If you asked anyone not living in a cave or under a sizable rock what is the New York Mets’ biggest problem, 99.99% of the people queried would reply, “The bullpen!”
There is good reason for this disdain for the arms being summoned to support the above average starting staff. For a short period of time over the first few weeks of the season the teams’ relievers were actually well above average. Then the kerosene, gasoline and other combustible supplies demonstrated just how bad they could be. Throw in the injuries, suspensions and multiple DFAs (sometimes more than once in the case of Michael Tonkin), and you will understand why everyone is so incensed over the inability to maintain leads and curtail additional run production.
However, if you do a comparison of all bullpens in Major League Baseball, the Mets are bad but actually in the middle of the pack. The ERA of the bullpen as a team is 4.12. Personally I had to read that number multiple times to believe it. They have saved 28 games. They are second among all teams in strikeouts and own a well over 3:1 strikeout to walk ratio. If indeed all of these numbers are accurate then perhaps minor retooling is all that is required. Let’s take a look at the current corps.
Adam Ottavino is having his off year after last year’s on year. Although he was helpful in the Yankees series in The Bronx, he is sporting a 2-2 record with a 4.91 ERA. That’s not the level of performance he was expected to have. His BAA is .230 which is not awful. He has exhibited excellent control but still falls prey to the stolen base.
Dedniel Nunez came from out of nowhere to begin his Mets career as a 28 year old unheralded rookie but quickly propelled himself into a 7th inning role with his 24 games thus far during which he is 2-0 with a 2.43 ERA. He is striking out well over 5 times as many as he has walked and keeps opponents flailing away to a .190 BAA. He’s never been this dominant in the minors and no one knows if he can sustain what he’s doing but he arrived when the team needed him most.
Some want to see Butto as a starter with Christian Scott now on the IL but how do you replace that productivity in the pen?
Jake Diekman was supposed to be a veteran southpaw with the ability to support Brooks Raley as a solid lefty option in the pen. Raley’s now gone due to injury and Diekman has been almost a batting practice level pitcher. He isn’t giving up many hits, but a 2-3 record with a 5.10 ERA while giving up 24 walks to accompany 35 strikeouts is not how you get things done.
The jury’s still out on newcomer Phil Maton but in the 6 games in which he’s appeared the ERA is a very respectable 1.80. As a veteran he has had ups and downs in his career, but as a 5th or 6th inning guy he’s an acceptable acquisition.
Converted starter Adrian Houser has not exactly established himself as an asset in the beginning of games nor in the middle nor at the end. Overall he’s sporting an ugly 1-5 record and a 5.84 ERA.
There are others who have been on the Syracuse/Citfield shuttle with varying degrees of success and failure. On this list you have the likes of Grant Hartwig, Ty Adcock, the aforementioned Michael Tonkin, Cole Sulser, Josh Walker, Yohan Ramirez, Jorge Lopez, Danny Young and others.
Finally, there’s the IL where Raley, Reed Garrett, Sean Reid-Foley, Drew Smith and others have taken up extended residence.
Do the Mets need help in the pen? Most definitely. Will it come from a frontline closer to pair with Edwin Diaz? Possibly but likely not. Instead look to find other setup guys acquired this month to fortify the pen and send some of the AAAA bunch back on an Uber to Syracuse or DFA’d to find employment elsewhere. Given the short term deals on which some of the relievers were signed for this season and the mediocre track records others have had despite how they performed in 2024 it would appear there is a great need to plan not just for 2024 help but for the future as well.
12 comments:
The turnstiles continue to spin at a blurring pace. Stearns is Bobby Fischer this year. The Chess Madter.
Mendoza needs to allow his starters to at least get to 100 pitches otherwise the bullpen will always be worn out. How many of our relievers are injured because Mendoza wears them out and keeps pitching them? If we go to a 6 man rotation will the starters still be pulled after 5 or 6 innings? The starters will need to go longer and the manager needs to not have such a itchy trigger finger.
