One of the concerns heading into the 2013 season was the Mets bullpen. Attempts by Sandy Alderson to revamp the bullpen in the 2012 off-season had failed (Frank Francisco says hello) and Alderson really didn’t do much in the following off-season to bring in a marquee reliever. Instead, he brought in older guys such as LaTroy Hawkins, Pedro Feliciano, and Brandon Lyon. There are various theories about how to build a bullpen, and this one was a little unconventional.
I thought it would be interesting to see how Alderson’s construction of the bullpen panned out.
| Team | ERA- | FIP- | xFIP- | WAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mets | 111 | 112 | 108 | -0.1 |
The Mets bullpen was way below average in 2013. In fact, the group’s FIP- of 112 puts them 29th in the league, right in between the Astros (129) and the Cubs (109). They didn’t even get any help from their defense as their ERA- is tied for third worst between the Phillies and Angels. However, it’s not like there weren’t bright spots in the Mets bullpen. Bobby Parnell showed some serious promise as the club’s closer with a 2.33 FIP and 19 shutdowns before hitting the 60 day disabled list with a neck injury. Terry Collins expressed concerns as to whether Parnell would be ready to pitch when spring training rolls around.
The signing of Hawkins also seemed to work out pretty well for the Mets. This season, Hawkins proved that age is just a number as he compiled a 3.16 FIP along with 20 shutdowns — all at the age of 40. However, for every successful reliever the Mets had — Hawkins, Parnell, and Carlos Torres — there was Scott Atchison, Greg Burke, and Brandon Lyon, each of whom had ERAs above 4.00. The point is that the bad far outweighed the good.
Heading into this offseason, so much focus has been put on revamping the Mets outfield. While outfield help is a legitimate need, the Mets bullpen needs should be getting some attention too. There are a couple of decent options which Alderson could consider. I’m not saying that he should go out and sign someone to a Jonathan Papelbon type of deal. However, a guy like Edward Mujica for $7 Million a year wouldn’t be too much of an overpay, and maybe trying to pair him with a lefty like J.P. Howell or Scott Downs would be a good idea, too. The Mets have a good chunk of change to spend this offseason, and it takes both small and large upgrades in every department to be good. My message to Alderson this offseason is: save some money for the bullpen.
Want to fix the Mets bullpen in one easy step? Quit pitching lousy LHP!!
With no regard to how micro-managing the lefty relievers hurts the other bullpen arms, let’s judge these lefties purely on their results:
3.71 — Scott Rice
3.77 — Josh Edgin
3.97 — Pedro Feliciano
7.71 — Tim Byrdak
8.24 — Robert Carson
16.20 – Aaron Laffey
All six of these LH reliever, used by Terry Collins to maximize their outcomes at the expense of everyone else in the pen – was below average in ERA. The average NL ERA for relievers was 3.50 in 2013.
And since the reason they use lousy lefties is Terry Collins obsession with matchups,it will continue.Yay!
I agree…save some money for the bullpen. Stop the LHP nonsense. Use the excess of defensive-oriented OFs to improve our late inning defense. Bring in relievers like Mujica (who was stupendous for 5 out of 6 months). Bring us some Minor league arms and lets see where it goes.
Sandy Alderson must agree with Terry’s bullpen employment.He keeps giving him his 2 lefties and he keeps employing him.
[…] The signing of Hawkins also seemed to work out pretty well for the Mets. This season, Hawkins proved that age is just a number as he compiled a 3.16 FIP along with 20 shutdowns — all at the age of 40. However, for every successful reliever the Mets had — Hawkins, Parnell, and Carlos Torres — there was Scott Atchison, Greg Burke, and Brandon Lyon, each of whom had ERAs above 4.00. The point is that the bad far outweighed the good. https://mets360.com/?p=19331 […]
“We never had a real strong bottom half of the bullpen,” Alderson said. “The key will be to have more arms, quality arms out there that we can rely on.” ESPN 10/4/13
Alderson recognizes that the bullpen needs an upgrade but fails to understand that the bullpen management needs a bigger upgrade.
The 2014 bullpen should start with Parnell, Black, Hawkins and Torres. All had FIP’s and ERA’s below the league average. Hawkins, a free agent, made $1M in 2013 and a one year under $2M would be reasonable. The other free agents, Aardsma, Byrdak, Feliciano and Fransisco should not be re signed to major league contracts. Atchison should be non tendered. That leaves three positions to upgrade. The Mets control Germen, Rice, Burke, Edgin, Familia, Carson and Henn. I can see the Mets keeping two of these players. Germen and Rice have an inside track as they were near average. Burke and Henn have a chance of being removed from the 40 man roster. Leathersich, Walters, Hutchinson, Bradford Kolarek, and Mazzoni all had impressive AA numbers and will be considered sometime in 2014. That leaves one reliever to upgrade. A veteran NRI should be able to fill that spot and with all that is coming up in the ranks I see no reason to spend money (except Hawkins) on any veteran free agent. Spend it on the Offense.