2011 Postmortem: Relief Pitchers
by James Kannengieser on Dec 9, 2011 9:00 AM EST
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Print2011 Postmortem: A position-by-position look back at the season with some preliminary thoughts on 2012. And the bullpen edition is only a couple months late!
The bullpen was average-ish in 2010 but downright dreadful in 2011. It hasn't been good since 2006, when it was the best in the league. It was especially awful after the All Star Break, which makes sense considering Francisco Rodriguez was shipped off to the Brewers in mid-July. Rodriguez was enjoying a fine season with the Mets but the salary relieving trade was welcomed by most. Jason Isringhausen, Bobby Parnell and Manny Acosta took turns closing after Frankie's departure, with mixed results. No one is clamoring for any of the three to be the closer (or relief ace, if you prefer) in 2012.
Fun fact: the Mets top five starting pitchers by innings pitched (R.A. Dickey, Mike Pelfrey, Chris Capuano, Jon Niese and Dillon Gee) each appeared in relief this season.
For this post, relievers who pitched at least ten innings out of the 'pen will be covered. I'll play word association (what comes to mind when I hear the pitcher's name), provide a semi-interesting number/statistic from 2011 and share some thoughts on the pitcher's Mets future.
- Word Association: Ozone Park
- Notable Number: 67, Beato's team-leading number of innings pitched out of the bullpen.
- Future: Cool things about Beato: his name, his height, his hometown hero story, his aesthetically pleasing mechanics, his longtime Mets fandom, the fact that he can be stashed at Triple-A next season. Uncool things about Beato: his strikeout rate, his control, his underwhelming secondary pitches. Rule 5 pick Beato lasted the season in the big leagues so he didn't have to be shipped back to the Orioles. He is Mets property for the time being. However, that doesn't guarantee him a spot on the Opening Day roster. He'll likely have to compete for that but should log some big league innings in 2012 no matter if he starts off at Triple-A.
- Word Association: Faptain Castball
- Notable Number: .335, Parnell's career BABIP in 187.2 innings pitched.
- Future: Parnell still throws smoke, still sports the predictable pitch sequencing and still costs next to nothing. Barring a traid, he's the third or fourth guy out of the bullpen next season.
- Word Association: "What are they gonna say about him? What are they gonna say? That he was a kind man? That he was a wise man? That he had plans, man? That he had wisdom? Bullsh*t, man!"
- Notable Number: +1.07, Acosta's bullpen-best Clutch score.
- Future: I've been an Acosta defender going on two seasons now. For some reason, he's a whipping boy for fans. "Oh no, Acosta's coming in! We all know how this ends!" Yet in 86.2 innings with the Mets he has a 3.22 ERA and 2.67 K/BB rate. He is -- dare I say -- a good pitcher. Plus there's this (via Big Hair And Plastic Grass):
- Word Association: Billy Taylor
- Notable Number: 23, Izzy's team-leading number of shutdowns. A shutdown is awarded if a reliever increases his team's Win Probability Added by 6% during an appearance.
- Future: The season's big stories were the expected and then departures of Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran. Both sagas were more depressing than uplifting, so Izzy's successful Flushing comeback offered a needed non-LOLMets storyline. That said, it's best for the Mets to bid a final farewell. Izzy would probably accept only a major league deal and there's no reason to offer him one.
- Word Association: Walk-off balk
- Notable Number: 1, the number of walk-off balks committed by Carrasco.
- Future: Carrasco lost two mph off his fastball this season and was down three mph from 2009. Unsurprisingly, his strikeouts dropped and it was one long debacle in 2011. He's under contract through next season and is set to make $1.2 million. Thankfully, it's a small amount so no tears will be shed if (when?) Carrasco contributes nothing.
Francisco Rodriguez
- Word Association: Perp-Rod
- Notable Number: $17.5 million. You know.
- Future: The Brewers will pay Perp-Rod something like $14 million next season to be a set-up man. Enjoy.
- Word Association: Sir, you are no Hisanori Takahashi
- Notable Number: 6.00, Igarashi's BB/9 in 69 career innings as a Met.
- Future: The Igarashi experiment didn't go well. It happens. He's a free agent and it's hard to imagine any MLB team will have interest.
- Word Association: Photobomber
- Notable Number: 11.2%, Byrdak's team-leading swinging strike rate.
- Future: Byrdak had a fine season and the Mets rewarded him with a $1 million contract for 2012. If he can hold lefties to a .604 OPS and a 2.06 FIP again it would be most welcome.
