Grading and evaluating each member of the 2013 Mets bullpen

In the 2012-13 offseason Sandy Alderson was trying to improve a Mets bullpen that had the second worst bullpen ERA in baseball. Many names have departed since opening day and midseason 2012; Jon Rauch, Ramon Ramirez, Manny Acosta, Miguel Batista, Elvin Ramirez, D.J. Carrasco, Garrett Olson, Jake Egbert, Pedro Beato, and Frank Francisco– who currently resides on the 60-day disabled list.

During the offseason Alderson signed a couple of veteran arms; Brandon Lyon, LaTroy Hawkins, Scott Rice, Greg Burke, Scott Atchison, and Carlos Torres. He would later sign David Aardsma during May of 2013.

Here are the opening day and current bullpens of the Mets:

Opening Day Bullpen; Bobby Parnell, Hawkins, Lyon, Atchison, Burke, Josh Edgin, Jeurys Familia, and Rice.

Current Bullpen; Parnell, Hawkins, Atchison, Aardsma, Rice, Edgin, and Gonzalez Germen.

With all the additions and subtractions of the bullpen this year- which is to be expected- how has each individual member fared through 100+ games? We will take out starting pitchers that have pitched in relief including Aaron Laffey, Collin McHugh, Jeremy Hefner, Shaun Marcum, and even Carlos Torres.

Bobby Parnell: 5-5 record, 21 SV, 49 IP, 1.00 WHIP, 2.20 ERA
Parnell has been semi-elite as a closer and no closer is perfect resulting in minor struggles with command at times. Through the ups and downs he has finally made the jump to the closer role, and has been nothing short of what anyone could have expected. Grade: A-

LaTroy Hawkins: 3-2 record, 0 SV, 45.2 IP, 1.34 WHIP, 3.15 ERA
Hawkins has been everything the Mets could have imagined in their bullpen; solid relief, minimal walks, and a veteran presence. He has been faced with some minor injuries due to his age, but all in all, he has still been the Mets second best reliever this season. Grade: B

Scott Rice: 4-5 record, 0 SV, 38 IP, 1.47 WHIP, 4.03 ERA
Rice couldn’t have had better results, considering there wasn’t a single expectation for the 31-year old rookie. He has secured his spot in the Mets bullpen and is tied for second in appearances. Rice has had his share of struggles occasionally, but this is to be expected from a rookie lefty specialist. Grade: B

Brandon Lyon: 2-2 record, 0 SV, 34.1 IP, 1.63 WHIP, 4.98 ERA
Lyon had a good start to the season and continued to be a reliable arm in the Mets bullpen but towards the end of June he started to fall apart. This resulted in Alderson pulling the trigger and kicking him off the team and straight to Free-Agency. Grade: D+

Josh Edgin: 1-1 record, 1 SV, 28.2 IP, 1.33 WHIP, 3.77 ERA
Edgin started the season on the 25-man roster and he struggled immensely in late April, this resulted in his demotion. When he came back up he seemed to be a different pitcher and has only allowed STAT ER in STAT IP and STAT games. Grade: B-

Greg Burke: 0-2 record, 0 SV, 29 IP, 1.69 WHIP, 4.66 ERA
Burke started the year on the 25-man roster and wasn’t very consistent. He was ultimately sent down and even though he was roughed up in Las Vegas, when he came back he was effective. Unfortunately, he has bounced to and from AAA and the Majors which is where he resides now. Grade: C

Scott Atchsion: 0-0 record, 0 SV, 22 IP, 1.36 WHIP, 3.68 ERA
Atchison was very effective in the beginning of the season but he was pulled due to injury which is most likely the cause of his struggles right before the injury. When he finally came back he got injured once again and he has returned recently to be effective once again. He hasn’t played consistently for anyone to give him a full grade.

David Aardsma: 2-0 record, 0 SV, 22.2 IP, 1.15 WHIP, 3.18 ERA
Aardsma was the response to the struggles of Lyon, and he has responded incredibly well to the opportunity. Aardsma was once the closer in Seattle and he has turned into an elite set-up man in New York. His success has been great to the point where Aardsma is Terry Collins’ first choice in the 8th inning. While he has pitched pretty much the same amount of innings as Atchison he has played consistently over the past month. Grade: A-

Jeurys Familia: 0-0 record, 1 SV, 10.1 IP, 1.65 WHIP, 3.48 ERA
Familia started out the season with struggles but broke through to be reliable. This would suddenly and unfortunately result in surgery to remove bone spur in his pitching elbow. He was on pace to be one of the better long relievers for the Mets but there is no guarantee for pitching again this season. The injury will result in no grade for Familia.

Gonzalez Germen: 1-1 record, 0 SV, 9.1 IP, 1.18 WHIP, 2.89 ERA
Germen has the long man role in relief since Carlos Torres joined the rotation. He had the toughest MLB debut ever and since his loss to Pittsburgh, he has only allowed 2 ER. Since he has not pitched that much this season he doesn’t get a grade yet, but he might have spot in the Mets future bullpen.

The Mets bullpen hasn’t been elite but it sure hasn’t been the worst, and it’s had its ups and downs. Overall the bullpen has done its job to keep the Mets in the game, which is all they need. With the Mets early season struggles in the field and in the bullpen they have figured out a way to have a combined bullpen ERA of 3.88, which isn’t terrible.

Overall Bullpen Grade: B-