Opinion: Mets Making Mistake With Bullpen Approach

Options aren’t everything, and the Mets should know that.

In a report about the Mets’ interest in free-agent lefty reliever Andrew Chafin, SNY’s Andy Martino stated that the Mets would prefer a bullpen arm with options remaining. This would indicate that Chafin and Zach Britton, with whom the Mets have also been linked, are not their preferred targets.

It has been widely acknowledged that the Mets need another bullpen arm. General manager Billy Eppler confirmed that he is engaged in the relief pitching market. After the Mets’ bullpen posted an uneven season in 2022, backed solidly at the end and in long relief but struggling at times in the middle innings, New York should be looking to further shore up their single biggest weakness from last season.

Obviously, re-signing Edwin Diaz and Adam Ottavino, signing David Robertson, and bringing in Brooks Raley were all tremendous moves that should solidify the backend of the bullpen. Drew Smith, Joey Lucchesi, Tylor Megill, Stephen Nogosek, and acquisitions Elieser Hernandez and Zach Greene are other options, as well as Jeff Brigham, Stephen Ridings, and Bryce Montes de Oca.

Getting to the Robertson-Ottavino-Diaz combination could still be an issue for the Mets. For one thing, injuries are likely to play a role this season with five starters on the wrong side of 30. Between games in which the starter departs early due to injury and others missed completely for the same reason, the Mets will likely end up with at least some bullpen-only games, and others in which Megill, Hernandez, and/or Lucchesi must make spot starts. This will leave them needing more depth.

Therefore, I believe that the Mets are making a mistake by prioritizing a reliever’s Minor League options. Theoretically, with the situations that happened last year due to pitcher injuries and sometimes as many as three consecutive weeks without a day off, it makes sense to have as many pitchers as possible to shuttle back and forth from Triple-A. However, in my opinion, the Mets already have enough of those; Hernandez, Megill, Lucchesi, Smith, de Oca, Brigham, and Ridings all have at least one optionable year remaining, per FanGraphs Baseball. In fact, Nogosek may be the least likely to make the roster because he is out of options.

What the Mets now need is one other rock-solid reliever to eat up those middle innings on a consistent basis. Buck Showalter tried to be careful about managing his bullpen arms last season, keeping Seth Lugo from pitching on back-to-back days and limiting Diaz’s usage. If he wants to be able to do that and still win games, he needs another reliable arm. Prioritizing the ability to move a pitcher up and down will likely compromise on the proven capability of that reliever.

The Mets’ lack of bullpen depth last season was one of the reasons that Showalter so-to-speak “punted” on so many games, inserting pitchers like Chasen Shreve, R.J. Alvarez, Yoan Lopez, Adonis Medina, Sean Reid-Foley, Jake Reid, and Joely Rodriguez into games that were not that far out of reach just to preserve the arms of his better relievers for more high-leverage situations. In addition to being unendingly frustrating for fans, this kind of approach makes it difficult for a team to stay competitive when down a few runs in the middle innings.

If the Mets are really all-in on 2023—and signing Justin Verlander to replace Jacob deGrom is a definite indication that they are—they need to sign a Chafin-level reliever to complete their bullpen. Stop with the obsession with options and focus on winning now. Meanwhile, Steve Cohen can focus on building his minor league system to the level of the Dodgers’, and the first order of business must be to rebuild the pitching depth to allow for optionable pitchers to contribute to the big-league team from that angle.

We’ll see what ends up happening with that final relief piece. The Mets are reportedly one of eight teams speaking to Chafin, so they’re doing their due diligence, at the very least. But they need to get their priorities straight in this area to compete for a championship and not just a strong regular season.

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