The Mets released Houser on Wednesday, Will Sammon of The Athletic reports.
Houser will head to free agency after he went unclaimed off waivers upon being designated for assignment last weekend. The right-hander opened the season in the Mets' rotation, posting an 8.55 ERA over seven starts before he was permanently moved him to the bullpen in late May. Houser turned in a 3.28 ERA over 35.2 innings as a reliever, but he didn't notice much of a bump in his strikeout rate (16.8 percent) and had mostly underwhelming underlying statistics. He'll look to catch on elsewhere as organizational starting pitching depth and may have to settle for a minor-league contract.