Clay Holmes Talks Mets Contract, 'Excited' to Be Starter Again After Yankees Stint

New York Mets right-hander Clay Holmes is excited to be a starter again after pitching out of the bullpen for the last six seasons.

"I didn't want to look back at the end of my career and say, 'Man, what could've come from that?'" Holmes said during his introductory press conference over Zoom on Tuesday (h/t Joe Pantorno of amNewYork. "It's something deep down I had a passion for, and it excited me."

Anthony DiComo of MLB.com relayed more of Holmes' remarks on the matter:

Holmes, a ninth-round pick of the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 2011 MLB draft, started in the minors for almost all of his time in the minors before getting the call-up to the bigs in 2018.

He started four games for the Pirates during his rookie season but didn't fare well, posting a 7.80 ERA in those matchups. Holmes moved to the bullpen full-time in 2019 and encountered his fair share of struggles, but a 2021 midseason trade to the New York Yankees reignited his career. In three-plus years with the Yanks, the ex-closer had a 2.69 ERA and 74 saves.

After the 2024 season, Holmes signed a three-year, $38 million contract, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post.

Obviously, this will be a big transition for Holmes, who has never thrown more than 70 innings in his big league career. His biggest workload was in 2016, when he threw 136.1 innings over 26 starts.

"The biggest thing is just monitoring. It's hard to put numbers on things… I don't so much believe in that," Holmes said, per Pantorno. "There are things you need to monitor and see how your body is holding up… My intention going in is to throw 160 innings. I want to throw as many innings as I can. Obviously, you want to do that safely."

Holmes joins a Mets rotation that also includes Frankie Montas, who joined the team on a two-year, $34 million deal after starting for the Cincinnati Reds and Milwaukee Brewers last year. Kodai Senga serves as the ace, with David Peterson and Paul Blackburn also in the mix.