For the first time in nearly a decade, the New York Mets are heading to the postseason. And with a great starting rotation and an offense that’s been revitalized by the addition of outfielder Yoenis Cespedes, fans of New York’s National League squad have every reason to be excited.
Or, at least, almost every reason.
There is still one glaring weakness on this Mets team, and you can find it in the bullpen. The Mets’ relief pitchers have been struggling mightily over the past few weeks, and it’s really been haunting the Mets down the stretch. The Mets just swept the Reds and claimed the division title, but prior to that their fans were panicking about a stretch that saw the Mets lose three straight series at home. In the rubber game against the Yankees, the bullpen allowed 11 runs in just four innings.
It begs the question: just how worried should fans be about the Mets postseason bullpen?
A question of quality
How good is the Mets bullpen? Over the full season so far, it’s actually been fairly decent. The Mets relievers have allowed fewer runs than all but four other teams (all four – the Cardinals, Pirates, Dodgers, and Astros – are also playoff teams). But the Mets bullpen that we’ve seen recently is not at all a top-five squad, thanks to a weakness in middle relief. Tyler Clippard started out as a strong 8th-inning solution after the Mets traded for him, but he stumbled during the nine game stretch that resulted in the Mets’ first losing home stand of the season. Hansel Robles and Carlos Torres have ERAs of 3.42 and 4.88, respectively, and simply aren’t good enough to keep Mets fans calm in pivotal postseason moments.
How much will the Mets need their bullpen in the postseason?
One huge reason for the Mets’ recent bullpen woes has been their management of pitchers. That 11-run embarrassment came after Matt Harvey left a scoreless game after just five innings. That, in turn, was because Harvey is on a strict innings limit. Harvey has also skipped a couple of starts entirely. The Mets have given young pitchers Noah Syndergaard and Jacob DeGrom days off, too. The skipped starts forced the Mets to use Logan Verrett, a solid reliever with a 2.70 ERA, as a spot starter. It also meant more innings for the Mets’ weak middle relief corps.
Will these conditions remain in the postseason? Probably not. Harvey is expected to go deeper into games, and nobody will be skipping any starts. Verrett, assuming he makes the postseason roster, will be back in the bullpen. Hopefully, the Mets won’t have as much use for Robles and Torres as they did in the regular season.
Reinforcements are on the way
The postseason means off days between every game, which means that there’s not much use for back-of-the-rotation starters. So what will the Mets do with Jonathon Niese and Bartolo Colon? Simple: they’ll use them in relief. Niese, in particular, will be valuable. The Mets could use a good left-handed pitcher in their bullpen, and Niese fits the bill.
It’s hard to say how well the starters will do coming out of the bullpen, but they should at the very least be capable of decent long relief – they’re starters, after all. That means that even if the Mets do have to pull a starter early on, it probably won’t mean a repeat of the Yankees incident.
You can worry, but only a little
So should Mets fans worry about their bullpen? Yes, of course, but they shouldn’t panic. Every team has weak points, and there’s no avoiding the fact that the Mets’ is their relief pitching right now. But thanks to the structure of the postseason and the likelihood that the great Mets postseason starters will go deep into games, this particular weakness isn’t the end of the world. The Mets are still a very dangerous postseason team.
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