Bullpen Blunders: The Crash of the Pen.

Good morning and Happy Father's Day to all Father's out there! 

It's that most wonderful time of the week again: Sunday Reading!

I was hoping I wouldn't have to cover this topic, But.....Here we go.

The 2019 season for the New York Mets has been one of Positives, Negatives, ups, downs, cheers, boos and most important of all, lots of questions.

Lets rewind to the Off-season for a moment:

In the Off-season, General manager Brodie Van Wagenen signed lots of players to minor league deals as well as Major League deals and also made a few trades.

One of the Signings he made was to former Met, then Athletic and again Met, Jeurys Familia to a 3 year 30 Million Dollar deal to be the setup man to now closer who was traded for, Edwin Diaz.

With Seth Lugo and Robert Gsellman both thriving in Bullpen Roles instead of struggling in the Rotation, The Mets had their two long relief men. Other signings were that of Left hander Justin Wilson to a Major league deal, Hector Santiago, Luis Availan, Ryan O'Rourke, Traded for Walker Lockett and The Mets even hired Bullpen Coach, Chuck Hernandez to take over for former Met coach Ricky Bones. 

On Paper in the off-season, the Mets bullpen looked revamped and looked to be relatively decent, Possibly around a #10-15 ranked Bullpen at best. 

So far, that hasn't been the case at all! The Bullpen has been very suspect this season. 

Familia hasn't been anywhere near what he was before but he has his moments when he's lights out, Gsellman is overused, Santiago was bought up, did well in his first game and hasn't been good and ended up being Designated for Assignment, O'Rourke, Bashlor and Flexen are up and down for the Majors and Minors and Edwin Diaz as of late has been dealing with struggles of his own!

In the Offseason, fans were demanding the Mets sign Craig Kimbrel to boost the Bullpen. At the Time, Kimbrel was looking for a 6 year and 6 figures in the form of 100 Million Dollars and a guaranteed closer's role with either the Red Sox (The team he won a World Series with) or any other team that signed him. 

No Team signed him, not only because of the ridiculous demand, but also because of the draft pick and international money that was attached to him had he signed with any team other than Boston. The signings team would need to forfeit said money and pick to the Red Sox. Kimbrel later lowered his demands to a 3 year deal along still with a guaranteed closer's role. It took him until June 7th, after the draft to sign a 3 year 43 Million Dollar deal with the Chicago Cubs.

The Cubs, Desperate for a Closer signed Kimbrel and gave him the Closer's role he wanted. Even though he's signed spent a majority of the season throwing Simulated games, he has yet to make a Minor League appearance.

Back to the Mets bullpen.

The struggles are so bad for the Mets bullpen, that the Starters in the Rotation are being pushed to go 7 Innings, which is nothing to bad, but to throw 120 pitches when the Average for most starters is about 100-110. 

There is very little, if no faith in the Mets Bullpen and Mets manager Mickey Callaway knows this, which is why he pushes his starters! The Mets bullpen is ranked in the Bottom of the barrel of the league at #26, only to be better than the Nationals who have been an utter disaster at 30th in the league, The Re-building Orioles who are 29th, a "Sell em all" Mariners team ranked 28th and a Pirates team that may be ready to "Walk the Plank" at 27th.

So what could the Mets do to improve the Bullpen? 

Well, what won't help is Designating Jeurys Familia for Assignment like the fans want, lets get that out of the way. They just traded for a Bullpen arm in Brooks Pounders, whose numbers are not pretty by any mean, but it's better than no moves. Another move that's out there is to sign the Recently released Cody Allen, who was Designated for Assignment by the Angels with a 6.26 ERA. 

After Callaway left the Indians, Allen's numbers went downhill from a 2.94 ERA under Callaway in 2017, to a 4.70 ERA with the Indians in 2018 without Callaway and a 6.26 ERA with the Angels. Signing him wouldn't hurt the team in a sense, Just a matter of who you you either put on the 60 Day Injured List or who you Designate for Assignment yet if the Mets decide to sign him.

The Mets bullpen still has time to turn this around with only being two games under .500. Even though the Mets lead the League in Blown saves, they've only lost 7 of those 16 games. Yes, it's a bad look, bu you would think there would be more losses attached to it but there aren't.

In conclusion, even though the Mets bullpen has struggled terribly, they still have the talent to be a relatively decent Bullpen. If they collect themselves and can hold down the fort so to speak, The Mets can get above and stay above .500 and may even have a chance at 2nd place in the Division or maybe even First Place. It's a stretch I know, but like I said, If the Bullpen can get out of their own Mess, there is a chance!

That does it for today my friends!

Until the next entry,

LETS GO METS!!!