Reese Kaplan -- The Starting Pitchers Have Reason to Fret

Every now and then Mets fans are reaching for their medicine chest as they silently spell out the word R-O-L-A-I-D-S.  Lately that orthographic tendency seems mostly to manifest itself late in the games when the stellar starting pitchers have gone to take a well-earned rest and the game is entrusted to members of the bullpen.  Unfortunately, there are times Rolaids may not be enough based upon the results seen.  It may require extensive ingestion of grain alcohol or illegal recreational drugs to mask the agita and disappointment the relief pitchers have provided.

Bad relief pitching is nothing new to Mets fans.  I will recite a few names that hopefully were long enough ago to no longer upset your gastrointestinal tract.  Who remembers Mel Rojas?  Doug Sisk?  Scott Schoenweis?  Jorge Julio?  Rich Rodriguez?  Butch Metzger?  Guillermo Mota?

Nowadays the Mets bullpen is bad but not quite at that subterranean level.  Take Edwin Diaz, for example.  Yes, fans are still smarting over a late inning home run that pushed a winnable game into extra innings, but thus far in 2022 he is pitching to a 2.57 ERA with 15.4 strikeouts per 9 IP and an enviable 1.000 WHIP.  Yes, he's giving up too many walks at nearly 4 per 9 innings, but he's only given up 4 hits including that ill-time long ball.  That's really not bad pitching.

Drew Smith has recently been profiled for his uber quality relief pitching.  Thus far he's been in the same number of innings pitched as Diaz, has yet to give up a run and has only allowed 3 hits.  It really seems like they found a winner when they traded to acquire him.

Seth Lugo has been a bit of a puzzle.  This year he's given up too many hits and walks which have resulted in his unexpectedly high 4.70 ERA.  However, his track record is sufficiently good that no one is really all that alarmed by what he's shown in 2022.

Trevor May, now over his arm scare, is not yet pitching to earn his paycheck.  He's given up too many walks and hits.  Thus far his 6.75 ERA is quite ugly and inconsistent with his previous four year ERA result of 3.33.  If he's healthy, no one should be pushing a panic button just yet.  

Adam Ottavino was not at the top of anyone's lists as a supplemental bullpen arm when he was acquired late into the off-season, but thus far he's been tap dancing through danger successfully. His 1.50 ERA suggests pitching dominance, but in 6 IP he's given up 7 hits and 3 walks, so his ability to keep runners from scoring is either quite impressive or very lucky.  Over his long career he's pitched to a respectable 3.58 ERA but his last two seasons in Boston and the Bronx were among his worst.  Keep access to the Rolaids readily available when he takes the mound.

Miguel Castro had his ups and downs for the Mets but he delivered productively most of the time which resulted in an ERA in the upper 3's with some godawful control.  Flipping him for Joely Rodriguez seemed to upset a great many people and their contrasting starts added fuel to that fire.  Thus far Rodriguez has been striking people out with aplomb but walking 4.1 per 9 IP which helped contribute to his 6.75 ERA.  Castro started off like a magician, but lately allowed some runs to cross the plate and his ERA inched up to 2.57.  For now the win is on the Yankee side of the equation, but it's a long season yet to come.

Chasen Shreve provides the Mets with a veteran southpaw out of the pen.  He's not been used that much thus far but what's been good has been near great.  He's striking out nearly 12 batters per 9 IP and not giving away walks.  In 6 innings thus far he's pitching to a very nice 2.57 ERA and has only allowed 3 hits.

The last few spots are, ahem, questionable.  Yoan Lopez is up with the club for reasons only Billy Eppler can identify.  Trevor Williams was more good than bad in 2021 but his recent spot start was a stain of the indelible ink kind.  

So any way you slice it, the Mets starting pitchers have reasons to feel a bit wary when they have to turn the game over to the supporting staff.  Yes, there have been some good ones, but others expected to be good have not been while relievers with minimal history are showing why they have not been anchor pieces for other ballclubs.  Hopefully things will improve in this so far unstable portion of the Mets roster.