Reese Kaplan -- The Best Mets Relief Pitchers

When the game is on the line in the 9th inning, you want to be able to turn to a shutdown closer to make it as difficult as possible for the opponents to push a run across the board.  For the most part these top-of-the-list firemen were strikeout artists, though some made their bones using funky deliveries or oddball pitches that were instinctively challenging to the hitters.  Let's see some of the Mets' best.

Known as much for his smile as he was for his screwball and his "Ya Gotta Believe!" mantra, Tug McGraw was the first Mets closer who really captured the fans' hearts.  Arriving first to the big club all the way back in 1965, for his first three years in the majors Tug bounced back and forth between starting and relieving, not really establishing himself as excellent at either.  In the World Series year of 1969 he converted to reliever pretty much from that point forward and offered up a 9-3 record with a 2.24 ERA and a dozen saves.  

The relief specialty didn't really blossom until midway through McGraw's playing career but no one doubted his ability on the mound.  In his best season he notched 27 saves during 1972, posting his second consecutive season with a tiny 1.70 ERA.  During his "Ya Gotta Believe" year of 1973 he was not quite as sharp, finishing with a 5-6 record with 25 saves but a higher 3.87 ERA.  He finished his Mets career with record of just 47-55, but sporting an impressive 3.17 ERA to go along with 86 saves.  

He was traded to the Phillies after 1974 along with Don Hahn and Dave Schneck for Mac Scarce, Del Unser and John Stearns.  Scarce was a non-entity, Unser hit .294 in his first year in New York, but it was John Stearns who was the long term asset.  He played from 1975 through 1984 and was a four-time All Star for the Mets.  

McGraw finished his career with the Phillies with a winning record, a 3.10 ERA and 94 saves.  That trade looks like a wash.  

Another player who generated cheers and jeers was longtime closer John Franco.  Brought over in the trade for Randy Myers, Franco did well for his hometown team.  He was 48-56 with 276 Saves and a 3.10 ERA.  

Given his approach to making batters nibble at pitches around the strike zone, he didn't have the overwhelming strikeout force of guys like Myers, but you can't argue with results.  He finished his career with a 2.98 ERA and 424 Saves.  There are guys in the Hall of Fame with inferior stats to that.  Lee Smith went 71-92 with a 3.03 ERA.  

As a reliever Dennis Eckersley had a higher ERA and fewer Saves.  Bruce Sutter had a losing record and only got 300 Saves.  Face it -- Franco was very, very good.  

Another player who served the Mets well deserves Cooperstown consideration -- Billy Wagner.  The diminutive lefthander was brought it to save games for the club and he was outstanding when healthy.  

During parts of 4 seasons playing in Queens he went 6-6 with 101 Saves and an eye popping 2.35 ERA over the course of 198 games.  Had he been healthier, he would have been regarded as one of the all-time greats.  He finished his career with a 47-41 record, a 2.31 ERA and 432 Saves.  Those numbers are even better than Franco yet he's not yet made it.  That's a travesty.    

The next big player in the Mets bullpen to consider was fireballer Armando Benitez.  Obtained from Baltimore for solid catcher Charles Johnson, Benitez started off like a house afire.  In his first season in 1999 he went 4-3 with 22 Saves splitting time with John Franco while sporting a tiny 1.85 ERA.  The next season he took over closing duties and the Save numbers kept growing.  

He posted consecutive seasons of 41, 43 and 33 Saves while delivering an ERA of just 2.63.  He pitched just under 300 innings for the Mets and struck out over 400 batters.  That was terrific quality pitching and he made the All Star team in 2003 which was split between the Mets and the Yankees for which the Mets received bupkis.  He finished his career a notch below his best time which was spent with the Mets.

Kind of a clone of Benitez was hard thrower Jeurys Familia who now plies his trade for the Phillies.  The first time around for the team Familia was like watching Armando in his prime.  He went 9-13 but had an identical 2.63 ERA and racked up 106 Saves.  He struck out better than a man per inning pitched, but was often bedeviled by bases on balls which resulted in a WHIP of 1.208.  He was traded in essentially a salary dump during the 2017 season to the Oakland A's, bringing back a lackluster return of Bobby Wahl, Will Toffey and some international bonus slot money.  

He was brought right back as a free agent in 2018 and accumulated another 3 years at Citi Field but it was hardly memorable.  His aggregated numbers for that period of 2019 through 2021 showed an impressive won-lost record of 15-6 but with a horrific 4.62 ERA, a WHIP of 1.555 resulting primarily from his giving up well over 5 walks per 9 IP.  No one shed a tear when he left the second time, but the first time around he was as good as anyone.  

During the beginning of his very long career reliever Jesse Orosco was indeed a weapon on the mound.  He joined the Mets back in 1979 and was the face of the World Series victory after game seven against the Red Sox. During that period in a Mets uniform he was in 372 games, saved 107 of them, and sported an impressive 2.72 ERA.  

He was part of a multi-team trade that sent him across the country to the Dodgers and the Mets received very little in Kevin Tapani, Wally Whitehurst and Jack Savage.  Orosco went on for another 16 years primarily as a setup man, going 40-33 with a 3.52 ERA.  He finished his long career in 2003 having pitched in an unbelievable 1252 games which is a major league record (besting John Franco who finished with 1119).  

During his first five years in the majors the Mets got some great innings out of Roger McDowell as well.  He finished that period with a 36-32 record, 103 Saves and an ERA of just 2.91.  In the seven years that followed the ERA went up and the Saves went down but he pitched credibly for the Phillies, Dodgers, Rangers and Orioles.  

He was a part of another of those head-scratching Mets trades in June of 1989 when he was sent along with teammate Lenny Dykstra to the Phillies for Juan Samuel whose Mets career was highly forgettable.  

We'll get some loud objections to this final entry, but despite his lackluster first year for the Mets, closer Edwin Diaz is a special breed when his strikeout pitches are working.  In Queens for the team he has a record thus far of 10-14 which does not sound very good (nor does his carryover 3.86 ERA from that bad 2019).  However, look closer and he's already saved 68 games and struck out 255 in 156 innings pitched.  

He's averaging 14.7 Ks per 9 IP and his WHIP is a respectable 1.196.  If you leave out 2019 then the numbers look dramatically better.  For the period 2020 through 2022 thus far his ERA is 2.84 and the WHIP is just 1.088.  Yes, he belongs on this list and the Mets will have a very hard decision to make when he hits free agency at the end of this season.  

There were other relievers who did well for the Mets such as Jeff Innis who was not a closer and Doug Sisk whose name elicits instant heartburn despite pitching to a 3.10 ERA during his time in Queens.  Is there anyone else who deserves a nod here?