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September 1, 2005
Work In Progess
Coming into this year, most of the harping from reporters and baseball experts were focused on the Mets bullpen arms, or lack thereof bullpen arms, and ignored largely what the real problems with the Mets were. The Mets had some good arms in the pen and had some others rise up from the ashes to baffle people with their performances. All in all, a perceived weakness coming into the year by many has turned into something that is a far cry from the problem area it was once thought of. You can pick up a good reliever in the off season, but good relievers can change so dramatically from year to year. For instance, Rudy Seanez bounced around the Major Leagues since 1999 and played for eight teams and is in his third tour of duty with the Padres. He had a career ERA of 4.37 and a career K/9 of 8.99 coming into this season. He had some good years, but mostly bad years and has been pretty inconsistent. In 2005, he has been a revelation with a 3.02 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, .216 BAA, and a ridiculous 13.32 K/9. Things happen, bad and good, that you just cannot predict when it comes to the bullpen. Heading into the year, the Mets bullpen read like a long list of has beens and guys that simply never cut it, but with limited options on the free agent market, the Mets basically did what they could. Here we are on September 1st and the current Mets bullpen looks pretty solid to me. I see a bunch of good setup options, a solid closer, and some real promise for the future. W L IP K/9 H/9 BB/9 WHIP ERA Overall Bullpen Stats 18 17 338.2 7.18 9.43 3.51 1.44 3.85 Current Bullpen Stats 14 14 221.9 7.22 8.48 2.88 1.25 3.08 Aaron Heilman has pretty much become the Mets best reliever and only trails Roberto Hernandez in ERA in relief by 0.11 with a 2.83 ERA, has the highest K/9 of any reliever for the Mets this year, has only given up one homer in 47.2 innings, has the ability to get both righties and lefties out, and is second to only Juan Padilla in WHIP with 1.17 out of any Met reliever this year with over five innings pitched. Another plus is that the Mets have a solid young foundation in 2006 as well since Heilman, Bell, and Ring are all under control of the Mets for years to come and Braden Looper has a club option that can be picked and if the club decides to go after Ugeth Urbina, Billy Wagner, BJ Ryan, or whomever else they like as closer they can move him into a set up role or tade him as an affordable closer. As for the middle reliever corps, the Mets have a solid foundation returning next year and will have a shot at the likes of Rudy Seanez, Ricardo Rincon, and a few others while having some interesting in-house options like Jason Scobie, Steve Coyler, and Tim Hamulack who could potentially get a look next season. The Mets look like they have settled the unrest in the bullpen for the most part and the future looks pretty good to if they can add a good middle reliever from the free agent market that looks much better next off season than it did this past off season for arms out of the bullpen. As far as the entire NL East goes, the only bullpen to post a lower ERA than the Mets is the Nationals bullpen and the Mets are thirteenth overall in terms of bullpen ERA. I’m sure you will not find one team outside of the Cleveland Indians that says they would not like to add reliever and the Mets are no different. However, the Mets still have a plenty of in house options and just called up Tim Hamulack, Shingo Takatsu, and Kaz Ishii, who will be the lefty specialist, to round out the pen for their playoff push. The bullpen has been a work in progress this season with a lot of movement and changes and I for one am not concerned about the bullpen whatsoever and they will be a reason the Mets can make the playoffs and not a reason for them to not make the playoffs. 10 Responses to “Work In Progess”Leave a ReplyYou must be logged in to post a comment. |
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If we can get a dominating closer in this offseason (I prefer Wagner, others like Ryan) I really like the way things stack up, with Looper, Hernandez, Heilman and Bell pitching in the high-leverage situations, along with another lefty, either Ring or Hamulack, to give balance. Of course, I’d be just as apt to cut bait on Looper and have a contingency plan in case Hernandez gets old on us, but overall there’s some nice depth there that will (hopefully) dissuade the front office to giving multi-year contracts to mediocre middle relievers.
Relief pitchers are the place-kickers of baseball: they only show up in pressure situations, they’re only admired if they’re perfect.
Hey what about Bartolome “PAlmball” Fortunato and Tyler Yates? Any chance those guys make an impact in ‘06?
Ishi in the bullpen to come in against lefties. Does this scare everyone else as much as it does me? He will walk more hitters than he gets out. Bring him in to face a lefty and he will leave with, at best, a walk.
Victor: Ishii actually has been very good against lefties all season. From nearly day one, I’ve been saying to my fellow Mets fans that Ishii should be a left handed specialist, not a starting pitcher. Look at his splits-
vs righties .271 .367 .447 .814
vs lefties .197 .293 .439 .733
As long as Ishii faces lefties (and only lefties), it’s a good move bringing him up.
Ishi will be the reencarnation of Mr. Koo. They come in to face a lefty and walk him
I’m sorry - we don’t need to use Ishii or Koo to face lefties late in the pennant race - I’ll take my chances with Heilman and Padilla - both of who excel at getting lefties out. All we need for next year’s pen in a dominant closer - I prefer Ryan - pick up Looper’s option and make him the 8th inning guy - have Heilman for long relief/spot 8 and 9 inning work - groom Bell as the future closer, and Padilla rounds out the five. If people feel we need a situational lefty - use Ring.
I really think we don’t need to spend big bucks fixing this pen. Just bring in a stud closer.
Then we can spend money on Burnett, a stud 2B or Brian Giles.
you are on crack. this bullpen sucks. they need a new closer and im
not sold on anyone even if they have been pitching well as of late.
they havent done it over a solid amount of time. at times, some of
them have pitched well and maybe collectively their numbers don’t
look so bad but there have been too many games this year lost because
they can’t hold a lead. what would pedro’s record be if the bullpen was
more solid? remember the 8-0 lead he left with? i say keep padilla and
throw the rest in the hudson.
The mets should make a strong push at Furcal who is a free agent at the end of this season and at Wagner with Furcal and Rayas on the same team runs should float in and the defence up the middle will be great. Furcal is also a great leadoff man, Rayas is not yet a leadoff man. He is young and with time will be one of the best in the league….With wagner it will make all of the bullpin better, and from what i saw of wagner he can preform in pressure situations.
To Mets brass:
What is it going to take for you all to see that Braden Looper is completely worthless. The guy cannot pitch. He gets lit up by everyone he faces. He can’t hold onto a single lead.
He doesn’t just blow saves. He simply blows.
The best he can do for your club is have him pitch for the opposing team. Then you all can score off him.
Please, please, please… do not allow this guy to ever pitch again this season.
HE IS GARBAGE.
And that’s not going to change over an offseason.
So do us all a favor and take out the trash…. NOW.
A beloved but fatigued Mets fan