Let’s go back to Mid-March when the Mets’ front office, as well as fans, thought of the Mets potential bullpen as a strength rather than a weakness as it had been in past years. Opening Series came and went. Bobby Parnell went down, three losses, and eleven runs were allowed by the bullpen. The bullpen was deemed a complete disgrace and a weakness to an already poor team. Unlike most, giving the bullpen another series to prove themselves was a theory of mine. These seven men were much better over the next few series and proved to be at least MLB average which was an enormous confidence booster. Recently, the bullpen has been on the decline and it may be time to reassess who should be the seven men in the bullpen.
The Current Bullpen:
After delivering a walk-off homerun in Colorado, it seemed that Farnsworth’s age had caught up to him. However, after Monday night when he came in to retire three batters without giving up a run, he earned the right to stay.
Verdict: He stays
After proving himself in the middle of last season, there has been no question as to whether or not Torres has a rubber arm and can work well in any role of relief or even start. The recent scoop on Torres has been overexposure and he has worked a few days too many in a row. The bottom line is that he will bounce back from whatever troubles he may be having at the moment.
Verdict: He stays
Germen came up in the middle of last season and immediately proved himself to be a valued bullpen piece after a string of scoreless innings. Germen proceeded to have a tough string of outings, but finished strong. Coming up this year has been a bumpy road, but in the end he has impeccable command of his changeup and deserves to remain on the roster until he completely falters.
Verdict: On thin ice
At one point Valverde seemed to be the best reliever on the team. However after only a few games, he started to unravel. He has turned around his game as of late, but it seems that he remains under a microscope.
Verdict: One last chance until an inevitable demotion
Potential Replacement: Vic Black or Jeff Walters
After John Lannan was demoted, Rice became the only lefty in the bullpen and only the second lefty in the entire pitching staff. While he had an atrocious night on Monday, he had gone nine appearances without allowing a run; which is worth noting. With a dominant left-handed reliever by the name of Jack Leathersich in the wings, Rice must put the pieces together to prove his worth.
Verdict: He needs to be more consistent, but he has the right to stay here
Potential Replacement: Jack Leathersich
With all the talent in the world, Familia has the potential to eventually become a dominant set-up man or closer. He has not exactly lived up to the expectations by posting a 4.15 ERA and two losses. That being said, he has shown signs of living up to his potential and it would be a crime to send him down.
Verdict: He deserves to stay
After an excellent start to his season by posting a 1.17 ERA in his first 6 appearances, he has started to break down a tad by allowing four runs in his past two appearances. While it seems obvious to completely berate him because of Monday night’s performance, it seems logical to say that every reliever deserves another chance.
Verdict: On thin ice
Potential Replacement: Jacob deGrom or Rafael Montero
Farnsworth can stay, but not as closer. He’s never thrived in that role for numerous teams in his career, there’s no logic that says he will now that he is 40. Back to middle relief duty for him.
As for closer, I’m at a loss. Mets will not contend with Farnsworth or Valverde as closer. I’d take Torres, Familia, Black, deGrom, or Montero over those options regardless of experience. Walters is getting shelled so that’s not an option right now.
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Quintanilla should have caught that ball on Monday night. If he had, we might have maintained the lead in the 8th inning ant not had a meltdown.
Oh really? The Mets don’t have a bonafide closer so why force the issue. The bullpen has 6 very so-so pitchers. TC needs to take what he deems his three best and rotate them in the 7-9th innings when it is a save /hold situation and the remaining four rotate through for all other situations. There is nothing wrong with a capable pitcher throwing more than one inning either. Rice used as a LOOGY screws this up so maybe it is time to make the tough decision regarding the use of a LOOGY!
The worst ERA (6.14) and WHIP (1.50) is owned by Rice and his spots are “cherry picked by TC”. Everyone else has ERA’s of 4.15 or below and 4 with an ERA of 3.57 or below. It is time for Sandy to make the tough decision and tell TC and Warthan to change their game plan.
Vic Black, despite all his issues, deserves to be on the Major League roster. It’s very hard to justify running Valverde out there three times in the past two weeks and burning out other guys when we know that Black can at least be serviceable out of a big league bullpen.
As for Rice, he’s not going anywhere. Leathersich got absolutely shelled in AAA last year to the point where he has been sent back down to Binghamton to start the season this year. Walks are a major concern for him (9.00 BB/9 in AAA in ’13, 6.75 BB/9 in AA in ’14) and he actually has a reverse platoon split because his dominance is so heavily reliant upon deception rather than actual stuff. Bringing up Leathersich to use as a LOOGY would be an unmitigated disaster.
So go without a LOOGY. If it’s a problem that Valverde only pitches three times in two weeks, isn’t it also a problem if Rice ends up pitching to fewer batters that Valverde does?
