The New York Mets bullpen was the biggest issue as to why they could not make the playoffs in 2019. General Manager Brodie Van Wagenen attempted to revamp his bullpen with the addition of Dellin Betances. He also counted on a bounce-back season from both Edwin Diaz and Jeurys Familia.
However, all three of these pitchers have struggled immensely, and first-year manager Luis Rojas has struggled to find the right guys to piece together at the end of games. With injuries to nearly every starting pitcher this season, the Mets have not been getting long outings from their starters and cannot close out games late.
Seth Lugo’s Impact
New York’s most effective relief pitcher the past two seasons has been Seth Lugo. The Mets moved their closer to the starting rotation and have yet to see him pitch more than five innings in any start.
While Lugo has pitched well, pitchers like Betances and Diaz have been counted on more. Recently, Betances was placed on the injured list, and Diaz blew another save after his best outing of the season against the New York Yankees.
Regardless, Rojas has insisted that Diaz is their closer and that he trusts him and loves his stuff. Diaz is 28-38 in saves in a little over a season with the Mets as their closer, along with allowing 17 home runs after only giving up five in his final season with the Seattle Mariners.
Miguel Castro
It was going to be interesting to see what Van Wagenen did at the trade deadline. He ended up being active and acquired two depth players and relief pitcher Miguel Castro from the Baltimore Orioles.
Castro has been relied on heavily since he has come to New York. He throws hard but lacks control. He earned his first loss with the Mets Monday afternoon after allowing a 10th inning two-run home run to Jean Segura.
With many of the other arms in the bullpen being overused, Castro will likely continue to get late-inning action. It will also be important to see if the Mets can push him multiple innings as they have done with many of their relievers this season.
Extra Arms
The Mets used Robert Gsellman in the rotation, but with Michael Wacha and David Peterson back, Gsellman is back in the bullpen. They also shifted Steven Matz to the bullpen before he went on the injured list.
Neither pitcher had success to start the season. New York has gone through a plethora of relief pitchers that have rotated from the big leagues and the alternate site in Brooklyn. Drew Smith looked sharp at times this season but is back in Brooklyn along with Ariel Jurado and Franklyn Kilome. Erasmo Ramirez was the latest call-up and pitched well in his five-inning outing out of the bullpen.
The Mets begin another pivotal point of their schedule as they begin a series with the Orioles. The Mets have fallen to as many as six games under .500 this season and are currently 19-23. They will need to get hot at some point if they are going to want to make it to the postseason.
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