It’s been a very common issue with the Mets over the past number of seasons and this year is no different. The team has good starting pitching, along with a good lineup. But it’s the bullpen that continues to worry Mets fans all over.
The year didn’t start off well, as Bobby Parnell went down with an injury that required surgery and will keep him out of the 2014 season. Vic Black, their back up option, didn’t pitch well in spring and got hurt while in AAA. Now, healthy and back with Las Vegas, he could very soon find himself back in the mix up north.
The problem that lies with the bullpen is its reliance on veterans like Kyle Farnsworth and Jose Valverde for the 8th and 9th innings. These two guys are towards the end of their careers and can no longer pitch everyday like in the past. Now the Mets have remedied this with young guys like Jeurys Familia and Gonzalez Germen, but that isn’t enough.
How do they fix this problem? Well they should take a page out of the Cardinals playbook. Sooner or later, Vic Black will be ready and back with the big league club. But for the rest of the bullpen, an infusing of young promising prospects that are on innings limits might serve well. That means Noah Syndergaard, Rafael Montero and Jacob deGrom could find themselves in the bullpen to start their major league careers.
And there is nothing wrong with that. Those three have futures as members of a big league rotation, but right now the rotation isn’t the problem. If come next month, two of these guys are ready to be called up, they should be. There’s no reason to keep them in Las Vegas (which is a hitters park), when they can contribute on an everyday level for the Mets.
It worked well for the Cardinals and they have continued it this year by having three guys –including closer Trevor Rosenthal– who want to be starters, be in the bullpen. The three won’t have to be shut down early, and can pitch an entire season. While this doesn’t work for everyone (see Jenrry Mejia), it’s an experiment worth trying.
For the Mets to even get close to .500 ball, or better, they need help from the bullpen. The rotation will continue to give solid start after solid start and the offensive will do what it does. The Mets have to be able to shut the door on games and not let teams hang around.
Three guys who can pitch and contribute are about to be ready for the big leagues. Keeping them in Vegas does them no help, nor does it help the Mets. Having them infuse with the bullpen and giving it more youth is good for them and the team. Soon, it will be time to pull the trigger on these guys. It’s time to win at the big league level Mr. Alderson.
It begins and ends with the Super 2 cutoff. Neither Syndergaard, nor Montero, nor deGrom will be up a minute before they are past that and the Mets can get an extra year of team control without the 4th year of arbitration. Until then, let’s hope Farnsworth doesn’t turn back into a pumpkin.
I’m not sure why people point to the St. Louis bullpen as a good model. They’ve been in the middle of the pack in terms of bullpen over the last few years. They win, but not because of their bullpen.
Good bullpens over the last few years have been Atlanta, Cincy, San Francisco.
The Mets have so many good young starting pitchers in the minors along with the old guy Dice K. The Mets underbelly is their relief pitching, especially middle relief. I see the future of the Mets bullpen as a piggy back system of deGrom, Montero, Dice K, Syndergaard and Torres to follow the starter and pitch to the end just like Torres did the other night. They should carry two shutdown hardthrowing relievers like German and Black for the purpose of shutting down the opposition during the transition inning between the starter and the piggy back pitcher. This way the piggy back pitcher starts off with a fresh inning which is something they would be more used to. This idea is too revolutionary for the baseball establishment but the Mets have the personnell to pull it off.
I’m not a big fan of the piggy back idea, but I also hate seeing three relievers in an inning. Your plan seems logical, and you’re totally correct that the Mets will probably have the pieces to make it work. It’s worth a shot once these guys are all up in the bigs.
And we just released Lannan and called up Dice-K.
Good lineup? What team have you been watching the last few years?