Chasen Shreve and the Mets’ lefty reliever Merry-Go-Round of the past few years

In the shortened 2020 season, Chasen Shreve turned in a pretty good year for the Mets. The overall numbers don’t look that great, due to two bad outings at the end of the year. But in his first 13 games, he pitched in 17, Shreve had a 1.99 ERA, a 0.926 WHIP and he limited batters to a .552 OPS. On top of that, he wasn’t helpless against RHB, as his full-season numbers against righties featured 22 Ks and 4 BB.

Shreve seemed like the type of lefty you’d want to have in your bullpen, a guy who dominated LHB and held his own against righties. But the Mets opted not to bring him back for 2021, choosing to sign Aaron Loup, instead. Loup was coming off a pretty good season himself, as he had a 2.52 ERA and an 0.840 WHIP for the Rays. Plus, he had a solid postseason, being lights out in the Wild Card game and the ALCS before faltering in the World Series.

Loup turned in one of the best seasons ever for a Mets reliever in 2021, going 6-0 with a 0.95 ERA and a 0.935 WHIP. Meanwhile, Shreve had to sign a minor league deal, eventually making it back to the majors in mid-May with the Pirates. Shreve was solid, although nowhere near as good as Loup. He gave the Pirates 56.1 IP with a 3.20 ERA and a 1.260 WHIP. Not bad numbers for a guy no one thought was worthy of an MLB deal.

Loup signed with the Mets for 1/$3 and turned his terrific 2021 into a 2/$17 contract with the Angels. It was tough to lose Loup but that’s a pretty hefty contract for a non-closer. The Mets completed the circle, bringing back Shreve for 2022 to replace Loup. Loup’s off to another terrific start in 2022, as he hasn’t allowed a run in 6.1 IP and has a microscopic 0.158 WHIP. But Shreve hasn’t been chopped liver. He’s allowed just one run in the same 6.1 IP as Loup and has a tiny 0.474 WHIP.

So far, the issue hasn’t been a dropoff from Loup to Shreve. Rather, it’s been the club’s desire to keep a second lefty reliever. The Mets overpaid to get that second lefty, sending Miguel Castro to the Yankees for Joely Rodriguez. The righty Castro hasn’t allowed a run in six games so far this season. Rodriguez sits with a 10.38 ERA, having allowed 5 ER in 4.1 IP.

To be fair, Rodriguez has looked better than expected. Of course, expectations were down thru the floor. And his numbers would probably look better if he could be a true LOOGY managed by Terry Collins, who bent over backwards to get his lefties the platoon advantage at much-better-than-average rates.

But the big question is if the Mets were going to prioritize having a second lefty in the pen – why did they wait until the last minute to add someone to Shreve and then overpay to get a nothing-special guy like Rodriguez?

Billy Eppler generally gets high marks from Mets fans, coming in late and playing a key role in landing Mark Canha, Eduardo Escobar and Starling Marte right before the lockout began. He then hired Buck Showalter during the lockout and traded for Chris Bassitt once the lockout was over. That’s a lot of great work in a short span. But the Castro-Rodriguez deals stands out like a sore thumb.

Castro may never improve upon his 2021 season. But he was both durable and versatile and if not for the fascination with lefty relievers, no one would ever consider trading Castro for Rodriguez.

So, what should the Mets have done instead? With Steve Cohen’s billions, perhaps a reunion with Loup would have made sense. But no one should feel bad about not beating that deal. Relievers are fickle and the last thing you want to do is be left holding the bag on a two-year deal to a middle reliever.

But what about Brad Hand? The Mets wanted Hand but the switch from the Wilpons/Brodie Van Wagenen to the Cohen regime kept the Mets from picking him up when he was released by Cleveland following the 2020 season. Once he cleared waivers and reached free agency, Hand wanted to go somewhere he could be the closer, which ruled out signing with the Mets.

Hand signed with the Nationals, where he was a middle-of-the-road closer. Then he was dealt to the Blue Jays and was lousy. The Mets picked him up after he was released by Toronto and he did his best pitching of the year with his third team. Hand threw 13.1 IP and had a 2.70 ERA with 5 BB and 14 Ks.

But the Mets seemingly showed no interest in a reunion with Hand. Unlike in 2021, Hand was in no position to demand a closer’s job this year in free agency. He didn’t sign until after the lockout, inking a deal with Philadelphia on March 15, to set up new closer Corey Knebel.

It would be one thing if Hand signed pre-lockout. We could say that Eppler had bigger fish to fry. But with months to prepare during the lockout, it was inexcusable that the best the Mets could do was trade a better reliever for a second lefty. Hand was more expensive than Rodriguez but his deal with the Phillies is 1/$6 – nowhere close to what Loup ended up getting.

You’ll get no argument from me if you think this is too much money to pay for a LOOGY. But Hand has been much more than that throughout his career. He would have been considered the top lefty option over Shreve and likely utilized in a role not too much different than a righty reliever.

The Mets bullpen could have included Hand, Shreve and Castro. Instead, it’s Shreve and Rodriguez. Shreve’s strong early start is taking some of the sting away. Let’s hope that will last. But there seems little doubt that the Mets will trade for a reliever before the year is out. They could have avoided that with a better plan to start the season. Maybe Hand didn’t want to come back to the Mets. If that was the case, there should have been a better Plan B than trading for a replacement-level pitcher.