{"id":116126,"date":"2026-03-22T23:17:52","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T03:17:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=116126"},"modified":"2026-03-22T23:17:52","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T03:17:52","slug":"craig-kimbrel-not-on-mets-opening-day-roster-one-reliever-spot-remains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/03\/22\/craig-kimbrel-not-on-mets-opening-day-roster-one-reliever-spot-remains\/","title":{"rendered":"Veteran Closer Misses Mets&#8217; Opening Day Roster, One Reliever Spot Remains"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/k\/kimbrcr01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-03-22_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Craig Kimbrel<\/a> has been informed that he will not be making the New York Mets&#8217; opening day roster. As of right now, Kimbrel is deciding whether or not he will stay with the Mets organization after <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/02\/15\/craig-kimbrel-could-be-solid-addition-to-mets-bullpen\/\" target=\"_self\">signing in February<\/a>. Manager <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/managers\/mendoca99.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Carlos Mendoza<\/a>\u00a0<a  href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-us\/sports\/baseball\/mets-make-decision-on-craig-kimbrel\/ar-AA1ZavBs?ocid=BingNewsVerp\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">stated earlier today<\/a>, <span>&#8220;Now he&#8217;s deciding whether he wants to stay, which looks like he&#8217;s leaning that way&#8230; but he&#8217;s also going to look around for opportunities.&#8221; It will be interesting to see whether or not Kimbrel will end up staying or if he walks to another contending organization.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"max-width: 610px\"><smartframe-embed class=\"smartframe_wp_element\" customer-id=\"b0c95bc04383cef69c6b47df872135cf\" image-id=\"WmOBfLT2cSQH\" style=\"width: 100%; display: inline-flex; max-width: 3000px; aspect-ratio: 3000\/2198;\" ><\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n<h2>Craig Kimbrel Misses Out On Mets Opening Day Roster Spot<\/h2>\n<p>Kimbrel had a bit of a rough time during spring training. His final stats were a 4.50 ERA in six innings, with six strikeouts and five walks. That was one of the places where he struggled, which could very well have been a contributing factor to his not making the cut. Kimbrel not making the roster leaves the Mets with one more bullpen spot left. The final reliever spot is down to two players right now until <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/minteaj01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-03-22_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">A.J. Minter<\/a> comes back from injury.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Mets have informed Craig Kimbrel that he will not be a member of their bullpen for Opening Day <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/rZvI0eXyfy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/rZvI0eXyfy<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SNY_Mets\/status\/2035735960206381474?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 22, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Who Gets the Final Spot in the Mets Bullpen?<\/h2>\n<p>The two names that look like primary candidates for that final spot are lefties, <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hudsobr01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-03-22_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bryan Hudson<\/a> and <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/l\/lovelri01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-03-22_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Richard Lovelady<\/a>. Hudson is an interesting case considering how he&#8217;s pitched in spring training. He was acquired from the Chicago White Sox in exchange for cash considerations.<\/p>\n<h2>Can Bryan Hudson Make the Team?<\/h2>\n<p>The Mets put Hudson to work in spring training, and it seems he may have pitched himself out of that final spot. In just four games, Hudson pitched 3 1\/3 innings to a horrendous 16.20 ERA. The interesting part with this, however, is the fact that his lifetime ERA is a solid 2.83.<\/p>\n<p>The Mets may try to see if he can throw these first couple of appearances behind him and get the magic back that he once had. For example, when he was <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/08\/12\/bryan-hudson-returns-to-brewers-pen-dl-hall-headed-back-to-triple-a\/\" target=\"_self\">with the Milwaukee Brewers<\/a>, he pitched in 43 games and over 62 1\/3 innings, and he had a magical 1.73 ERA out of the pen. The Mets may see if the 28-year-old can get back to the dominance he once had.<\/p>\n<h2>Will Lovelady Steal the Last Spot?<\/h2>\n<p>On the other side of the coin, the Mets have an <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/03\/14\/mets-place-justin-hagenman-injured-list-claim-richard-lovelady\/\" target=\"_self\">old friend<\/a> in Lovelady. He has had a few on-and-off stints with the Mets since last season. With them last season, he pitched to a 6.30 ERA in 10 innings. This spring training, though, he&#8217;s been solid, putting up a 1.80 ERA through five innings of work. The question is, do the Mets trust Lovelady to replicate his minor success throughout the regular season? It seems only time will tell.<\/p>\n<h2>The Mets Will Soon Have to Make a Decision<\/h2>\n<p>With Opening Day starting on Wednesday and the Mets&#8217; home opener on Thursday, the team will need to decide soon on who will be joining the team come Opening Day. Whether it will be Hudson, Lovelady, or a shock candidate remains to be seen. Whoever gets this spot, however, may not even be here the full length of the season, as it seems they are just holding the spot for Minter when he comes back. It will be exciting to see who joins the Mets in New York on Thursday!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credit: Jim Rassol-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Craig Kimbrel has been informed that he will not be making the New York Mets&#8217; opening day roster. As of right now, Kimbrel is deciding whether or not he will stay with the Mets organization after signing in February. Manager Carlos Mendoza\u00a0stated earlier today, &#8220;Now he&#8217;s deciding whether he wants to stay, which looks like [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5729,"featured_media":114166,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22,1071,35],"tags":[29310,28592,4683,323,29309],"class_list":["post-116126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mets","category-mlb","category-news","tag-a-j-minter","tag-bryan-hudson","tag-carlos-mendoza","tag-craig-kimbrel","tag-richard-lovelady"],"modified_by":"Lewis Masella, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5729"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116126"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116126\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":116140,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116126\/revisions\/116140"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}