Ryne Stanek now joins Maton as two legit pen additions
Hoping and praying Senga's set back isn't too severe. He was cruising when he had to leave the fame. Would have gone at least 7 innings, which would have given the pen a much needed breather. Nunez is a huge loss, he was lights out
Without Senga (again) the Mets do not need to move to a six man rotation. Megill is already up, so put him in the bullpen. I would love to see him go all out for a couple innings. He could be a different pitcher.
Two stats I have very little respect for are "Team ERA" and "Team BA". Why? Because they relect history, and not the presnt, and they include players no longer here.
If you were planning to have a picnic, or a trip to the beach, you'd check the weather report. Would you have interest in the average temperature and daily rainfall since January 1st, and use those as the deciding factors in your plans?
Well, that's what you do if you look at team averages since OD instead of current ones. What relevance is there in including the horrible #s of players who (deservedly)are no longer here ?
The numbers I'd like to see are those of current players. Drop the #s of Tonkin, Adcock, Walker, Jay, and the other "dearly departed", and you'd have a much clearer picture of what our pen looks like and where it ranks among other teams. But I don't know where to find them. Does anyone here know?
We all look at the bullpen and sneer, but they are doing a fine job with all they are tasked to do. How about the starters going at least six innings. Nolan Ryan said a couple of years ago that a starter that can’t go seven innings in the minors won’t be a starting pitcher on his team. That’s where it starts. Seven innings per start, and see how much better the bullpen is.
I must be the 0.01% because to me the biggest issue with this team is the offense. Any team that has DJ Stewart and Ben Gamel making up 15% of the hitting roster is not optimized. Why not call up Tim Locastro and/or Travis Jankowski. The team speed is lacking and at least those two guys can give you that element. It is especially important in those extra inning games. It is inexcusable to lose extra inning games if you can't get the free runner in due to lack of speed.
Since the all-star break, the Mets have scored 3 or fewer runs in half of their games (4 of 8). The fact that they won 75% of them (3 of 4) tells me the pitching is doing just fine. I want more offense and less 1-0 and 3-2 wins.
Gus -- 100%.
I wonder if some of the injuries are actually caused by the pitch clock? That has to throw the pitchers out of rhythm. If you want shorter games, make the use of batting gloves illegal. Stop the hitters from stepping out and adjusting their gear every pitch. (just looking at the differences between 1969 and 2024 - Yeah, i know today's game is throw every pitch through the wall as if it is your last one, but it seems as if there could be some lessons learned from the pitchers of the the '60s and '70s.
I'm with 1969. Not only is the pitching holding its own, but with Garrett and Reid-Foley imminent, it should be even stronger. I'm concerned that the shaky Diekman is the only LHP in the pen other than the Youngs (who likely are "temps"), but the two recent adds seem to show that Stearns doesn't share my concern.
We'll know a lot more in the next 3+ days.
With Houser gone, it would be great to have another multi-inning guy to go with Butto. Megill would have seemed the logical in-house option, but with Scott and now Senga out, Megill is your #5 starter in what will now remain a 5-man rotation, and with an absolutely killer 13 games in 13 days road trip through multiple time zones upcoming, there’s no one obvious behind him if someone else goes down. A couple of weeks ago, starting pitching depth looked like a strength, but suddenly, particularly with Butto emerging as a vital BP piece, that depth is being stretched to the limit. I fully expect Stearns to reach relatively deep into his prospect stash, possibly painfully deep to secure another starter - perhaps more than a rental - in the next few days.
Without Senga, the SP is probably passable enough for the regular season, as long as the offense keeps mashing and the BP is reinforced, but we’ll be at a significant disadvantage in a playoff series vs. the top 3 SP’s of the major contenders.
In the pen, Stanick is probably a good pickup, but they need at least one more arm and more likely two (at least one lefty).
With a team that suddenly looks very close to competitive with any non baseball, i’m expecting Stearns to go for it, within reason. The one surprise move that I think they may make is to bring up Sproat, either as a starter or reliever.
*any IN baseball*
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