TAMPA — Jon Niese’s first run through baseball free agency didn’t go anything close to how he had hoped.
The 30-year-old left-hander figured he’d have a deal long before signing with the Yankees early Sunday evening, and he certainly didn’t think he’d have to show up for spring training a little late as a non-roster player on a minor-league deal.
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“It was weird, kind of hectic at times,” Niese said Monday morning at his new Yankees locker at Steinbrenner Field. “I had to calm my wife down a little bit at times. I’m a patient guy so I knew something was going to happen eventually, so I really wasn’t worried. I definitely would have liked sometime done a little earlier. But I’m here now, so I’m going to make the best of it.”
Niese has a pretty decent big-league resume, almost all of it as a Mets starter, and picked the Yankees because he sees this a good fit.
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“I thought I had a good chance to make the ballclub, and that’s my goal,” Niese said. “From the outside looking in, I thought there were good opportunities … openings in the ‘pen and even the rotation if that suits me well. Whatever role it is, I just want to make the ballclub.”
Niese hasn’t been told if he’ll be put in the mix for the Yankees’ two open starter spots or pitch out of the bullpen.
“They haven’t told me anything,” said Niese, who believes he has an opt-out in his new pact if he’s still in the minors by a certain date. “I’m here to do whatever I have to do.”
Niese joined the Yankees after passing a physical, which was no sure thing considering his 2016 campaign ended last August with surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee.
He’s healthy now and has been throwing since January.
“It’s getting a lot better each day,” Niese said. “Back in August when I had it done, it’s like any other surgery, you feel weak. And then you start rehabbing and you start working out and it gets better and better each day.”
Niese was 8-7 with a 5.50 ERA and 25 homers allowed in 121 innings last season pitching first for Pittsburgh and then the Mets again over 23 outings, 18 as a starter.
He blames his poor stats on trying to pitch through his injury, which occurred last June when he planted wrong while fielding a bunt.
“It just kept getting worse and I tried to pitch through it,” he said. “Finally, I just had to shut it down because I wasn’t being productive.”
Niese resumed throwing in January and showed up to the Yankees having thrown off the mound four times since his surgery, which occurred just a few weeks after he had been re-acquired by the Mets on Aug. 1 in a 1-for-1 trade for lefty reliever Antonio Bastardo.
“I was pitching well for the Mets and then I was running in from the bullpen and mis-stepped and I felt it then again,” Niese said. “From there it progressively got worse and I said, ‘Get it cleaned up.'”
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Niese began his big-league career pitching for the Mets from 2008-14, and he was a pretty effective starter most of the time. He was 13-9 with a 3.40 ERA over 30 starts in 2012 and from 2010-15 was 59-59 with a 3.86 ERA in 174 games, 169 as a starter.
Niese has a home where the Mets’ train in Port St. Lucie, Fla., but didn’t talk to them this past winter about returning to the club, which has one of baseball’s best (and youngest) rotations.
“With the Mets, they treated me well there. I had a lot of good years, made a lot of great friends. I have nothing but great things to say about that organization, but just like every ballplayer, sometimes you’ve just got to move on. Careers go in different directions.
“They obviously traded me to the Pirates .. and unfortunately it just didn’t work out there. And then the Mets tried to give me another opportunity, and I was certainly grateful of it, and unfortunately things just didn’t go my way last year. Now hopefully that’s behind me and I’m hoping to turn it around this year.”
Randy Miller may be reached at rmiller@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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