Could Manny Acosta be Mets’ 2012 closer?

Shudder to just think of it a couple of months ago. After a horrible start,  Manny Acosta has been lights out lately.  Which begs the question: Can Acosta assume the role of closer for the 2012 Mets? It goes without saying that Acosta has thoroughly been the Mets most consistent and reliable arm out of [...]

Mets Notes: Acosta v. Parnell, Pagan’s 2012 status and Duda magic

Manny Acosta pitched two scoreless innings last night and struck out five of the seven batters he faced. After giving up 9 ER in his first 7.1 IP with the Mets this year, Acosta has allowed just 4 ER in his last 27.2 IP. He has a 1.30 ERA in that stretch with 7 BB [...]

Mets Notes: Acosta’s LI, Wright’s K% & Niese’s QS

Since the All-Star break, Manny Acosta has been the Mets’ best reliever. Tim Byrdak has a better ERA (1.80 versus 2.19) but Acosta has faced more than twice as many batters (48-22) and has given up three runs overall to Byrdak’s four. No other reliever is close to their ERA. Acosta’s effective stretch goes back [...]

What’s the fascination with Blaine Boyer?

In a recent chat with Mets bloggers, Sandy Alderson was asked about Spring Training roster decisions, particularly the bullpen. Here was his response: “I think the career body of work is normally what gets a player into camp who is under consideration for the first time or who is put into a competition. I think [...]

The A-B-C guide to the Mets bullpen

It’s often said that having too many good players is a nice problem to have. Judging strictly by Spring Training results, that is exactly the dilemma the Mets have in figuring out who makes their bullpen. Through games of Sunday, the Mets have three relievers who have not allowed an earned run, one with an [...]

Mets bullpen: Analyzing NL LOOGY performance

Following up on yesterday’s piece asking if the Mets need a LOOGY, I decided that we needed to see what these lefty relievers contributed, both overall and then broken down versus LHB and RHB, to determine what others have gotten from these guys. The first thing I did was do a Play Index search at [...]

Is Bobby Parnell’s roster spot in jeopardy?

This time last year, few expected Bobby Parnell to open the year with Triple-A, figuring he had a bullpen spot locked up. But a poor Spring led to an assignment to Buffalo, where he spent the first two-and-a-half months of the year. Could it be déjà vu all over again for Parnell here in 2011? [...]

Do the Mets need a long reliever?

When trying to figure out the makeup of the relievers on the staff, does it make sense for the Mets to have someone who can regularly pitch multiple innings in case a starter gets knocked out early? If the answer to that question is yes, that helps Dillon Gee and Pat Misch in their quests [...]

Manny Acosta and the bullpen competition

After a flurry of moves in the past 10 days, the Mets seem set with the people they will bring to Spring Training to compete for jobs. There should be plenty of competition for a slot in the bullpen, as there should be no fewer than nine relievers vying for the final four spots. Earlier [...]

Sizing up the Mets’ 2011 Opening Day roster

While there are several jobs up in the air, the Opening Day roster is starting to take shape for the Mets. There are 17 positions which seem set and another four which seem likely. And the remaining four are possibly already on the team, it is just a matter of which direction Terry Collins and [...]