METS CLOSERS: A RETROSPECTIVE

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and come back here to see a dozen new posts.  What's going on?  Oh, someone mentioned Armando Benitez.  

With all due respect to Eric Simon and to the numbers, I have to say that I'm more sympathetic to the knee-jerk Mets fan's reaction on this question than on most others.  My (our) memory of Benitez -- which ought to include a fair picture of his at-times absolute dominance -- is, instead, colored by the gradual tail-off into mediocrity, the lost control and the eventually mediocre fastball, and most of all by all those big-game chokes.  The guy was a truly godlike great closer in regular-season games against Colorado and Pittsburgh.  But I can name so many times in late-season Braves games, Yankees interleague play, and the postseason that he had to be bailed out by the dessicated corpse of Johnny Franco.  I could never really say I was happy to see Armando enter a game; and in my book he's a great example of the irrelevancy of the save as a statistic.

All that said, what I'd really like to see for once in my frigging life is a team that produces more than league-average numbers of runs, and so doesn't have to win as many close games.  We long-time Mets fans get hung up on the bullpen, and on these late-and-close situations, I think, because we've forgotten what a lineup of real hitters can do.  The Mets have been relatively pitching-strong and hitting-weak for so long that I can't remember what it feels like to notch up a series of wins by more than a couple runs each.  I'll go out on a limb here and say it even more plainly: I think Delgado is worth more wins to the '06 Mets than Wagner.  Maybe many more.  (Of course, and I say this with the same shit-eatin' grin we're all bearing this week, who needs to pick just one?)

(Molina? No way.  But we've discussed that elsewhere.)

I don't agree.  Pedro is Pedro, and as long as he doesn't get injured he continues his dominance.  Glavine was about the third best pitcher in the NL last year after the break, and he will continue next year.  He now throws a curveball and velosity has never really been better.  Benson was alright last year.  He pitched many good games and had a few bad ones.  I expect his win total to go up now that Billy Wagner is here, and that goes for everyone on the staff.  Then there is Steve Tracshel, who is a decent, consistent pitcher.  He had some really good starts when he first came off the DL.  And Jae Seo has come a long way.  He was amazing last year after he came back from the minors.  He was just great.  And in case one of these people falters, there is always Victor Zambrano (though that might not be and upgrade) and Aaron Heilman.  So, I would say that this is one of the best and deepest staffs in the NL.