One of the more interesting free agents on the market last winter was right-hander Clay Holmes, who entered the offseason having fashioned a very accomplished career as a reliever since being traded from the Pirates to the Yankees. Across his four seasons in the Bronx, the righty pitched to a 2.69 ERA with a 2.74 FIP as a late-inning reliever.
That’s the sort of track record that would normally lead a player to sign a lucrative deal to remain in a high-leverage role, as was the case for players like Jeff Hoffman and Tanner Scott this offseason. Holmes chose a different path, however, and wound up signing with the Mets on a three-year, $38MM deal to become a member of their starting rotation. Holmes, 32, spoke to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale about his free agency as part of an interview MLBTR readers are encouraged to read in full and revealed that he had no intention of signing as a starter entering the winter.
“I definitely went into the offseason not expecting to be a starter,” Holmes told Nightengale. “I mean, it wasn’t like the World Series ended and I went out seeking to be a starter. It was nothing I thought about.”
Holmes went on to say that he only began to consider the idea of converting into a rotation role when his agent approached him to let him know that multiple teams had called to gauge his interest in the idea. While multiple teams reached out to Holmes about starting, Nightengale relays that the Mets were the most convincing in their pitch to use him out of the rotation and that Holmes left his conversations with Mets officials knowing the team had a “real belief” in his ability to be a quality starter.
That, in conjunction with the ability to continue living in New York surrounded by familiar faces like Mets manager (and former Yankees bench coach) Carlos Mendoza, was enough to sell Holmes on the decision to head to Queens as a starting pitcher. That’s despite the fact that multiple teams, including the incumbent Yankees, were interested in the right-hander only as a reliever. Nightengale notes that the Yankees “lightly engaged” with Holmes about the possibility of a reunion this winter but that those conversations were strictly about the righty pitching in a bullpen role. He also goes on to report that Holmes received more lucrative offers from teams who were interested in him as a closer, with multiple offers guaranteeing him more than $40MM.
While leaving a higher guarantee on the table is always a risk, if his relief offers were in the $40MM range it’s not hard to see why he decided to bet on himself. Holmes’s $38MM pact with the Mets allows him to opt out after the 2026 season, and if he were to re-enter free agency with two successful years as a mid-rotation or better starter under his belt he’d surely find much more lucrative offers in free agency. Nick Martinez accepted the Qualifying Offer this past winter and will receive more than half of that for just the 2025 season after proving himself as a quality starter during his time with the Reds, and Seth Lugo is another recent rotation convert who signed a three-year, $45MM deal with the Royals and appears likely to decline his 2026 player option and land an even more lucrative deal this winter barring a sudden change in fortune.
When Holmes signed with the Mets, the Yankees went on to pivot towards Devin Williams to upgrade their bullpen, trading Nestor Cortes and Caleb Durbin in order to acquiring the well-regarded closer. Williams’ tenure in the Bronx has gotten off to a difficult start so far, as he’s posted an ugly 9.24 ERA in 15 appearances for the Yankees. The same cannot be said about Holmes’s first few starts in Queens. Across eight starts as a Met, Holmes has pitched to a sterling 2.74 ERA with a solid 24.7% strikeout rate and an excellent 53.0% ground ball rate. That’s the eighth-highest ground ball rate among qualified starters in the sport this year, and his 2.62 FIP ranks seventh among that same group.
Of course, all of that strong production has come in just eight starts. Eight starts into his own conversion to the rotation last year, Giants right-hander Jordan Hicks boasted a 2.30 ERA and 3.17 FIP across 43 innings. He posted a 5.27 ERA and 5.15 FIP the rest of the way last year, however, and currently has a 5.82 ERA through his own first eight starts of 2025. The move from relief work to starting can be a difficult adjustment for players just in terms of innings, and it will be impossible to judge Holmes’s success entirely until he has a full season under his belt and he proves his stuff can hold up over 140+ innings of work. For now, however, it’s hard to imagine the partnership between the Mets and Holmes having gone better for either side as the righty appears likely to be in the conversation for his second consecutive All-Star appearance while the Mets have cruised to a 25-14 record as they lead the NL East.