- Word Association: Clay
- Notable Number: 3.71, Buchholz's K/BB ratio this season.
- Future: Buchholz pitched great for five weeks or so before hitting the disabled list with shoulder problems and a bout of depression. He is currently a free agent and it remains to be seen if he wants to pitch in 2012. Hopefully everything goes well for him.
- Word Association: The new Tobi Stoner
- Notable Number: 5.1%, Stinson's bullpen-worst swinging strike rate.
- Future: Stinson is said to have strong stuff but was mediocre in his MLB cameo this season. If he has a big league future it's in the bullpen. He starts 2012 at Triple-A.
- Word Association: 'stache
- Notable Number: 0, combined number of walks and home runs allowed by Thayer in 10.1 innings pitched.
- Future: Thayer signed a minor league contract with the Padres this past week. He'll bring a 92 mph fastball and an off-and-on Johnny Cakes moustache to San Diego:
Some other internal and external bullpen options for the Opening Day roster include Miguel Batista, Jonathan Broxton, Matt Capps, Todd Coffey, Chad Durbin, Frank Francisco, Mike Gonzalez, Daniel Herrera, Brad Lidge, Sergio Mitre, Chad Qualls, Jon Rauch, Francisco Rodriguez, Chris Schwinden, George Sherrill, Dan Wheeler and Kerry Wood. For the sake of completeness here are my desired and projected 2012 bullpens:
Note: I created my desired bullpen in early November (except for Ramon Ramirez). Believe it or not.
Desired 2012 bullpen: Frank Francisco, Jon Rauch, Ramon Ramirez, Bobby Parnell, Manny Acosta, Tim Byrdak, Daniel Herrera
Projected 2012 bullpen: Frank Francisco, Jon Rauch, Ramon Ramirez, Bobby Parnell, Manny Acosta, Tim Byrdak, Chris Schwinden
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Word association
Igarashi = Toyota Irrigation
Acosta = Acostalypse (Now)
Part of Acostalypse bad rep comes from his awesome nickname, some early meltdowns as a Met (8 SD, 6MD in 2010) and his BB/9 over 4 in 4 out of his 5 years.
In lobby for: Jaime Cevallos, Zack Lutz, orange unis and Rickroll as the 7th inning song.
The Unwritten Rules of AA
Thing is ...
When the Acostalypse meltsdown, he REALLY meltsdown. No half ass nibbling around the strike zone, he goes borderline Ankiel,
I think we could use just one more reliever
I know it’s just the mop-up spot but I don’t feel entirely confident in Herrera or Schwinden. The former is basically a backup LOOGY, which means he won’t get much in the way of innings. The latter should be stashed in AAA in case of an injury in the starting rotation.
This
I would rather see Bautista get the last bullpen spot over Herrera. Given that all pitchers carry a risk of injury and the arms in AAA that could spot start don’t excite me, having Bautista on the team is important.
A deadline has a wonderful way of concentrating the mind.-Professor James Moriarty
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.- Former Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan
by Blame-everyone-else on Dec 9, 2011 10:48 AM EST up reply actions
I don't think we need another mediocre veteran in there
Hopefully we can use that last slot to audition guys like Beato, Carson, Holt, Stinson, Cohoon, etc… try to figure out who can contribute down the road.
Yeah maybe just bring in a couple of guys on minor league deals
and have a Spring Training rumble to determine the last reliever.
by TheBigStapler on Dec 9, 2011 11:35 AM EST up reply actions
I'm still holding out for Jose De La Torre to emerge
Anyone know if he’s still with the organization, and if he’ll be healthy in the spring? He’s put up really good numbers for 3 straight years, but always seems to get the shaft.
just look at those minor league numbers:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=delato001jos
The high K rate and low HR numbers are what I like. He’s still only 26. I call him “the little bull”.
I think the notable number for Parnell is the 3.21 FIP
I think he may get it figured out soon and have a really good year.
On first glance I thought this article was about "Postmodern Relief Pitchers"
I got a little excited.
With a halfway decent bullpen in 2011
The Mets could’ve won 85 games. Can think of about a dozen games that were lost due to awful work from the bullpen. Win 2/3 of those games and thy would’ve won 85.
True
And if you look at things, if
Ike Davis + David Wright + Daniel Murphy + Lukas Duda combine for 2.000 PA (i.e. average of 500 apiece), they – collectively – may not do much worse than what the combination of Carlos Beltran + Jose Reyes + Justin Turner + David Wright + Daniel Murphy over a similar number of PA in 2011 collectively.
