Tobias Myers is headed back to Triple-A Syracuse. The Mets made it official Monday, optioning the right-handed reliever after a brutal 6.21 ERA over 42 innings this season. Joey Gerber got the call to take his spot in the bullpen.
Myers came to New York as part of the February blockbuster that brought Freddy Peralta from Milwaukee. The idea was simple: Peralta anchors the rotation, Myers provides versatile depth out of the pen or spot starts. Neither has worked out like David Stearns planned.
How We Got Here
The Mets entered 2026 with a reshuffled coaching staff and a roster Stearns had spent the winter remaking. The Peralta trade was his biggest swing. But the rotation has been a mess all year. Kodai Senga got knocked around so badly he’s now working out of the bullpen. Top prospect Jonah Tong has looked like a rookie. Peralta hasn’t been the ace he was in Milwaukee, and the injuries just keep piling up.
Myers, 27, was supposed to be a safety net. He’d started and relieved for the Brewers, and his experience made him a logical fit for a staff that needed innings. Instead, he got hit hard. The 6.21 ERA isn’t a fluke — batters have teed off on him consistently, and he’s struggled with command when he falls behind. The Mets needed more than a mop-up guy who gets knocked around, and Gerber has been solid in Syracuse.
Gerber Gets His Shot
Joey Gerber has been around. The 28-year-old has appeared in 28 big league games across parts of three seasons, mostly with Seattle and San Francisco. His stuff plays up in short bursts, and the Mets hope he can give them a few clean innings in the middle of games where Myers couldn’t.
But let’s be real. This is a team that has lost eight of its last nine games. The season is circling the drain in late June, and swapping out a struggling long reliever for another fresh arm isn’t fixing the core problem. The Mets’ starting rotation is unreliable, their lineup can’t consistently score, and the National League East is already pulling away.
What makes this sting is that the Peralta trade was supposed to be the move that stabilized everything. Instead, it’s become a symbol of a roster that doesn’t work. Peralta has a 4.78 ERA and is averaging barely five innings per start. Myers is now back in Syracuse. And the Mets are running out of answers.
Maybe Gerber surprises people. Maybe he throws four or five scoreless outings and buys the front office some time. But right now, this feels less like a strategic move and more like a team trying anything to stop the bleeding.
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