose to cut him instead.
Bickford was drafted in the first round at No. 18 overall by the San Francisco Giants in 2015, out of the College of Southern Nevada. He made his debut in 2020 with the Milwaukee Brewers and has pitched in parts of four seasons at the big league level, collecting a record of 11-8 with an ERA of 4.43 with two saves in 179 appearances.
In another move on Tuesday, the Mets released Luke Voit from his minor league contract. Voit’s career has been plagued by injuries since his stellar COVID-shortened season in 2020. His production has plummeted recently. The former American League home run champion with the New York Yankees had 22 homers that season, but only batted .118 with one homer and four RBIs in 34 at-bats across 14 games this spring.
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