The Mets addressed their bullpen in a big way, adding 6’8 Dellin Betances on a one-year deal with a player option for 2021. Betances issued a statement on the signing, one that included this nice graph:
“I love New York. I grew up in Manhattan. Went to high school in Brooklyn. Played minor league ball in Staten Island. Made it to the big leagues in the Bronx. Now, I’m excited to go win a World Series with the Mets in Queens. Thanks to Fred and Jeff, Brodie, and all the other Mets staff who worked so hard to make possible this next step in my New York journey. Merry ChristMets!”
You’ve got to have upside on your team and Betances certainly gives the Mets that. He’ll turn 32 during Spring Training and he’s a four-time All-Star. But he missed most of last year with a variety of injuries, including ones to his shoulder, lat and Achilles tendon. A healthy Betances has been very, very good. Can he reach those heights again? Who knows – that’s why it’s upside.
Assuming everyone is healthy and ready to go, the Mets’ bullpen now has the following members:
Lugo
Betances
Diaz
Familia
Wilson
Gsellman
Brach
Wacha
If there was any doubt before this, it seems certain now that the Mets will utilize the extra player allowed to all MLB teams this season to carry an eight-man bullpen. At least there’s only one lefty.
It could be one heck of a bullpen if Diaz and Familia bounce back at all.
A move that made so much sense everyone knew it would happen a month ago. Glad they figured out a way to structure it for mutual benefit. The pen could be the best is baseball based on upside alone.
An upgrade at backup catcher and maybe one more piece for the pen for insurance and Brodie will have done a great job this offseason adding to and supplementing the strong core already in place.
All three main bullpen guys are in line for a bounce back type of seasons. A bit of a gamble but I’m certainly pleasantly surprised.
If I was the guy in the front office or the check writer there would be back slapping all around. Also I wunder what the Yankees think of their former set up man. Did the Mets get a bargain of purchase a used questioanable arm?
This is what I asked Santa Claus for. I also wanted Martin Maldonado but I can’t be greedy.
We all wanted Betances because no one wanted to rip the team apart to satisfy David Stearns in order to give us Hader. Now, as Brian writes, the upside is the make or break on the Mets in 2020. It maybe a tall order to expect all three – Diaz, Familia, and Betances – to bounce back, but any two of those three would be great. For depth, there’s Drew Smith, um Nogosek, um, um, Seward, Bashlor, and Rhame? Is Avilan still available?
Thank you BVW ! I am a big critic, but you shut me up big. Have to eat a little Christmas Crow and happy to do it. This team could not just wait for Diaz and Familia to improve. That would be like waiting for Cespedes to become MVP. Good show BVW !
Strengthens the team overall. Wonder if it is time to get greedy and maybe pick up one more, like W. Harris, or Cishek, a good defensive catcher to play often behind Ramos, and then that’s all folks…?
This is why Spring Training is so very important, and how successful teams utilize the time to sort out who is ready to help the team; who can provide depth; and who can be expendable. The Mets have tended to operate with wishful thinking over the years instead of having a more realistic; and cold-blooded attitude, in approaching opening day. At least that’s the way I’ve always perceived it.
I do tend to be a fatalist about things……do I expect Alonso to hit 53 homers again in 2020? It would be nice, but probably not. Can he cut down a bit on the Ks? Hopefully. Will the Mets FO be realistic about Cano and not have him bat 3rd? Will McNeil come back fully recovered from his late season injury? Is Davis for real? Will Rosario take the next step forward to being a truly elite ML SS? Has Conforto reached his ceiling? Is Nimmo the answer in CF or is he really a #4 OF?
One would think that our bullpen arms can come back from being sucky to at least serviceable; again, that’s what ST is for. Last but not least is our new manager. Can Beltran be able to handle the job and also inspire the troops? Time will tell. All in all, I’m looking forward to the upcoming season. I also don’t think BVW is done dealing either.
Betances is the piece that completes the Mets bullpen. Now can Beltran fit all the pieces into the puzzle? Lugo, Wacha and Gsellman are capable of pitching two innings each outing. Wilson, Diaz, Familia and Brach are capable of one quality inning. Betances is capable of closing. There is much experience in this bullpen and how Beltran uses it will determine the success of the upcoming season.
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Amen Metsense.
We now have a very good eight-man pen, potentially. I am hoping that Diaz and/or Familia bounce back, but one would be good! When Wacha (or Matz) goes into the rotation from the bullpen, when an injury to a starter occurs, we will be OK now.
I’m not wild about Gsellman though. He has been in the 80s for ERA+ most of his major league life. I think that Drew Smith might prove to be better.
Brodie seems to have learned from his past mistakes, and is keeping his young farmhands (Allan, Wolf, Alvarez, Baty, in particular) and his young major leaguers (especially Nimmo, McNeil, and Davis). I’m still wondering if they’ll trade Smith though.
The deal is not quite as intricate as Jake Arrieta’s contract, but it does have some complexities. This should really be reported as a 2 year deal with $13 mil guaranteed.
Much like with Wacha, the Mets will have an incentive to stop using Betances even if he’s ineffective as that will push up his 2021 salary and thus we may be stuck paying 8+ mil for a middle reliever in 2021.
I actually think the pitching is now ready for 2020 save a few veteran pickups we stash in Syracuse.
The depth of the everyday players concerns me a bit though. Ramos is rarely as healthy as he was last year and our only backup is Nido. No good. With the infield, the only solid backups are Lowrie (healthy?) and Dom Smith (trade bait?). The outfield worries me even more. If Cespedes is healthy and not traded it’s deep, but if not we only have 4 OFs – one is injury prone, one’s a light hitter, and one’s a weak fielder. If Cespedes is traded or not healthy Curtis Granderson could be had cheap and would be welcomed back as a 5th OF/pinch hitter with open arms by teammates and fans.