Valverde pitched regularly through 4/22. Here are their batters faced since 4/23:
Valverde – 11
Rice – 10
Rice gets to joke with other relievers that they have to work harder while he throws to one guy a night. That’s bull. If he can’t pitch a whole inning, then demote or cut him because he’s wasting valuable space. If Dice K needs longer to warm up, then he should be used as long relief or as a spot starter only. He shouldn’t be brought in like he is a normal reliever. Farnsworth is the default closer because no one else has the experience or ability right now. Most of the guys are doing their best and trying to find a role, but TC doesn’t make it easy for them to do that, and that riding the hot hand thing is literally going to hurt someone. This bullpen needs to have the fat trimmed off of it. Also, let’s not forget that not all the starting pitching has been wonderful, and that the bullpen is constantly asked to hold tight leads because this offense is atrocious at times. The finger can get pointed in many directions.
You look at the minor league stats on some of the relievers you suggest. They are not good. Leathersnich is have an awful season in AA. It tough to judge the AAA relievers because they have only thrown a few inning. Both Black, and Walters have control problems. Walters leads Vegas in saves. But every reliever on Vegas has about an even walk to strike out ratio (walks 10, strike outs 10). Josh Edgin and Leathersnich are there only lefties relievers neither is ready to returning, but both have to improve and throw strikes. Monterno and DeGroom are starters, if they could pitch relief effectively will have to be seen. Obviously Familia is having trouble with that adjustment.
The bull pen is a major black mark on the Alderson era. Perhaps to his credit, the pen is probably the last thing to worry about in a rebuild given they are flighty by nature. But to have things be this bad after actually trying is pretty sad all things considered. It makes me think Alderson is not the leader of the team that will win. He is the leader that had to stop the bleeding and stabilize the situation while fortifying the building blocks for someone to step in and go for the kill. Id like to see him and TC Warthen and Hudgens replaced, and then the team can finally move forward. Under this group, the post season is not attainable.
So as fans, we think the team should make decisions on roster make-up/utilization on the next appearance … is that what I am to understand?
Dillon Gee aside, that seems a bit shortsighted. And I discount the idea of “closer” regarding Farnsworth. A pitcher gets up and throws 1 inning. Either Farnsworth has/is capable of doing that in the 9th, or the 8th, or the 6th.
Get a roster of players that have shown a consistent ability to play baseball, like LaTroy Hawkins. Or Stephen Drew. Or Kelly Johnson. And then sit down, shut up and let them play. I personally think Dice K is one of those guys, and Farnsworth has become one of those guys, and Valerde can be one.
One way or the other, Rice is not one of them. Neither is German. Neither is Familia. Neither is Leathersich. And to this point, neither is Vic Black who still hasn’t shown the ability to control where the ball is going.
“Hope” (re: potential) is not an effective strategy in any field. Mejia can pitch. Montero can pitch. JDG can pitch. Noah. You have more than enough effective arms in the major and minor leagues to put together a roster. If you cannot pitch consistently, go to LV or Binghamton or to another organization and learn how to do it. But Queens is not a training field, its for consistent production.
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Im pretty much in lock step with you JG, save two assessments. I think Valverde is no longer one of those people, and Farnsworth is not either. They can skate by as wily veterans and pull off the occasional sweet inning, but as a whole, Im ready to let both walk.
I couldnt agree more with this: “Get a roster of players that have shown a consistent ability to play baseball”. Four years in, and Alderson has failed to get there.
I appreciate your feelings on Farnsworth and Valverde.
But I think before you give the opportunity to fail to people that have never succeeded before, you give the *full* opportunity to those that have succeeded.
Valverde … hey, a homer against Goldschmidt, one to Upton and he got shelled against the Angels. The Zona game he did what I’d want, to challenge with a 5 run lead. Then he shut it down. Upton got lucky. And the Angels? Hardly a sin.
Farnsworth has been fine except an outing in Colorado, and that goes all the way back to his games in Las Vegas. I’d argue that you simply can’t use the guy in back to back games, I mean after all he’s not some rubber-armed kid anymore.
Each his own. It’s not hard to find veterans that wake up and play baseball is all I’m saying. It’s really not. You don’t *have* to play the worst guys in the league just because he’s yours and he’s young.
Say it again – hope is not an effective strategy.
When he got the first save, Dice-k said to the Japanese media,”I’m not as happy as I thought i would be.” “I don’t intend to stick around the bullpen longer.” …needs little bit of a humble pie?
I think being a star in Japan, he never adjusted or felt comfortable with this culture, psychologically and physically. Even when he was healthy,
he was plagued by numerous injuries.
He had a conflict on his warm up pitch count issue even with Red Sox. It was a huge scandal in Boston that the media reported that
Dice-k complained to his Japanese friend reporter that how Red Sox management wouldn’t let him do the way he wants.
His control has been the constant problem throughout his career.