Last night in Pittsburgh a beautiful thing happened. Jon Niese, though a bit erratic at times, pitched effectively through six innings and handed a lead to a Mets bullpen that sealed the win. A win is always great, but what made this one special was how it was closed out and what it portends. The fashion in which the back end of the bullpen shut down the Pirates offense should get Mets fans excited to see a bullpen full of young arms that is finally taking shape. Setup man Jeurys Familia required only twelve pitches to get through two innings before handing the game to closer Jenrry Mejia, who pitched a perfect ninth and earned his eighth save.
It seems we’re always talking about the Mets’ pitching depth in terms of the starting pitching. Indeed, the rotation should be a core strength of the next Mets playoff team. We’re starting to see some of that pitching depth emerge in the bullpen, though, and its future is looking exceedingly bright. Familia has looked particularly great in the month of June with an ERA of 0.69, a 1.72 FIP, a K/9 of 8.31, and a BB/9 of 0.69. For those of us that have been following Familia on his way through the minors, that BB/9 rate is an incredibly positive sign.
Of course, Familia and Mejia are not the only pitchers that make this a bullpen to be excited about. They’re joined by the youngish Vic Black, Gonzalez Germen, and Josh Edgin as well as the older Dana Eveland and mainstay Carlos Torres. Black looks to be a long-term piece, and Edgin has shown flashes of dominance. We’re starting to see the Mets’ goal of building their bullpen from within with young power arms come to fruition. It’s quite the change from the last few years, and even from the beginning of this season when fans were subjected to the likes of Jose Valverde and Kyle Farnsworth.
The amount of depth that the front office has added to the starting rotation the last few years has aided in the construction of the bullpen as well. While Black and Edgin were clearly relief prospects, it wasn’t too long ago that both Familia and Mejia were two of the Mets’ top starting pitching prospects. Of course they both had their problems in that role, but the point is that the depth in the rotation (now, but mainly in the near future) allowed the team to move them into roles where they have started to flourish.
The depth is mind boggling when we consider the trouble the Mets had both in the bullpen and in the rotation not so long ago. Think about it. Dillon Gee is making his way back to the rotation, Matt Harvey and Jeremy Hefner are making their way back from surgery, and Noah Syndergaard will force his way to the big leagues sooner rather than later. That means pitchers like Jacob deGrom and Rafael Montero, starters that are prospects in their own right, will be hard pressed to find a spot in the big league rotation. That also means they’d serve as both depth for the rotation and bullpen reinforcements. Additionally, relief prospects like Jack Leathersich, Zack Thorton, Jeff Walters, Cory Mazzoni, and others will soon be knocking on the door. Oh, and let’s not forget about Bobby Parnell.
Obviously some of these pitchers will not pan out. Others may be traded to improve the offense. The point here is that the Mets’ “bullpen of the future” is here, with what seems to be plenty of reinforcements waiting in the wings. It’s something we’re not used to, but something we all know is vitally important for the success of this team moving forward. Now, about that offense…
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The FO just doesn’t seem to have the same confidence as you Rob. They have tried for 4 years to put together a bull pen and failed miserably. No plan for this year knowing that Parnell was coming of neck surgery. Rather than give the kids a chance they continued shopping for recycled past their prime closers. I would rather watch the kids learn how to pitch and more importantly learn how to win. Now let’s hope that SA has learned his lesson and will allow the youngsters a chance to prove him wrong..
Still have a little more than a week to figure this out, but i think it’s still up in the air on who gets the boot when Gee comes back.
On the surface, one would think that Eveland is to go. First, he’s 30 and easily not part of the future and also the last one in is usually the first one out.
However, Germen has walked 6 batters in the 8 innings he has come off the DL, although 4 of them were in one game, and because of Eveland’s success plus TC’s fetish with LHP, may cause Germen to be the roster casualty.
Less likely options are the Mets deciding Black and his 5.9 BB/9 isn’t worth it at the MLB level at the moment or Dice-K and his 5.9 BB/9 (4.01 FIP, 4.75 xFIP) having a big time regression coming up and being proactive in cutting him early.
hey … the Yankees are on the phone. I can’t understand what they are laughing about, but I think it has something to do with “power arms”.
Wait … we have the Braves on line 2. And the Marlins … oh, somebody from DC is on line 4 …
🙂
I just noticed that Leathersich is leading all minor league’s in strike outs per 9 innings as he did last year. It appears his control is back since his walk ratio is way down.
Bull pens are inherently shifting objects. Of all the components that make up a team, it is far and away the most transient. Closers come and go. Set up guys get promoted and all are prone to be traded mid season to potential winners. Few pen arms are Mariano, Kimbrel, Chapman etc. Many have a great season, then vanish into thin air…Sergio Romo was spectacular until he was just demoted; same goes for Fernando Rodney who was great, terrible, and good again; what about Grant Balfour or Jim Johnson? K-Rod a lesson? I think it is not worth vesting too heavily in believing that the pen is set for a particular run next year or the following couple. As sure as the sun rises in the East, the composition of the pen will change. Like you said, its great we seem to have a bee line headed to Queens, because I bet we need every single one! (And with TC as skipper, perhaps all in 1 game!)
and sometimes even all in 1 inning! (in a couple of years, maybe, all for 1 batter!)
That guys lefty righty splits on a 2-1 count clearly mean its time to bring in the LOSGY (thats Lefty, one strike guy)!