That is one tired bullpen
As I have brayed about all season like a hungry mule, the Mets' season has been capsized by its lack of hitting.
But what else?
A bizarre pitchers' injury brigade.
Thirty five guys have thrown in relief for the Mets this year. Let that sink in. THIRTY...FIVE.
Now, 4 of those were position players:
Drury, Almora, Guillorme, Pillar.
They allowed 7 runs in 3 innings, so keep that in mind when quoting the relievers' team ERA.
Several were both starters and relievers, with only Taijuan Walker being notable in that bunch - the rest were borderline dudes you'd expect to both start and relieve.
The Mets in my opinion did not pull out all the stops with building their pen for 2021, but made a much better effort than in 2020 and prior years, in which the strategy seemed to be "I hope these guys mostly stay healthy." They didn't and the pre-2021 bullpens behind the main guys were simply awful.
But 35 guys (so far) have made pen appearances. In 1969 and 1986 (you remember those years, right?), the TOTAL number of pitchers each year was 15.
Inevitably, when you use 35 guys, the borderline dudes will hurt you, as did Yennsy Diaz on Monday and Jake Reed last night.
I blame no one for the pen revolving door - pretty unforeseeable. Part of that, of course, is starters being innings-limited and forcing the Mets to have a revolving dood to keep the pen arms reasonably fresh. All of the key pen arms have been very heavily used.
Part of it was also reliever injuries. And a big part was starters' injuries, Jake reminded me that I should mention, so I just did.
In any event, eleven real borderline relievers, Hildenberger, Hartlieb, Yennsy, Barnes, Eickhoff, Szapucki, Reed, Banda, Tarpley, Tropeano and Foley, combined for 77 runs allowed in 81 innings.
Add on the 4 position players and you have a nice, round 84 runs in 84 innings.
Hard to win with that.
That helped do this 2021 team in, although they mostly were able to keep these 15 guys in less critical situations.
And, quite honestly, a team should most years be able to get by with 20 relievers, I would think.
It has been a truly weird pen season.
The Mets somehow will need to do even more in 2022 to avoid the "84 innings, 84 runs from 15 relief guys" syndrome. Like seemingly over-adding real quality pen arms this off-season, only to find out during the season they were not over-added.
If they want to make the playoffs, that is.
Of course, I always have hope for the minors. Two kids who recently made their AA pen debuts, Brian Metoyer and Bryce Montes de Oca, threw 3 innings in relief Tuesday night and fanned NINE. More on them in a future article.
And also Eric Orze, who has climbed the minor leagues ladder FAST.
Under the Wilpon years and the Van Wagenen years there were few credible people developed and when they were, they were usually traded away. The formula to success is building from within and supplementing from outside the organization. The Mets appear to have put supplementing first and building a very distant second. I hope to see that change.
ReplyDeleteThe bullpen was just as good as anyone else, but the management of the bullpen was terrible. Pitchers that pitched well were pulled, and pitchers that had no business being in there were used. A manager with no clue how to control a game or feel for the tempo can make nine all-stars in the bullpen look bad.
ReplyDeleteReese, I truly hope that Orze (almost definitely in 2022) and Metoyer and Montes de Oca (mid-2022) fit that bill.
ReplyDeleteI think the latter two need to be added to the 40 man. Both need to further tighten control.
But I 100% agree - and even when you look at those trades made 3-4 years ago to get Rhame, Nogosek, etc., none have paid dividends.
If I were Cohen, though, I'd want his guys to study how Sewald could go from abject failure to phenomenal with just a change of scenery. Had he pitched in 2021 for the Mets like he has for Seattle, their pen would have been strong. However, I have a feeling that had he stayed, he would have kept failing. I'd want them to figure out why. Seattle sits just 3 out of a Wild Card spot - and Sewald is a big reason for that.
Gus, cannot argue with you there. A ton of truth there. The pen was way over-managed. The recent Yankee game where Lugo had a 7 pitch 7th, but May had to come in for the 8th. Senseless.
ReplyDeleteWhat also killed the pen, though, was starters going to the IL in droves, and taking far longer than expected in several cases to come back (Jake, Thor, Cookie). The main pen guys have not collectively been perfect - but they've collectively been quite good. This team would be sitting with a Nats/Marlins record without them.
Two thoughts that I hold as the most important:
ReplyDelete1) As Tom stated at the top of the piece, the offense is the real culprit with the pen. It seems like every game is 2-2 or 0-2 in the sixth when they start their rotating bullpen. There is no room for error for any of these guys when they enter in the sixth or seventh inning. If the offense scored some runs and they had 5-2 leads, giving up a couple runs would be so deadly.
2) The lack of anybody throwing more than one inning. Lugo used to be a starter, why can't he throw two or three innings? If May has an inning throwing just 8 or 9 pitches, why not another? Using at least 3 pitchers, usually more, every night just is not good management. Ah, the days a starter threw 7 innings and one guy came in and finished it up. Hell, even if a starter throw just 5, there should be somebody down there who can piggyback the other four innings.
Suffice to say, I think the bullpen in general has done an admirable job this year and it is a strong core (especially if they can re-sign Loup) for next year. With a couple tweaks, it could be a strength. Getting Drew Smith back would help (the exception to the statement about trades two or three years ago).
ALSO: is it true that the Mets set a MLB record, last 9 losses all by one run?
ReplyDeleteRemember 1969, very good points.
ReplyDeleteProblem continues to be starters not lasting long in games. With an overtaxed pen why not give Stroman chance to complete 7 innings.
ReplyDeleteRay, agreed - too many early pulls on starters this year
ReplyDeleteOnce again Tom we're on the same page: management has to figure out why guys thrive after they leave here and I don't mean a few seasons later. Turner, TDA, Sewald, Matz and Flexen to name a few and as far as the BP goes you can't pitch these guys every night and expect them to perform well.
ReplyDeleteGary, very true. And it is not just the pitching in games. Warming up fully, whether you get in a game or not, takes its toll too.
ReplyDelete