The Mets are a stones throw away from finalizing a one-year deal with righty submariner Chad Bradford (NY Post). The deal will reportedly be worth between $1 million and $1.5 million. Bradford is 31 and spent last year injured and with the Red Sox after a successful stint with the A's.
Bradford is a dominant reliever. Against righties.
Bradford is a useless reliever. Against lefties.
Over the past three seasons, righties have batted .214/.260/.276 with 5 HR, 19 BB and 85 SO in 421 at-bats. Lefties have hit .328/.459/.517 with 8 HR, 39 BB and 21 SO in 174 at-bats.
Oh, and Willie Randolph is the Mets' manager.
I hope we can all see the quagmire that we find ourselves in. We have a relief pitcher who simply can't get lefties out. We also have a manager who simply has no clue how to get the best matchups out of his bullpen.
I sincerely hope that somebody in the Mets front office has at least a pedestrian understanding of platoon splits and will make sure that Randolph uses Bradford exclusively against right-handed batters. It shouldn't be hard -- righties outnumber lefties in this league by about three-to-one.
Bradford gives up very few homeruns to righties; in fact, he gives up very few of anything to righties. He's a ROOGY or a RTOGY and should be used accordingly -- the same way LOOGYs are used solely against left-handed batters. If handled correctly, Bradford can be an extremely productive arm out of the pen. If bungled -- are you listening Willie? -- the results will be disastrous.