Left-handed reliever Dana Eveland signed with the Red Sox earlier this week, removing an option for the Mets in their pursuit of an additional lefty in the bullpen. Eveland was signed by the Mets in February 2014 and called up in June of last season. He pitched very effectively for the team until he was shut down in September due to inflammation in his elbow.
Eveland was probably the best option for the Mets in terms of a second lefty reliever to pair with Josh Edgin to open the 2015 season. “Best,” of course, being relative to how far the Mets seemed willing to go to obtain that reliever. The team could turn to internal options like Jack Leathersich, Dario Alvarez, and Rule 5 pick Sean Gilmartin. Though Alvarez was a September call up last year, none appear particularly ready to assume the role to open the season. The team also re-signed 2014 LOOGY Scott Rice, though it’s unclear how effective he will ultimately be after elbow surgery at last season’s midpoint. He wasn’t particularly good in that role before his surgery. The team could potentially receive a lefty reliever in return for trading a player like Dillon Gee as well.
Do the Mets really need a second lefty in the bullpen, though? That’s an interesting question and the answer may greatly affect Edgin in 2015. The Mets have become destroyers of left-handed relievers in recent years. Former Mets managers Jerry Manuel and Willie Randolph had no qualms with riding “Perpetual” Pedro Feliciano‘s arm into the ground from 2006 to 2010. Current Mets manager Terry Collins didn’t skip a beat in pushing guys like Tim Byrdak and the aforementioned Rice to eventual surgery through heavy use.
The heavy usage of these pitchers was the apparent result of the lack of a viable second lefty option in the bullpen. This reasoning gets to the crux of the issue here, which is Collins’ fascination with getting that lefty-lefty match-up at seemingly all costs. This led to heavy usage of the LOOGY and things like the Brian Joura-coined “Scott Rice special,” where other relievers had to be brought in to clean up the mess left behind by the LOOGY in his forced match-up.
Amazingly, when Rice was demoted last season Collins seemed to have made adjustments to his lefty philosophy. As Brian pointed out last season, there was a noted reduction in the instances in which Collins used one of his lefties (Edgin and Eveland) against only one or two batters.
The good news is that Collins seemed to hold steady with that pattern for Eveland until he went down in September. He averaged 3.6 batters faced per appearance from July 8th to September 6th with a few LOOGY situations sprinkled throughout. The bad news is that he did not show the same courtesy to Edgin, who averaged 2.2 batters faced over his last 24 games from July 7th to September 23rd. In Edgin’s case, he was used to face three or less batters in less than an inning of work more often than not.
It may be that Collins felt he could use Edgin in such a way because he had the effective Eveland and later Alvarez on the roster. The potential problem here is that Mets GM Sandy Alderson has suggested the Mets could go with only one lefty in the bullpen. A single lefty, even one of Edgin’s overall non-LOOGY quality, may push Collins back into super-LOOGY mode. That would not bode well for Edgin.
Good luck, Edgin.
First, Josh needs to come to Spring training ready to play. He’s been a slow starter the last couple of seasons. Secondly, I am looking forward to watching Leathersich pitch this Spring, and have been impressed by what I’ve read about Gilmartin. Obviously, Gilmartin has a built in advantage being a rule 5 pick. Maybe TC will have finally leared how to best manage his pen.
If i’m a lefty and TC is the manager, i’d be lining up to buy insurance for myself against injury for overuse.
Amen to the statement, ” If I’m a lefty and TC is the manager…..”
Bullpen should be good with one or two lefties. Mejia,FAmilia,Torres,Black, edgin sounds pretty good. Parnell should be ready in May. Let the best man in ST, lefty or righty take the last spot.
I am not a supporter of Collins. I questioned when he would pull a right handed pitcher who was effective, for a lefty, to get the lefty-lefty match up. Especially when he would do it for a guy like, Freddie Freeman. Who hits lefties just as well as he hits righties. It seems Collins, nor the bench coach, never looks at a computer, just makes a “knee jerk decisions.”
Collins never had much of a bullpen to work with until last year, and now looks to have that tool available to him in a big way in 2015. If everyone contributes, he probably won’t have to try and mix and match nearly as much.
The National League traces its lineage back to the 1870s. From those beginnings until the late 1980s, there was no such thing as a LOOGY. People today think it’s some kind of unwritten rule that you have to have multiple lefties in the bullpen to succeed and it’s simply not true.
The 1986 Mets team that won 108 games used three lefty relievers at various points of the season and not one of them was a LOOGY. The 86 Mets didn’t succeed because Randy Niemann was on the squad about 2/3 of the season or Randy Myers had a cup of coffee.
The idea that a successful team requires multiple guys who throw with their left hand to utilize consistently for one or two-batter appearances is a myth. No, it’s worse than a myth because it’s detrimental to the actual success of the other relievers.
At some point, a team is going to recognize it can gain a competitive advantage by not carrying multiple pitchers who cannot perform adequately against 70% of the hitters in the league. I look forward to that day and hope like anything that team is the Mets. But I’m not holding my breath.
I totally agree. The idea that this team needs to have two lefties or even three to appease our manager whose abilities are dubious a best makes you want to pull your hair out. There are so many games when a rhp gets two outs in the blink of an eye and then Terry inexplicably brings in his loogy to face one batter with two outs nobody on? First of all, that’s exhibit one of why your lefties get worned down and secondly, you’re not exactly boosting the confidence of the righty who you just replaced? That’s Terry’s problem in a nutshell every yr, there is a quarter of his roster that he has zero confidence in and he wears out the other 3/4 in the process and when he has to resort back to using his ugly step children, they’re rusty and therefore ineffective.
I wonder if Collins saw the Royals bullpen pitch during the playoffs and World Series? Pretty efficient? No LOOGY? No wasted or burned out pen? Lasting impression? I hope so. If we could only remove from Collins brain that by using one pitcher to get one out it over burdens the rest of the bull pen day in and day out. maybe the light came on for TC? I sure hope so if the Mets want to be in a wild card race this season.
The Met strong starting pitching should consistently get the Mets into the 7th inning. If the Mets are tied or in the lead then the next three innings should belong to Parnell, Familia and Mejia. A reasonable person would not replace any of those three mid inning for Edgin therefore I don’t think there is a need for a LOOGY. Black, Edgin and Torres should be pitching the 7th-9th when the Mets are behind. They have the ability to keep the game close and give the offense a chance to come back and pull one out. The use of a LOOGY in this bullpen would be detrimental. TC’s use of the bullpen will determine how successful a season the Mets have. If the bullpen is properly handled then Edgin should not be in for a long season because he should be used less in a winning season.