Reese Kaplan -- Relief Pitchers: Honorable and Dishonorable Mentions

In this series about relievers both bad and good, there are quite a few who deserve honorable mentions of sorts for what they accomplished as members of the Mets.

In an era before relief pitching became the super specialized skill set into which it has now evolved, the unassuming Taylor served as both a closer and setup guy during the late 1960s and early 1970s for the NY Mets.  He pitched in World Series for both the Cardinals and the Mets, doing quite well, earning a save for Jerry Koosman in Game 2.  After seeing wounded soldiers in Vietnam, the Canadian-born Taylor decided he wanted to become a doctor and became a team physician for the Toronto Blue Jays after his playing days and medical school were over. 

Long remembered for his “You Gotta Believe” rally cry during the 1973 season when the Mets inexplicably found themselves in their second World Series when finishing the year with just an 82-79 record (actually worse than they finished this past 86-win season), McGraw was a true character who the media loved to interview because he had no filter.  Once when asked if he preferred real grass or Astroturf, he replied, “I don’t know.  I’ve never smoked Astroturf.”  For his career he went 96-92 with a 3.14 ERA and 180 saves.  He was lost far too young to cancer, but his memory lives on in the minds of Mets fans and country music fans whenever his son Tim performs.

   

He was not a long time Met but he was sure impactful when he was there.  His first year in the orange and blue he put together a whale of a season as a setup guy in the pen.  He was in 49 games, went 5-1 and had a terrific 2.60 ERA when he decided to head out for a late night meal in Miami.  The taxi he took was struck by a drunk driver and Sanchez suffered a separated shoulder which ended his season and kept him out of baseball the following year as well.  He made a full season comeback to the Mets in 2008, again going 5-1 but this time with a much worse 4.32 ERA.  In one more year he was out of baseball, finishing with an ineffective 12-game stint for the Padres. 

Perhaps the most iconic photo from the NY Mets 1986 World Series victory was Orosco throwing his glove up into the air in celebration of his save and the team’s victory against the Red Sox.  It was his second save of the Series and the brightest spot of his long baseball career.  When he finally retired at age 46 Orosco had played for 9 teams, accumulating an 87-80 record with a 3.16 ERA for his career to go along with 144 saves.  For the Mets he was even better, with a 2.73 ERA over 8 seasons.

Known as much for his pitching skill as his penchant for giving hot-foots in the dugout, Roger McDowell is fondly remembered by Mets fans as an integral part of the 1986 World Series team.  For the Mets he would pitch for five years, going 33-29 with a 3.13 ERA and notching 84 saves as the right handed half of a shared closer duty.

Punching out your father-in-law in the clubhouse is not a way to endear yourself to your employer and Rodriguez was traded away from the Mets for the proverbial bag of balls (in the form of pitcher Danny Herrera).  Herrera appeared in 16 games for the Mets at age 26, pitching to just a 1.16 ERA but injuries curtailed his career.  In the meantime, Rodriguez is 4^th all-time on the saves list.  While he was a Met, Rodriguez notched 83 of those saves, so he was good if not a good person. 

The hard throwing lefty was a Mets closer for a short period of time, derailed by injuries.  He pitched parts of 4 years, accumulated 101 saves and pitched to a miniscule 2.37 ERA.  For his career he’s 6^th on the all-time list just behind one-time teammate John Franco.  For some reason the fans never really took to him.

He was also a character, but later we learned that it was fueled by alcohol.  His habits were mostly hidden by the media, but when it got to be too much, the Mets decided to trade their problem child for one on the St. Louis Cardinals – Keith Hernandez.  I think they’d make that trade every day and twice on Sunday.

The long-time setup man was a mostly effective pitcher for the Mets and the Braves.  He was part of the package that landed them George Stone for the improbable run of excellence he had in 1973 which resulted in a World Series appearance.  In 1971 and 1972 both Frisella and Tug McGraw formed a stellar righty/lefty duo to close out games.  When he and Gary Gentry went to Atlanta for Felix Millan and George Stone, it was a bit of a tough pill to swallow, but Frisella tragically died in a dune buggy accident on New Year’s Day in 1977 at age 30 and Gentry was out of baseball long before 30, appearing in only 26 games over a three-year period for Atlanta due to nagging injuries.