And assuming that Thole + Tejada + Bay + Torres produce in a similar fashion to Thole + Tejada + Bay + Pagan of 2011, the offense may not be all that worse in spite of missing Reyes & Beltran.
All in all, the Mets of 2012, 2013 and probably beyond will be made or broke by the quality of the pitching. If the bullpen can bounce back from subpar to average and the rotation remains about averagish with Johan Santana hopefully healthy enough to replace Chris Capuano and Pelfrey, Niese & Gee – collectively – not being worse than they were in 2011, this team has a legit shot at a .500ish type season.
While the prospects get their due time at AA and AAA.
TRAID
I believe that there´s a good chance Bobby Parnell gets traded for (longterm ?) offensive help eventually. I´m pretty sure the Mets have grown tired of him and see him as a future Matt Lindstrom whereas some other organization may see a future Heath Bell in him. Being under control for 4 more seasons, he´d be attractive enough for a team to give up something interesting in a package.
It also appears that the Mets – internally – view Jenry Mejia as a future shutdown reliever and thus won´t be too upset to part with the inconsistent Parnell. Plus, I guess the hope is that one of Carson – Edgin – Leathersich can eventually emerge as the rightful heir to Randy Myers, i.e. the last good lefty reliever the Mets have produced from within – about 25 years ago….
I expect the opening day bullpen to look something like this:
Closer: Francisco
8th inning setup: Ramirez
7th inning setup: Rauch
LOOGY for 8th & 7th if needed: Byrdak
Late inning reliever when down: Acosta
Low leverage middle reliever: open competion in ST between Herrera – Beato – Stinson with an outside shot someone like Holt or Carson could snag the spot (unlikely though)
Long reliever: open competition between Batista (if re-signed) and Schwinden or – far more likely – the # 6 starter we´re going to sign as an insurance for Johan Santana, maybe someone like RHP Aaron Cook or LHP Tom Gorzellany (if non-tendered by WAS as expected)
Perhaps one day we can pull an A's with Parnell
That is, develop him into a full-time closer and then trade him away pre-arbitration.
by TheBigStapler on Dec 9, 2011 12:16 PM EST up reply actions
Only works when the player in question knows what it means to pitch ...
Right now he’s a hurler, not a pitcher. Until he learns what it means to pitch (rather than try to throw a ball with all his might right by someone), he’s not going anywhere, and we’re not going to get any offers for him.
Except for, you know, the offer for a starting position player
that Sandy Alderson was apparently mulling on Thursday.
But yeah…nobody would ever want that guy.
Chamption of the R.A. Dickey Face contest and "Cromulent Photoshopper Extraordinaire" of Amazin' Avenue!
You might know me as mistermet.
by Steve Schreiber on Dec 9, 2011 6:06 PM EST up reply actions
I'm still hoping we can get Lowrie.
Save Jenrry Mejia!
2012 Amazin' Avenue Offseason Plan: 2nd place
dale thayers 'stache
Is what this club is missing. Besides dependable arms and cash
I hate Philadelphia so much.
by the caveman on Dec 9, 2011 2:08 PM EST via mobile reply actions
damn
I should have fully read. Miss you ’stache already
I hate Philadelphia so much.
by the caveman on Dec 9, 2011 2:11 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Yep. Exactly.
What the Mets need now are more 70’s porn staches. Its a known statistical fact that the better the moustache, the better the player.
Rec'd for the Apoc Now reference!
The horror, the horror…sums up the bullpen since 2000
__________________________________________________________________
Really good kid.A very good player.Not a superstar. #BlameWilponz. Never Forget
by ScottfromPeekskill on Dec 9, 2011 5:51 PM EST reply actions
If you do this again, I advise you not to bother with the word association.
It revealed nothing to me about either you or the players. Most of it I didn’t understand at all.
I had Rauch and Francisco in my desired bullpen but not Ramirez
But the projected bullpen list I created after the Rauch/Francisco/Ramirez acquisitions, I should’ve clarified that. I don’t have that kind of foresight.
by James Kannengieser on Dec 10, 2011 10:42 AM EST up reply actions
I didn't know Bake McBride pitched for us last year!
Proud supporter of a New York baseball team and a Boston football team. Yeah, deal with it!
"We don’t listen to the hype. I don’t think we ever have. We really take after our coach and he says ‘When you win, say little. When you lose, say less.'"--Tom Brady
The 2011 New York Mets: I don't know what to describe them as...
Staunch Parishioner Of The First United Church of R.A. Dickey
by R_Adragna on Dec 10, 2011 1:23 AM EST reply actions 1 recs
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