Zack Wheeler, Josh Edgin and the reason to be optimistic

It’s been a rocky 48 hours. As most Mets fans discovered over the past few days, two sure-fire opening day pitchers will be having Tommy John surgery, ending their seasons’ before they began. The loss of lefty reliever Josh Edgin was a palpable hit, but not a devastating blow. The Mets were looking to have [...]

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The Mets do not need a dedicated lefty

Over the past few years it has been a popular style of Mets baseball to have at least one lefty in the bullpen who comes in late in the game to face Ryan Howard and leaves right after for another picture. The LOOGY, which was popularized in the early 90s, is common place for the [...]

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Prospect breakout candidate: Brandon Brosher

With spring training in full bloom much of the focus around Mets land has been about things pertaining to the major league team – Who will be the lefty reliever now that Josh Edgin is lost to Tommy John surgery?; Can Wilmer Flores play a good enough shortstop to merit the everyday job?; How will [...]

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Two weeks in and still no definite shortstop for the Mets

Throughout the offseason, there were two main areas of concern, and General Manager Sandy Alderson did not address either one. The first area was the bullpen’s need for another left-handed reliever to compliment Josh Edgin. It has been apparent in the past few years that using one left-handed reliever has not worked out, as Tim [...]

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Henny Penny and the necessity of lefty relievers

Anyone familiar with the children’s tale Henny Penny knows the moral of the story: Beware of those who predict calamity, especially with zero justification. We would be wise to remember the lessons of Henny Penny when it comes to the “calamity” of not having multiple lefty relievers on the team. Few things will have less [...]

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The Mets’ pitching depth may soon be tested

Zack Wheeler was scratched from his Grapefruit League start against the Nationals today because of what has been deemed elbow tendinitis. Mets General Manager Sandy Alderson didn't seem too concerned, claiming that Wheeler pitched with the same issue during stretches of last season. We won't touch on just how alarming that latter statement was, but [...]

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A Mets bullpen with no lefties would be all right

Too many times in this blog I've written about the foolishness of the LOOGY approach to baseball. In most of those, the focus has been on the unbelievably crappy overall performance of the Mets' lefty relievers under the Alderson/Collins regime. Today, let's focus on the righty relievers. In 2014, the average NL righty had a [...]

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