Just a quick rundown of the Mets closers since 1990.
YEAR PLAYER IP ERA SO BB HR SV 2005 Braden Looper 59.1 3.94 27 22 7 28 2004 Braden Looper 83.1 2.70 60 16 5 29 2003 Armando Benitez 51.0 3.71 35 17 6 21 2002 Armando Benitez 67.1 2.27 79 25 8 33 2001 Armando Benitez 76.1 3.77 93 40 12 43 2000 Armando Benitez 76.0 2.60 106 38 10 41 1999 Armando Benitez 78.0 1.85 128 41 4 22 1999 John Franco 40.2 2.88 41 19 1 19 1998 John Franco 64.2 3.62 59 29 4 38 1997 John Franco 60.0 2.55 53 20 3 36 1996 John Franco 54.0 1.83 48 21 2 28 1995 John Franco 51.2 2.44 41 17 4 29 1994 John Franco 50.0 2.70 42 19 2 30 1993 John Franco 36.1 5.20 29 19 6 10 1992 John Franco 33.0 1.64 20 11 1 15 1991 John Franco 55.1 2.93 45 18 2 30 1990 John Franco 67.2 2.53 56 21 4 33The Mets have featured only three closers in the past 16 seasons. Johnny Franco was a very good pitcher for a very long time. Armando Benitez' 1999 will go down as one of the single greatest reliever seasons in baseball history. His K/9 rate of 14.77 was the best ever until Eric Gagne bested it a few years back. He also only surrendered four homeruns that year in almost 80 innings.
Looking at these numbers I forgot how good Mets closers have been. We have given them a lot of grief, particularly because of certain blown saves in certain big games. On the whole, Franco and Benitez were terrific, and even Looper had a very good 2004 season before falling in a ditch in 2005.
Billy Wagner probably won't approach the numbers 'Mando put up in 1999, but I expect him to be damn good.