Tony Plate - Mets Bullpen Still Can Be a Concern

New Mets manager Luis Rojas has his work cut out for him. He needs to make sure his bullpen will be ready so his team can contend. He wants to fix Edwin Diaz who has worked hard in Puerto Rico to get himself in the shape he needs to be at so he can perform and be consistent. Rojas feels that the work Diaz is putting in will carry over into this season.  

After his 2019 performance Diaz is determined to regain his 2018 form in 2020 and show everyone that he can be the ideal closer the Mets had been lacking. Rojas thinks that the most important thing for Diaz is his game preparation and maintaining his confidence. In 2018 his bread and butter pitch was the slider, but in 2019 his slider was breaking differently which ended up hanging so batters sat on his fastball since his slider was off.

Dellin Betances has the potential to be a free-agent bargain, but his health issues from 2019 remain a concern meaning it will be difficult to come back from the shoulder and Achilles injuries and pitch effectively. Betances was one of the best setup men during the last four years before he got injured and hopefully, he will regain that form.

 Jeurys Familia struggled with his control and confidence. He shed thirty pounds in an effort to rebound from a mediocre year. He has worked with the Mets health and performance department to improve in every aspect of his preparation. He has spent time with Jeremy Hefner to better understand his mechanics and approach. Hopefully his new build will not have a negative effect on his throwing motion.

Rojas believes in unity which is the message he wants to relay to the team when the first full-squad workout begins on February 17^th.  He feels that he has a good group of guys and everything will be positive. He pointed out that the players want to get going since they have been active doing pre-camp workouts. He feels the preparation will carry over and put his team in a position to be successful.

In other sports news the Kansas City Chiefs won Super Bowl LIV over the San Francisco 49ers in epic fashion coming back from a ten-point deficit led by MVP Patrick Mahomes. The turning point of the game was the 44-yard throw from Mahomes to Tyreek Hill on a 3^rd and 15 play. Andy Reid had the weight taken off his shoulders and finally won that elusive Super Bowl.