According to Mike Puma of the New York Post, the Mets are confident they will add a reliever before the trading deadline, and they have are in active discussions on three relievers:

Daniel Hudson – Hudson has twice had Tommy John surgery in his career.  The last one costing him cost him the 2013 season.  In this his second full season after his lastest Tommy John surgery, he has made 42 appearances.  He has gone 1-2 with a 6.08 ERA and a 1.459 WHIP, which is much worse than he was last year when he was 4-3 with a 3.86 ERA and a 1.315 WHIP in 64 appearances.  One reason for the regression is Hudson’s changeup isn’t as good as it was last year.  Last year, Hudson generated the most swings and misses and the weakest contact when he threw his changeup.  This year, no one is fooled by Hudson’s changeup with batters hitting the pitch frequently and with authority.  The hope in acquiring him is the team could make a mechanical adjustment to help make his changeup a more useful pitch.  It also doesn’t hurt that he throws a 97 MPH fastball with an 88 MPH slider.  Hudson will be a free agent after this season.

Jim Johnson – It has been three years since Johnson has been a dominant closer for the Orioles.  Since leaving the Orioles, Johnson has made 163 appearances going 9-13 with a 5.30 ERA and a 1.599 WHIP.  This season he is pitching better than that going 2-5 with a 4.21 ERA and a 1.349 WHIP.  His main issue is his once dominant sinker is no longer dominant.  Batters have a .303 batting average with a .472 slugging on the pitch.  The 33 year old will be a free agent after the season.

Joe Smith – The former Mets third round pick will be a free agent after the season.  This year, Smith is 1-4 with a 3.96 ERA and a 1.349 WHIP.  His ERA stands to be the worst of his career, and his WHIP stands to be the worst since his rookie year with the Mets.  One reason could be his having a slight downtick in his velocity.  As a result, batters are hitting .265/.348/.368 against him.  While it would be anticipated that lefties would be doing most of the damage against the sidewinding righty, it has not been the case.  Righties and lefties are hitting him fairly equally.  However, over his last seven starts, Smith seems to be pitching much better having not allowed a run and limiting opposing batters to a .227/.227/.227 batting line.  In those games, it appears he has regained some of his lost velocity.

On the whole, these appear to decent choices for the back end of the Mets bullpen, and in the event they pitch well for the Mets, each should ease some of the burden off of Hansel Robles, Addison Reed, and Jeurys Familia.

Editor’s Note: this was also published on Mets Merized Online