The New York Mets didn’t make a whole lot of trades this offseason. In fact, in the winter months, David Stearns has done most of his business with the wallet rather than networking with other teams. An early offseason trade had him swapping pitcher Eric Orze with the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for outfielder Jose Siri.
Siri has been missing in action for a full month now with his last game taking place on April 12. Just a 1 for 20 performance at the plate with 8 strikeouts, he did pretty much what we’d have to expect over a 10-game span. He’s the kind of ballplayer who’ll do absolutely nothing for a while and then explode with a two-home run game.
As we await for Siri to come back and give the Mets a little more, the Rays can only be satisfied with what they’ve turned Orze into. The ex-Mets pitcher who debuted in 2024 without the greatest of results is a ground ball machine inducing soft contact and an incredibly low 1.26 ERA.
Former Mets pitcher Eric Orze is the latest project working out well for the Rays
The ERA is slightly deceptive because Orze hasn’t been utterly dominant. A rate of 3.8 walks per 9 and only 5.7 strikeouts per 9 have him with a 3.32 FIP to help suggest trouble is on the way. More so, it’s the 1.39 WHIP we cannot ignore as a mark against him.
Still, the life of a pitcher is sometimes the opposite of that old high school yearbook saying “it’s about the journey, not the destination.” Orze might drive a rickety bus at times. He always gets you there.
His average exit velocity, hard-hit percentage, and ground ball percentage are all between the 87-89th percentile in the league. He’s smartly pitching to contact rather than trying to strike everyone out. A folly of many pitchers trying to break it in the big leagues, Orze has mastered what the Rays have taught him.
There’s a good chance the Mets would have been able to tap into the best version of Orze as well. He thrived in the minors last year. The cost of doing business via trade is always packed with a “what if” or a “but.” We’re not grieving Orze, an almost 28-year-old rookie finding his groove. We just wish we could reap the benefits of our side of the trade.
