When the Mets signed Aaron Loup to a one-year, $3 million deal back in late January of this year, it didn’t exactly feel like a major move. The 33-year-old lefty was coming off a very good short 2020 season with the Rays, but given the nature of the 60-game season, it was hard to buy into that performance over the course of just 25.0 innings. And while he’s never had a truly awful year in the majors, he had accumulated a 4.18 ERA from 2015 through 2019.
Any doubts about Loup were quickly proven wrong.