Tom Brennan - SUCCESS BINDS SETH LUGO TO THE BULLPEN

Erudite Macks Mets writer Reese Kaplan recently did an article on the Mets all time best relievers. 

The name Seth Lugo (pictured above) was briefly mentioned in the article.

Seth Lugo, as any diehard Mets fan knows by now, was the 34th round pick by the Mets. Lugo did not have an overwhelmingly stellar minor league career, ending up with a record of 29-24, with an ERA of 4.29. 

After being called up, in the major leagues, Seth has done some starting but also a lot of relieving. 

A look at the career record shows that he is a fine 13-8 as a starter in 31 starts, but with a modest 4.06 ERA in 168 innings.  No doubt, based on those numbers, he’d make a good # 4 or # 5 starter.  He'd probably tell you he could be a # 1 or # 2 starter, if you asked him.

But now has he done in the pen?

Lugo the reliever is crushing it in his career. 

In 120 outings, he has a 9-7 record and a stellar 2.52 ERA with 9 saves and an incredible 0.953 WHIP.  

By comparison, the mighty Jake deGrom has a career 1.053 WHIP and, in only one of his six seasons has Jake had a WHIP lower than Seth Lugo's career reliever WHIP. 

Now, any smart team wants to keep their top players happy if it all possible. And Seth Lugo has repeatedly expressed his desire to start games rather than relieve. 

But from where I'm sitting, he is a victim of his own success.

I’m sure the Mets leadership looks at that 0.953 pen WHIP and thinks to themselves "there is just no way we can let an arm of the caliber out of the bullpen."  Heck, man, Mariano Rivera's career WHIP is 1.00, and Billy Wagner's is 0.998.  Lugo's WHIP is better than those greats as a reliever so far.

I certainly wouldn’t let him out of the pen if it was my call. 

And it should be also understood that Seth Lugo's career WHIP as a starter is a much higher 1.307.

The Mets clearly get much more value out of him as a reliever than as a starter.

He might disagree and say that with all he has learned, he'd excel as a starter, too, at this point.  Maybe, but it is cast in concrete that he flat out excels as a reliever.

He is just too good as a reliever to be switched to a starter's role, except in an emergency, and is clearly a victim of his own success. 

The Mets can (and should) make up for that by truly paying the man what he’s worth going forward.  

After all, starters get more in free agency than do set up relievers, even one as valuable as Seth Lugo.  Quality closers do make more than set up men, though.

That said, it remains entirely possible, if and when the 2020 season gets under way, that even in a pen with arms like Edwin Diaz, Jeurys Familia, and Dellin Betances, the closer may end up being:

SETH LUGO.

Because the former 34th rounder is:

A BULLPEN ACE.