Tom Brennan - Hansel Robles - Mets Malpractice

We all have, in one way or another, asked ourselves this two part question:

How did Edwin Diaz become Hansel Robles circa 2018, and Hansel Robles become Edwin Diaz circa 2018?

The first part of the question has been debated loudly for the past few months of this year, due to the fairly frequent spectacularly bad outings of Edwin Diaz for the Mets this year after being arguably the best reliever in baseball in 2018.

But...how did Hansel Robles become Edwin Diaz circa 2018?

On June 22 of last year, 2018, the New York Mets designated RHP Hansel Robles for assignment.  He had allowed 7 homers in 16 Mets outings in 2018 spanning 19.2 innings, with a 5.03 ERA (which, in point of reference, almost exactly what the 2018 Mets' pen ERA for the year turned out to be).

And despite his very live arm and 19-15 career record as a Met, he was jettisoned and off he went to the LA Angels.

This, at a time, when the Mets' bullpen was truly stinking things up in 2018 and the Mets decided to keep in their pen a bunch of stinkers wil not-so-lively arms.

The Mets could have stuck Robles in the back of the pen hoping he would come around, showing prudence and patience, while dispatching one of the other strugglers.

But they must have figured that despite his 19-15 record and live arm, he could not handle NY?  Beats me.  So he had to go, pronto.

The bullpen of 2018 at the time was a disaster that was sinking the Mets' 2018 fortunes.

In the days that followed, for instance, Robert Gsellman surrendered a grand slam to the the Dodgers.

The next day, two retained pitchers of far lower ceiling than Robles (Chris Beck - career 5.88 ERA - and Chris Flexen - career 8.07 ERA) surrendered runs in another loss.

The next loss, Tyler Bashlor (career 0-6, 5.54) surrendered 2 runs in an inning in a close loss to the Pirates.  A few days later, Corey Oswalt (6.43 career Mets ERA) surrendered 6 runs in a loss to the Marlins.  

The next day, after deGrom was pulled trailing 3-2 after 6, Gsellman surrendered 2 runs the next inning, nailing down the loss.  A few days later, Gsellman allowed 2 inherited runners to score, and he and Tim Peterson (5.91 career ERA) in 1.1 innings allowed 3 runs of their own in another bullpen debacle.

In a 9-0 loss a few days later, Flexen, Beck, and Paul Sewald (0-14, 5.22 ERA) allowed all 9 runs.

You get the point, I hope - not that I am trashing the 6 pitchers named here, but that the Mets chose to jettison live-armed Robles rather than one of these guys.

I don't really even want to go there, but the six guys are white, and the one let go was Hispanic?  Did that enter the Robles summary ejection-from-the-Mets equation?  I don't think so, and I sure as heck hope not, but I mention it nonetheless in the search for clues.  

Odd, too, that Venezuelan Wilmer Font was sent packing this year for cash considerations - the live-armed Font in 36 innings since has a 2.65 ERA, 1.06 WHIP and 44 Ks vs. 8 walks with his new team.  While with the Mets, he was 1-2, 4.94, certainly not the worst performer in the pen - but the one they dumped.

Anyway, back to Robles - what has Robles done since joining the Angels in June 2018?  

5-1, 2.55 ERA in 105 games.  

And 24 of 28 saves. 

This year, 5-0, 2.33 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP.

His last 4 months, 1.21 ERA.  

All year, just 5 HRs allowed in 68 games in the year of the juiced baseball.

Spectacular, wouldn't you say?

What changed?  

Was it just a change of scenery?  

Couldn't handle NY?   

Well, perhaps the viciousness of fans had a little something to do with his failure.  

The fans can be vicious, and merciless.

We all need a scapegoat, right, and Edwin Diaz seemingly is the current one.

But I saw an article on Hansel Robles in the LA Times recently that was very enlightening.

When I read it, I concluded:

Dave Eiland, former Mets pitching coach, screwed him up.  And the Angels un-screwed him up.  Simple enough.

Here are excerpts of what it said:

"Robles, 29, opened the Angels' eyes last September. The bargain-bin pickup a few months removed from being claimed off off waivers lit up the radar gun at Angel Stadium with a 100 mph fastball during the final series of the 2018 season."

Wait, I must ask in the search for clues, maybe he was lazy as a Met?  Not at all, after reading this:

"Robles' voracious work ethic--he is often found running stadium stairs early in the afternoon or treating his right arm with a portable massage gun before day games--has helped him become one of the most dominant relievers in the league."

So, what might it be, then?

"He regressed in 2018, the same year the Mets introduced Dave Eiland as their pitching coach. Eiland discouraged Robles from throwing a changeup at all. He directed him to focus on his fastball and slider and to make a slight alteration in his mound setup.  "I didn't know how to pitch like that, " Robles said in Spanish."

Here's what he is doing right now with that change-up that Eiland discarded:

"The rediscovery of a high-80s changeup has been key. Batters have barely touched the offspeed pitch...Robles (is) relying on it as a putaway pitch only slightly less than (his) electric fastball. "It's kind of a split-change that's been really great for him, " Angels pitching coach Doug White said. "The movement he gets on it, the shape that he gets on it, his ability to locate it pretty consistently--guys have to be ready for 98 and then the changeup comes and it's really hard to hit." "

So - this Robles release by the Mets was one huge - and, as I see it, extremely avoidable - mistake.

A guy who had win-loss success as a Met; with a very live arm; a great work ethic; and completely mishandled by the Mets' pitching coach at the time, the one that the pitching guru manager had in 2018 and well into 2019 before he was finally canned.

Released when several guys performing well below major league average with far less remarkable stuff were retained.

I see it as:

Anatomy of a complete screw up - triply painful considering what a Robles of 2019 could have meant to a Mets very wobbly Mets bullpen in 2019.

We should just write it off - hindsight is 20-20, right?  That's what I keep hearing fans say.  Can't handle NY.

Well, he saved a game against the Yanks the other day.

So, the hindsight and can't handle NY crew?

Wrong.

This was a huge, easily avoidable mistake.

We sure could have used Robles in the pen this year.

And darn it - someone in the front office needs to learn something (or some things) from his being dropped from the team last year, only to become GREAT this year.