Just how deep is the Mets’ new-look bullpen?
Reed Garrett, one of the Mets’ primary set-up men all season, could be the first reliever they turn to for length when a starter exits early.
Flame-throwing left-hander Gregory Soto might be used on a night the Mets are trailing by multiple runs.
Ryan Helsely, one of MLB’s best closers over the past four seasons, volunteered to pitch in the middle innings if needed.
Piecing it all together is the luxury awarded to manager Carlos Mendoza after the Mets overhauled their bullpen with a flurry of trade-deadline deals.
“There’s big-time potential, no doubt about it,” Mendoza said before Friday night’s series opener against the San Francisco Giants at Citi Field.
“The expectation is for them to continue to be themselves, continue to go out there and get three outs when we give them the ball. We feel good with lefties, righties, different looks. There’s a lot to like.”
In the days leading up to Thursday night’s deadline, the Mets added Soto from the Baltimore Orioles, Helsley from the St. Louis Cardinals, and Tyler Rogers from the Giants, creating a potentially devastating bridge to star closer Edwin Diaz.
Each of the new additions bring something different.
Helsley is a power right-hander with a triple-digit fastball, two All-Star appearances and 105 saves in his career.
Soto is a power left-hander who holds lefty batters to a .131 average.
And Rogers is a submariner from the right side with a 1.80 ERA who is equally tough on left-handed and right-handed batters.
“If starters can go five innings, we have a pretty good chance of winning a game,” Helsley said Friday. “You’ve got a lot of guys back there [in the bullpen] that have pitched in the postseason and pitched late in games, gotten a lot of big outs in their careers. It’s definitely something to be excited about.”
Indeed, the Mets hope their new bullpen can shorten games and take pressure off of a starting staff that entered Friday with baseball’s fifth-best ERA (3.44) but that had totaled the sixth-fewest innings (547.1; or an average of 5.02 per start).
Those short outings seemed to take a toll on the Mets’ bullpen, which posted a 2.87 ERA through May but a 4.81 ERA in the two months since.
“I’m just trying to slide in and just do my part,” said Rogers, whose 375 appearances since the start of 2020 were 25 more than any other MLB reliever. “With the way it looks right now, I kind of have the mentality of, ‘You don’t need to do too much. Just do what you do.’”
Most importantly, the new additions give Mendoza options.
“I’ll be ready to pitch whenever he wants me to,” Helsely said. “[Diaz has] got the ninth, and he’s one of the best closers in the game. He’s been one of the best for seven years, so he definitely deserves that role. If I need to throw the fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth or whenever, I’m glad to do so.”
Diaz — an All-Star this season with 23 saves and a 1.48 ERA — is one of only nine relievers with more saves this season than Helsley’s 21.
“Diaz will continue to be our guy, and we’ll continue to use him the same way we’ve been using him,” Mendoza said.
“If we feel like the best way to deploy him is in the eighth inning, we will do it, and then we’ll figure out the ninth. That’s how we’ve been doing it. Now, figuring out that ninth, it could be Helsley. It could be Rogers. There’s a lot of different options.”
Originally Published:
Source link
