The Mets’ rotation here on August 9 isn’t what we expected but at least all five of the current members began the season on the Opening Day roster or the IL. The same can’t be said for the bullpen. Here are the current eight members of the pen and how they got to New York:
Adam Ottavino, Brooks Raley and Drew Smith all started the year in the majors with the club.
Grant Hartwig and Josh Walker were draft picks who started the season in the minors.
Jimmy Yacabonis was one of the option relievers the Mets picked up in the offseason.
Phil Bickford and Trevor Gott were in-season trade acquisitions.
Do you remember the other five relievers who made the Opening Day roster? Here’s what they did with the Mets and where they are now:
John Curtiss – He’s had three stints with the Mets, the last one ended after he allowed 2 ER in 2 IP. Currently in SYR where he has a 7.17 ERA.
Tommy Hunter – Allowed 6 HR in 23.2 IP before getting released. Career is probably over.
Stephen Nogosek – Had two separate stints with the Mets before being DFAd in mid-June. Picked up by the Diamondbacks where he’s in Triple-A.
David Robertson – Was terrific as the team’s closer before being traded for two teenagers in complex league ball near the trade deadline.
Dennis Santana – Was picked up on waivers 3/17. Allowed 6 ER in 8.2 IP. Currently in SYR with a 4.94 ERA.
It’s sort of fascinating – in a train-wreck type of way – how incredibly awful the Mets’ relievers outside of Ottavino, Raley and Robertson have been this year. And it’s not for lack of trying. Ignoring two position players, the Mets have used 23 different relievers this season. Subtracting out the big three, the other 20 relievers have combined for 262.2 IP and 147 ER. That’s a 5.04 ERA.
The average MLB reliever has a 4.14 ERA this year. Nine of the top 14 relievers in IP for the Mets have a higher ERA than that. The five who are better are the big three plus Hartwig (3.66) and Smith (3.96) – and Robertson’s no longer around.
We should never let Billy Eppler try the option-reliever strategy with more than one slot in the MLB pen ever again. The money spent on Omar Narvaez and Tommy Pham would have been much better spent on good relievers. Shoot, they could have just used the money for one of those players on a reliever and then spent ashtray money on guys with a recent track record of success in MLB. When you get Yacabonis and his lifetime 6.03 ERA in 118 IP in the majors – you can’t fake shock when he produces an 8.10 ERA. Buck Showalter tells his troops – play better. We should tell Eppler to stock the bullpen better than these option stiffs.
A couple of tidbits from my browsing this past week:
The toxicity we started hearing about this past month deals with the hitting stars being angered at the lack of quality pitching, especially in the bullpen. I wonder how they feel when our genius field general pulls effective starters after in 75 pitches and then talks about how the bullpen is burned out?
With regard to the Mets’ drafting position, since the Nationals have finished in the top five places two years in a row, the anti-tanking measures in the new CBA do not allow them to pick higher than tenth. Hence, all teams with the top ten picks will automatically move up a spot. Too, if the Mets can finish in the top six (hence the seventh worst record at best, since they get bumped up a spot), they will not be penalized ten spots in draft position.
Thanks for the reminder about the Nationals being ineligible for a top-six slot!
However, all 14 teams that did not make the playoffs (13 this year with Washington) will be in a weighted lottery to determine the first six picks. Here’s how it was done for this past years draft:
“Each MLB team that missed the 2022 postseason was assigned a series of four-number combinations to be drawn from the machine. The 1,001 possible sequences were distributed according to win-loss record, ranging from clubs like Washington (55-107), Oakland (60-102) and Pittsburgh (62-100) which each held 16.5 percent or 165 of the combinations, to Milwaukee (86-76), which had just two.”
https://www.mlb.com/news/how-the-mlb-draft-lottery-works
It’s possible for the Mets to finish with the 12th-worst record yet get a top-six spot thru the lottery. That happened this past year with the Twins, who moved from 13th to 6th with the lottery. And the opposite is possible, too. The Mets could finish with the fifth-worst record and fall out of the top six with the lottery. That happened to the Reds last year, with the lottery pushing them from fourth to seventh.
Thanks for the buzz kill Brian, LOL
I wanted to post this yesterday in response to David Groveman’s great prospect column. Just a couple of thoughts.
As folks are making comps, the comparison of Gilbert and Dykstra keeps jumping out at me. At least according to what I’ve read, he is going 110 mph all the time, gets his uniform dirty, and is basically a little sparkplug. It seems like he may have better tools too. Along the same lines, Jett Williams seems like a gamer ala Wally Backman. Those two guys were so much fun to watch at the top of the order and especially on the bases. Thrown Acuna into the mix and this portends to be a really fun team coming soon to a Citi near you.
I won’t name the podcast (although I don’t see that as competitive to M360) but they mentioned yesterday that Baty was sent down, when he was sent down to keep another year of control. I didn’t follow all the details, as I find contracts and options quite boring, but the upshot was that if he plays the rest of the season in AAA, the Mets will have preserved a year of control down to the specific number of games. If true, they reluctantly sent him down, giving him every chance to stick around but when push came to shove, they took the year of control. I can’t say that I blame the FO for this – he was showing zero signs of figuring things out in MLB.
The games are almost unwatchable and I applaud the troopers among you who have a higher tolerance than I do. I switched the game on yesterday with Smith pitching and waited for the gopher ball. I went away and came back with Vogey up in the 9th and waited for either a DP or a called strike down the middle.
I hope that we get a better reason to tune in besides masochistic loyalty. Watching Pete, the Franciscos, and Senga pile up stats is fun but I hope we get to see some legit prospects soon. Or perhaps a change in strategy from Buck and his coaches. How about a month of small-ball, with some sacrifices, stolen bases, hit and runs, etc?
My grading may be a bit too tough, but I would consider hitting stars as guys OPSing at 900+.
In 2022 your definition would have five players as stars. I think 850 OPS would be much more reasonable. I prefer WAR of 6.0 be to defined as a star taking in defense and pitchers.
Over/Under. 21/2. The number of runs the Mets. Score tonight
Eppler can go out and spend $ 86 million a year on two great, but aged pitchers. But, he overlooks and can’t build a bullpen. The bullpen in today’s game is much more important now than it used to be, because starters are going five to six innings.
The Mets trade Keyshawn Askew for Brooks Raley. Rally has pitched really well for us this year while earning $ 5 million per year. We need more trades like this. We also need to be really active in free agency to sign legit major league relievers with an upside rather than the junk we had for half of the bullpen. Eppler ignored it and paid a heavy price. I think things will be much different if we add Stearns.
I personally think the Mets will be fun to watch in 2024. They are going to start building a more competitive team. I think they will add two starters and a bunch of new relievers and will make some more trades. The team will look different. They have to. They can’t march out the same old same old and expect to win. Marte has to go. I think they will trade McNeil too.
I think the planning for 25 and 26 means that they won’t give out stupid money this offseason, but that won’t preclude them from making some good deals.