The Mets certainly haven’t had it easy in their bullpen since the start of Spring Training.
Vic Black, Josh Edgin, Jenrry Mejia, and Jerry Blevins are all out. They also can’t place a timetable on Bobby Parnell’s return, who was recently diagnosed with right forearm soreness as he treks back from Tommy John Surgery.
Outside of Jeurys Familia, this particular group doesn’t miss many bats. But they throw strikes, limit the bases on balls, and they keep the ball on the ground and not in the seats which has helped them get by despite the adversity.
And it’s a big reason for their tremendous start to the 2015 season.
Mets relievers have produced the fifth best ERA in the sport at 2.42 through the first 19 games of the season. The 15 walks they’ve allowed are tied with five other teams for the fewest allowed, and the .161 opposing batting averaging is the second lowest in the game.
Part of their success can certainly be attributed to the length the starting pitchers have given over the first three weeks of the season. The Mets have only logged 48 1/3 innings in 19 games, an average of only 2.54 innings per game. That allows Terry Collins to have more options late in games to mix-and-match, which in turn allows Collins to use each reliever to his strengths. For instance, before he got hurt last Sunday, Collins only had Blevins face one right-handed hitter in his seven appearances. And, having a second left-handed reliever in the bullpen has limited the need for Collins to overtax one lefty on a routine basis.
But even in games during which Collins hasn’t gotten length out of the starters – such as in the two losses this past weekend to the Yankees – the bullpen has still performed very well. They only allowed four hits in seven innings over those two games.
There’s going to be some transition with some of the pieces in the bullpen at some point, especially when Vic Black and Bobby Parnell return. They’ll also have to figure out how to inject Mejia in the mix sometime around the All-Star break.
But, if they can somehow maintain this performance, and Collins can continue to limit exposing each of their weaknesses, they should be able to bridge that gap whenever those changes do occur.
Just Mets 