An old English author named Edward Bulwer-Lytton once said, “The pen is mightier than the sword”. He may have been right, and if he were still alive now, he may also have surmised, “The Mets pen is mightier than any other aspect of the team”.
This agonizing year of baseball that is playing out in Queens has very few bright spots, but among the brightest is the performance of the bullpen. This is truly an amazing accomplishment, because the other side of the pitching staff, the starters, has been downright awful. This has put tremendous stress on the bullpen to survive the hefty innings load, but the five guys on the back end of the Mets relief corps have been great.
Okay, forget what Brazoban did yesterday. That was a mental failing that will surely become a lesson learned based upon his reaction.
Otherwise, the Mets had the third best bullpen ERA in MLB heading into yesterday’s game at 3.42. This is mostly due to the following five arms:
Huascar Brazoban – 35IP; 22H; 10ER; 35K
AJ Minter – 15 IP; 8 H; 1 ER; 1 BB; 11K
Brooks Raley – 32 IP; 26 H; 8 ER; 12 BB; 35K
Luke Weaver – 37 IP; 20 H; 8 ER; 9 BB; 41K
Devin Williams – 29 IP; 29 H; 14 ER; 16 BB; 43K
I mention these five by name here as a petition to David Stearns: please do not entertain trading any of these five at the deadline, even though the offers may be sweet. There are very few other players that I would care to protect, but these five would offer stability to any future team that might be constructed to play competitive baseball in MLB.
There are lots of high salaries that can be dumped, and of these five pen stars, only Devin Williams (3 yrs/51M 2026-2028) makes more than 11M/yr. That is very reasonable, controllable spending that adds considerable value when you look at what they can mean to any team with capable starters and a lineup that can score a few runs every game.
Please don’t trade them. You can give away any of our infielders, you can give away the entire bench, you can even unload that generational talent that has not been a key factor in many Mets wins despite putting up all-star numbers. Just keep the two youngsters in the outfield, the two young starters McLean and Scott, and the five in the back of the pen. Sell the rest for building blocks. Return us to watchable baseball.
I am sure that there are readers that would take issue with the number of players on the current roster that I just left on the sale rack, and there may be arguments for any of their individual talents, but as a collective group they have failed to sustain any kind of positive momentum. And that is the point that should be underscored. Individual players that have individual value but can’t rally the others for the collective good of the baseball team are not keepers. Their trade value will bring the essential pieces to build something meaningful.
To be clear, I am not calling for them all to be gone – I just think they all should be made available, and where the deal will get us closer to the competitive team we hoped to have this year, it should be made. It is not likely that there will be immediate transformation, so the front office should be very clear with the manager and pitching coaches – do not overuse the five back of the pen arms – at all costs. We cannot afford to have them hurt or even less effective next season when there is opportunity.
8 comments:
A big sell off can get the Mets a top 6 pick. Where they aren’t penalized 10 slots. To get that, everything not nailed down should be dealt away. Just my opinion. I like the relievers. But we need home grown studs. We got lucky drafting Benge at #19. That luck failed with Houck at # 32.
On the other hand, trading away Luke Weaver would get a nice haul.
He is under contract for 2027. Someone has to close, if they trade away Williams. Weaver could.
The minors for pen help is bleak. Ross and Lambert have been extraordinarily disappointing this season, and cannot be counted on any more than Bryce Monte’s De Oca could.
Those two bums have surrendered 37 runs in 40 combined AAA innings this year. 43 walks and 8 hit batsmen. WHAT???
I hate to call them bums, but the stats scream “BUMS”.
Nuts to trade any of those guys. It has been a tough year. The outfield is solid. SS is solid. We can carry a weak hitting defensive catcher if we can get +250BA hitting First and Third basemen.
The real question is why is a farm system so poor?
There is no guarantee that we will be able to resign all the relief pitchers that can become free agents when the season ends. Trade some and then try to resign them.
First order of business for the Mets should be to extend Holmes. In this way, they would have a rotation of Holmes, McLean, Scott as the first three. Next, I would use Brazaban as the sp5 in 2027. Think about it, he is already capable of pitching 3/4 innings so increasing his pitch count wouldn't be difficult.
Use one of the youngsters to fill up the other spot.
Only trade our top relievers if the return makes sense in the short term, not prospects years away.
Find a taker for the likes of Vientos, Baty, Senga, Manaea, etc.
They had their chances and it seems they will never perform for the Mets.
Make peace with the idea that 2028 is probably when the Mets will have a competing team again.
The whole minor league system has been a disappointment to date. We can trade for prospects and picks, but the system needs to be fixed by the time they arrive. I wrote last Thursday that Steve Cohen should commission an independent audit of the farm system to determine what is broken.
Keep in mind that Dedniel may be back this year, and Reid Garrett and Megill by April 2027. So, those are 3 functional pen pieces, assuming the surgeries went well. But realistically, 30 MLB pitchers will be needed next year.
In 2025, amazingly, 30 pitchers threw 10 or more innings, with 14 others picking up table scraps innings. 24 so far this year.
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