For a team that was willing to go an entire season with just
a single lefty option in the pen, the current state of “wealth” in terms of
roster options is unprecedented. Last
year it was just Jerry Blevins who, after a few outstanding campaigns for the
Amazins’, truly stunk up the joint in the beginning of the season. From the beginning of April through the end
of May it appeared he was doing his Jason Vargas impression with an ERA of
5.84.
However, things began to click for the veteran and over the
next two months he was markedly better, delivering a more typical 3.29 ERA for
June and July. His August and September
was downright weird with his ERA once again jumping to an unsightly 5.04 but
his batting average against was an impressive .203. There was a slight blip in walks with 6
issued in nearly 17 innings of work which is mediocre but not awful.
I recite the recent Blevins history to go down the path the
Mets have chosen for 2019. Going into
the season the sole lefty in the pen figured to be Daniel Zamora, the former
Pirate farmhand obtained in a DFA trade of strikeout specialist (and wildman)
Josh Smoker. Zamora had done well in his
minor league career and in a late season audition pitched to a very fine 3.00
ERA over a 16 game/9 IP trial.
Recognizing that banking on the pretty much unproven Zamora
may not be the way to go the Mets then made an astute and somewhat
under-the-radar move when they inked 29 year old veteran southpaw Luis Avilan
who was inexplicably cut loose from the Phillies despite featuring a 19-10
record over 399 games with a 3.09 ERA.
BVW got him to sign a minor league deal, preserving a 40-man roster spot
for additional maneuverings. They had
their veteran reinforcement in hand.
Then came the somewhat surprising contract to the Cajun Chef,
Justin Wilson. The baseball version was
coming off a couple of not-too-impressive campaigns at Wrigley Field. He came over from Detroit in 2017 and pitched
to a 2-0 record but with a 5.09 ERA. His
strikeout numbers were great --- 12.7 per 9 IP but he was also walking 9.7 over
that same span. Ugh! He did improve last year, going 4-5 with a
3.46 ERA over 71 games but again horrendous control led to an ugly WHIP of
nearly 1.50. At least the logic when
they inked Anthony Swarzak was that he was coming off a GOOD year. The same can’t be said for Wilson who, for
his career, walks 4 per 9 IP and has not done well for 1+ seasons. Yet BVW handed him a $10 million, 2-year
contract.
That brings us full circle to Mr. Blevins who decided to
return to the Oakland A’s on a minor league deal that will pay him the
less-than-princely sum of $1.5 million for a single year should he come north
with the big club. For his career
Blevins holds a 29-13 record and a much more impressive ability to keep the
ball in the strike zone. It is as if BVW
was channeling his inner Sandy Alderson when he made this deal.
For comparison’s sake, the much maligned Oliver Perez returned
to the Indians on a one-year deal for the price of just $2.5 million after
posting a 1.39 ERA and a WHIP of 0.752 last season with a better than 6:1
strikeout to walk ratio. Yes, it would
appear that when tiptoeing through the field of available left handed
relievers, BVW apparently landed squarely in a cow patty.
Don’t get me wrong. I
truly hope Wilson can return to his Detroit form in 2017 when he had a 2.68 ERA
and a WHIP under 1.00, but recent history suggests he is spiraling out of
control but BVW saw fit to pay more than double for him when less expensive and
better options existed.
10 comments:
Reese,
That Wilson signing made absolutely no sense. BVW has done mostly well but that Cano trade for me was a bad one as well. They should not have traded Kelenic. Who else were the Mets competing against in this trade?
No one so why overpay?
Well, lets hope that at least BVW signs both deGrom and Wheeler to extensions.
Wilson was signed basically as a LOOGY, because lefties hit .190 vs him. What is referred to as the "Cano trade" was at much about a "Diaz trade" in which a young closer who was arguably the best in MLB last year and is still years away from FA.
Why are those who consistently criticize the Mets for being "cheap" suddenly doing the same for NOT going the bargain basement route.
The embarrassingly bad pen of '18 has been transformed into arguably one of the best this year.
How about looking at the talent instead of the payroll?
The article is about the "talent" of Justin Wilson:
"He came over from Detroit in 2017 and pitched to a 2-0 record but with a 5.09 ERA. His strikeout numbers were great --- 12.7 per 9 IP but he was also walking 9.7 over that same span. Ugh! He did improve last year, going 4-5 with a 3.46 ERA over 71 games but again horrendous control led to an ugly WHIP of nearly 1.50."
I give my own slant on the new lefties we got in my Friday 8 AM article.
It's not about spending? Have you read the title??
Meanwhile our PC says he sees flaws in Wilson's delivery that he can correct. Why not see if he's right before writing off the deal?
What happens to LOOGYS if baseball introduces the 3 batter thingy?
Will we then call them FLOOGYS?
(BTW... I think the Wilson deal makes no sense)
Come September we have a Cerberus from the left side: power; finesse, and control. Three lefties so different in style create match-up nightmares for opposition lefties at the plate. Yes, we overpaid a bit, but...
I'm trying to imagine Reese's column had BVM re-signed Blevins & Ollie.
Take a look at immediate reactions to the decisions to sign such luminaries as Jason Bay, Michael Cuddyer, Anthony Swarzak and Jason Vargas. I don't pull punches.
I had advocated for Ollie earlier in the off-season. Blevins probably would have gotten a, "Gee, look, another reunion, how unimaginative!" comment but the combined cost and commitment was less than one year of the two-year deal for Justin Wilson.
Perhaps Blevins' reverse splits last year should have been mentioned along with his impressive .203 average against in the second half. Not that he'll necessarily repeat them, since he'd been a bona fide LOOGY in the past, but he was significantly better against righties than lefties in 2018, and that may have been a factor in BVW's decision not to bring him back to get lefties out.
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