By Jennifer Corozza August 17, 2020
There is no excuse for Seth Lugo to be pitching in relief down four runs.
The Mets are in a freefall due to their failures regarding RISP and starting pitching. Last weekend’s sweep at the hands of the Philadelphia “with Zack Wheeler” Phillies was not pretty, in part, due to weakness of starting pitching by the names of Walker Lockett (Why?), Steven Matz (What?), and Rick Porcello (How Much?). Despite many, many questions – Jacob deGrom, did you need a new mattress? – there has been a staunch refusal from the team to start Lugo as he is considered too important to the bullpen.
To reiterate, Lugo was pitching in relief down four runs in the eighth inning. Why, if he’s so important to the bullpen in high-leverage situations, why? Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez took some guesses because they thought it was weird when they saw Lugo warming up late in the game on Sunday. They wondered that if like Edwin Diaz before him, Lugo asked for more work as he had failed in his last outing Friday night (AKA the “Wilson Ramos hates Mets fans” game). It was the only realistic guestimate, because otherwise it felt punitive and/or stupid.
Punitive to let it hit home with Lugo that starting was as out of reach as the moon for him and the Mets organization were sick of getting questions on Lugo starting every time a starting pitcher coughed up the lead or put up a five spot before Nimmo walked for the 909th time. Stupid because Robert Gsellman was starting the next day and if Lugo really needed work, he could have followed Gsellman for 1-2 innings. While possibly a low-leverage situation, the Mets actually would need Lugo the next day because Gsellman was not fully stretched out yet and would need some help. If you’re a Mets fan, you know Lugo has been vocal about wanting to start for years now, that the bullpen is almost full go, Diaz has improved as of late (still not closing though), and the starting rotation is the opposite of good right now. So, why, was this oh so important bullpen cog warming and then pitching in the eighth inning in a game his team was down by four?
I think knowing Lugo’s history with the Mets is relevant. Let’s take a walk down memory lane, shall we?
In 2016, Lugo and Gsellman came up to save the Mets. This is not hyperbole as the Mets lost Matt Harvey, deGrom, and Matz to injury. Noah Syndergaard and Bartolo Colon weren’t enough to get the Mets to the postseason once again. After losing to the Kansas City Royals in the 2015 World Series despite screams for Harvey to finish that ninth inning (don’t cry, everyone), the Mets wanted that back to back postseason appearance that is so elusive to them. Lugo and Gsellman were crucial to the Mets making their 2016 Wild Card appearance. While Lugo started the season in the bullpen, his starts down the stretch were part of the reason they made it in.
The pen is improving.
ReplyDeleteThe rotation is a mess.
What is the problem here?