Tom Brennan - PAUL SEWALD REVISITED

Tom Brennan - PAUL SEWALD REVISITED

Prior to the trade deadline, as I write this, I thought of Thanksgiving.  Hungry, I guess.  

But we should be thankful for what we have - like having Paul Sewald in the Mets pen.

There have always been Sewald doubters.

This here dude was tremendous in the minors, tons of saves (70 of 77), 17-8 W-L, and a career 2.20 ERA inflated by his time in Vegas (despite pitching well there, too).

But, you say, he does not throw his fastball at 100 MPH like everyone else,  And I reply, SO WHAT?

He's been in 35 games as a New York Met.  

In just 5, he's been charged with 2 or more runs.  

In just 5 others, he's given up 1 run.  

In 25, no runs.  Nice.

In 9 July games, 37 batters up, 3 hits, 12 Ks.  Nice.  

So his fastball this season has averaged "only" 91.24 MPH - so what?  Ron Taylor went 9-4, 2.72 with 13 saves in 1969, and he did not throw balls through cement either.

As I said, quite a few people have said that Sewald cannot throw hard enough. It is amazing though that he can strike out 50 at 41 innings.  Dontcha think?   Just a fluke...oh, I forgot, that is the same rate he fanned folks in the minor leagues.  319 in 261 innings, to be precise

MLB righty bats are hitting under .200 against Sewald, but his .317 BAA vs lefties shows he can still improve there.

But he can field - just one error in his entire career, major and minor.  Probably a blown call.

He joined a Mets bullpen that at the time was in large-scale disarray, as an unheralded underdog.  He proved to be a stabilizer.

He has a head start on Mets' Rookie of the Year honors - let's see if Sewald can head off Rosario and Smith in that regard when they are called up.  Actually, Sewald is 2nd in my ROY voting to TJ Rivera, another long-ignored underdog - until he couldn't be ignored any longer - just like Paul.

Terry still doubts Sewald, who has NO saves yet due to lack of opportunity.  Only 2 save opportunities so far (both in early June, representing 2 of his 5 bad outings) - 18 outings since the last one, and all but one of the 18 were solid - but his 70 in 77 chances in the minors shows that he can be competent there too, when needed.

Thank you, Paul Sewald.

Speaking of relievers, Addison Reed goes for 3 Vic Black type relief prospects....let's hope all three (nicely described in a Macks Mets post yesterday) will eventually do much better than Vic was able to for the Mets in the not-too-distant past.   

Of the 3, Jamie Callahan is a former 2nd founder who is the most advanced and off he heads to Sin City - he was seen crying as he headed to Pitchers' Hell.  Right now, to me, Met fireballer Ty Bashlor falls only behind Callahan in this threesome.  Drew Smith (in the Duda trade) seems a bit ahead of Bashlor too, at least for now.

Steve Nogosek looks like a good arm, but let's see if he can be effective above A ball next year.  The other guy is a wild man with a 1.81 WHIP this year: PROJECT.

Dunno about you...I was hoping that one or two more Mets Vets besides Reed and Lucas were going to be moved.  If Jay Bruce stays all year, though, maybe the lowly team home run record of 41 will finally topple and fall.

I'm done - isn't that a relief?