Sifting through the LOOGYs

by Rob Castellano on Feb 2, 2009 5:16 PM EST

Its not the sexiest roster spot to ponder about but hey, theres not much left. So after rounding out the rotation and a complete bullpen overhaul the one more apparent hole is an additional lefty one-out guy.

A once lefty-rich 'pen is left with just Pedro Feliciano which probably won't cut it. Imagine what the late innings against the Phillies might look like if Feliciano were to miss time. Not to mention the fact that hes declined over the last 3 seasons.

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Feliciano's ERA in the past 3 years has climbed from 2.09 to 3.09 to 4.05

And to make this analysis even more compelling it looks like Omar will be utilizing the "throw some junk against the wall and see what sticks" strategy to fill out this roster spot. And without any further ado, I give you the aptly named "junk"...

*#'s indicate splits against lefties over past 3 seasons

Casey Fossum - .304/.381/.463 over 270ab's

30yr old former (supplemental) first rounder in '99. His #'s are actually better against righties and its a fairly representative sample size.
Jon Switzer - .229/.298/.361 over 83 Majors ab's (.201 / 1.05 WHIP over 216 Minors ab's)

Another former top pick ('01 2nd round), this 29yr old spent '08 in the International League. Hes actually had some success in the minors and seems like he can handle lefties consistently. If I had to guess, I bet he wins out in ST and heads north with the team.
Tom Martin - .274/.359/.481 over 135ab's

This 38yr old former Met last pitched in '07, but his last (and only) good season was in '03. Era as a Met: 10.06
Valerio de los Santos - not enough Majors appearances (.238 / 1.11 WHIP over 136 Minors ab's)

Strange case. Hes 36, hasn't had significant time in the Majors since '05 but has had a couple of good seasons ('02: .211/.296/.332) which includes success against lefties. But that was more of the exception for him, not the rule.
Heriberto Ruelas - no professional statistics

Wow. 26yr old career Mexican Leaguer; view a summary of his hmm...strange career here. Looks like hes been pretty terrible since his debut in 2000 (though he was only 18) up until this winter (1.80 ERA in 35ip. 20 hits & 36 k's). Look for him on the Mexican WBC roster.

These guys are starters by trade and much less likely to fit the bill as LOOGYs:

Adam Bostick - (.276 / 1.45 WHIP over 450 Minors ab's)

Probably the most likely of the 3 starters to make the move into the pen with a career Minor League FIP of 4.62 and two straight seasons of getting hit hard in AAA. That's if he didn't have a 1.45 WHIP against lefties...
Michael Antonini - (.268 / 1.24 WHIP over 201 Minors ab's)
Jon Niese - (.240/ 1.27 WHIP over 325 Minors ab's)

Both Niese & Antonini are viewed as future options as starters, Niese in '09 & Antonini probably gets his shot in spring '10. We'd have to be pretty desperate for either of these guys to end up in the Mets pen going forward.

The FA pool of left-handed relievers still available but at this point unlikely options:

Joe Beimel - .232/.274/.304 over 280 ab's
Ron Villone - .194/.296/.329 over 258 ab's
Dennys Reyes - .202/.265/.266 over 248 ab's
Will Ohman - .194/.283./313 over 278 ab's
Randy Flores - .297/.370/.427 over 239 ab's
John Parrish - .298/.357/.450 over 151 ab's
Tyler Johnson - .222/.313/.417 over 144 ab's

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Comments

No reason to sign another LOOGY

because Schoeneweis was exactly that. And now the Mets are paying the D-Backs $1.6 million to employ him. It would be awful to sign Reyes at this point.

I’d like another lefty who can also get out righties, maybe a guy like Ohman or Beimel. I wrote a little about this about a month back.

by James Kannengieser on Feb 2, 2009 5:23 PM EST reply actions

If one of the low-cost spring training invites can show that he can get righties AND lefties out

then I’m OK with that. However, I don’t see Tom Martin contributing anything positive at the major league level anymore. Fossum is probably the best bet to have a decent spring.

by James Kannengieser on Feb 2, 2009 5:30 PM EST up reply actions

I would prefer to go into spring training...

…with a bullpen spot up for grabs. It’s easier to catch lightning in a bottle with a spring training battle than the set bullpens we’ve had the past two years.

’06 Bullpen
Wagner – FA
Heilman – Homegrown (second half reliver)
Sanchez – Trade (3.73 the year prior)
Bradford – Low Risk FA signing (coming off injury)
Feliciano – Spring Training Invitee from Japan
Oliver – Minor League Invitee
Mota – Scrap Heap

09 Bullpen
Frank
J
Sanchez
Felicano
Green

So, with two spots left, I would like to see a battle between Stokes, Cherry, O’Day, Knight, Parnell, and Robertson as well as all the recent spring training invitees.

by Sokojoe on Feb 2, 2009 6:09 PM EST reply actions

We already have one LOOGY

Let’s just use the best available pitchers, lefty or righty, and not worry so much about having the right specialists. We tried the “team of OOGYs” thing the last two years, and it was an unmitigated disaster. Our guys made too many appearances and got tired and exposed (and hurt).

by psiogen on Feb 2, 2009 6:24 PM EST reply actions

true but

what about my hypothetical question, what happens if feliciano gets hurt? what do we do then, bring up bostick? or stunt the development of either neise or antonini by forcing him into a bullpen role? if we can hold onto someone like jon switzer and send him to AAA, allowing him to get some momentum until we need him then i’d be ok with that.

you’re right about last season but its clear that this year we’ll have at least 2-3 guys who can serve as “crossover” relievers as manuel likes to call them. obviously k-rod and putz get both then duaner actually limited lefties to an OPS .100 points lower than righties last year. that right there puts us in better shape, allowing us to specialize with guys like feliciano, stokes and green who have shown drastic splits over the last few years.

i know its frustrating and it overworks guys but the bottomline is that if you ignore these kinds of trends, you’re going to get burned. IMO as long as the specialists are balanced with just as many crossovers, i think we’ll be ok in terms of workload. so if just 1 more guy among redding, green, muniz, o’day, cherry or robertson can step up and get both sides out, we’ll be fine.

by Rob Castellano on Feb 3, 2009 3:42 PM EST up reply actions