Reese Kaplan -- Mets Bullpen Caused Overdoses on Antacids

The Mets are about to enter the calendar year 2021 and in anticipation of the new season it’s high time we took at look at the bullpen which was largely at the root of the 2020 performance disaster which resulted in a fight in the division to stay out of last place.  We’ll gloss over the highly competent and underappreciated Edwin Diaz, but then as you peruse the roster of flamethrowers it appears many were more inclined to contribute to the inferno than to reduce opponents bats to mere ash.

Jeurys Familia took the entire season of 2019 to prove that acquiring him to serve as a setup reliever was indeed not a good move.  He was flat out awful, allowing more hits than innings pitched, allowed walks to exceed more than 6 per 9 innings pitched, his strikeout numbers fell and his season-long ERA was a ghastly 5.70.  To give you a perspective on just how bad that was for the former closer, over his entire 9-year career his mark for earned run average is just 3.20.  His WAR score was below zero and you visibly cringed every time he entered a game.

In 2020 he seemed to adjust considerably to what wasn’t working in the prior season.  He finished the 60-game session with a much improved 3.71 ERA, just shy of two full runs below what he did in 2019.  His walks were still awful and his strikeout rate declined ever further, but he was able to get out of a lot of the messes he created.  Many folks feel the Mets should trade him away for his final year of the ill-fated three year contract, but it’s unlikely someone is going to want to fork over $10 million unless he finds out whatever was in Robinson Cano’s magic bottle.

Dellin Betances was an acquisition after injury that many felt was a tremendous way of improving the bullpen, but it was very clear from the early going in 2020 that he was not quite ready for prime time.  You can’t even make up a stat sheet with his name on it that anyone would believe it was the same four-time All Star for the Yankees.  His ERA was 7.71.  He walked more than he struck out.  His WHIP was over 2 baserunners per inning pitched.  His WAR was, as expected, under zero.  

Betances opted to stay with the Mets based upon a clause in his contract and 2021 promises to see more of him on the mound.  To be fair, perhaps he rushed himself back before fully recovered from his injuries, but at $6 million it’s highly questionable that the Mets will receive good value for their expenditure.  He could be traded but given his 2020 performance you won’t find many takers.  

I won’t dwell too much on the also-rans in the pen like Chasen Shreve (no longer here), Brad Brach (5.84 ERA and a 0.0 WAR rating though only at a hair over $2 million in 2021 salary), Robert Gsellman (with a 9.64 ERA and correspondingly bad WAR), Jared Hughes (not nearly as bad as the others, but still a 4.84 ERA and negative WAR) and a wide variety of others whose presence on a Mets roster is likely no longer in the cards.

There were a few late season additions from minor league free agency that were not quite as bad as the rest, including Erasmo Ramirez who appeared in 14 innings and pitched to a sub 1.00 ERA of just 0.63.  Miguel Castro wasn’t quite that good, pitching to a 4.00 ERA for the Mets with great strikeout numbers but poor control.  Castro is indeed on the 40-man roster.  Ramirez is not.

There were a few roster adjustments made to accommodate Jacob Barnes who does not throw like Jacob deGrom, Sam McWilliams of an over 8.00 minor league ERA and Daniel Zamora (he of the 3.01 minor league ERA but recovering from injury).  It wouldn’t appear a lot of hope can be found among this trio.  

The one big change made by the Mets was the inclusion of Trevor May to take some of the late inning setup duties after excelling under Jeremy Hefner in Minnesota.  He essentially replaces Justin Wilson from the right side.  So you have reliability in him, Diaz and no one else.  

Or course, the start him or relieve him questions still exist for both Seth Lugo and Steven Matz.  Lugo is All Star worthy as a reliever and a batting practice pitcher as a starter.  Matz has never really relieved but is even worse starting games, though new catcher James McCann could perhaps help him rediscover what once worked.  Matz always seemed to struggle in the first inning, so relegating him to the pen seems to have failure written all over it.  

Many fans have been yearning greatly for the addition of free agents like Brad Hand, Liam Hendriks, Alex Colome or Kirby Yates.  Many even go so far as signing two of them and then using Diaz as trade bait since he’ll never be forgiven for his 2019 season and the impending Hall of Fame career that awaits Jared Kelenic.  The club definitely needs help in this area but trading away a guy who had a 1.75 ERA and a nearly 2K per IP strikeout performance seems rather silly.  

Of course, some might point out that worrying about the bullpen options is secondary to fixing the disjointed starting rotation.  There is some truth to that, but if you don’t have good starters then the need for a stellar set of relievers becomes even a higher priority.