2012 isn't the first season that has been sabotaged by a poor bullpen, however its not the result of a lack of effort on the part of the front office.
This past offseason, the Mets put all of their focus into rebuilding the bullpen. Any available payroll was spent on signing former closers Frank Fransisco, and Jon Rauch..and then they traded for successful set up guy Ramon Ramirez. The result has been statistically the worst bullpen in baseball.
So if Plan A was a washout, what is Plan B??
I decided to look up the best bullpens in baseball to see how they did it.. The Cincinati Reds bullpen has pitched to a 2.59 era, with 286K in 243IP. When I pulled up their roster, I only recognized 2 names--Aroldis Chapman, and Sean Marshall (who i'm pretty sure used to be a starter for the Cubs). But all of them have great #'s, they're all kids, and none of em make shit for money. The Pittsburgh Pirates BP has pitched to a 2.68 era, with 253K in 275IP.
Again I only recognized 1 name--Joel Hanrahan, and again everybody has great #'s, kids, and no money... The Oakland Athletics have held opposing hitters to a .202 Batting Average. But I did'nt recognize anyone other than Grant Balfour. I mean seriously who the hell is Jerry Blevins? It turns out that if he was a Met he'd probably be a closer. Again--Kids,#'s,Cheap...
So what did we learn here?
The Mets have spent decades trading away guys like Jeff Reardon, Rick Agularia, Jason Isringhausen, Heath Bell, and Octavio Dotel. Lets remember that the next time we all ponder trading 3 pitching prospects for a former closer at the trading deadline.
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