Just Mets

Markdown Wednesday’s unavailable reliever: Bobby Parnell.

He was asked to record a five out save, and truly save the Mets from a heartbreaking loss on Tuesday night when he inherited a bases loaded, one out jam in the eighth inning. He did allow two inherited runners to score, but it could have and should have been a lot worse for the Mets as Carlos Torres was simply ineffective in an attempt to record a six out save in which he never even retired a batter.

So far in the month of June, the Mets have been riding their make-shift bullpen to the limit and overexposing themselves in the process.

Already this month has Terry Collins asked a closer to provide him four multiple-inning saves. While the Mets have converted three of them, it is coming with daily costs in that they’re constantly short in the bullpen on a day-to-day basis, Wednesday night in Toronto being no exception.

The problem isn’t that Collins is misusing Jeurys Familia or as of Tuesday night, Bobby Parnell. It’s the fact he doesn’t have a reliable right-handed reliever he can call a setup man for the eighth inning, which is forcing Collins to call upon his closer du jour for more than three outs. But because of that, there have been too many people unavailable on a regular basis in what has become a fragmented situation in the bullpen.

Sure, Carlos Torres has performed admirably in a role he doesn’t belong in late in games. But he has had more struggles than success with his command and results this season. Besides, he is best suited as a long man who can sop up innings in a blowout or a short night for the starter than he is pitching in higher leverage situations to setup or, in the case of Tuesday night, close out a ballgame.

But on top of the miscast Torres is in the eighth inning, he has also been way overused in that role himself – he’s appeared in 32 of the team’s 66 games this season.

This certainly wasn’t the plan coming into the season. But, things change, and quickly in sports. Up until a week ago, the Mets had been adapting, albeit while walking on thin ice.

They’ve lost Josh Edgin, Vic Black, Jenrry Mejia, Jerry Blevins,  Buddy Carlyle and now Erik Goeddel to what is appearing to be longer-term situations for all, leaving the team with a right side of the bullpen which is nothing short of decimated and overworked.

The Mets know they will be getting a reinforcement back in about three weeks in Mejia, as his PED suspension will be up on July 7 when the team is in San Francisco. But that’s just one guy, he isn’t eligible for the playoffs, and they don’t know what he’s going to be under presumably normal circumstances anyway. They also should get Blevins back sometime next month, but again, the Mets need him to hit the ground running which maybe an unfair expectation.

Parnell was certainly inspiring on Tuesday night, and nothing short of heroic with his performance. But Parnell is still a work in progress – he said so himself after the game. And, he may now be a finesse and junk ball pitcher at this point in his career, hardly dominant and certainly not sustainable pitching multiple innings of relief.

As an alternative, the Mets have discussed the possibility of shifting Noah Syndergaard into a late inning reliever in an effort to preserve his innings, and his stuff theoretically could play well in that role. Sandy Alderson said on Monday that is a possibility, but there’s no immediate plan to do this, and it has remained unlikely since the discussion began during spring training. Besides, it’s hard to see him pitch the way he did against Toronto on Monday when he shut down that high octane offense with 11 strikeouts and take him out of the rotation.

That leaves the Mets in a position where they more than likely have to acquire someone from the outside to fill this void.

Sandy Alderson has said they’re looking for options on the trade market, but there really aren’t trades to make this time of year. That doesn’t diminish the need – it just means they’re more than likely going to have to piece this together until some options emerge on the open market. By that time, they should have Mejia back, Torres should be able to shift back to a more appropriate role, and they’ll have an even clearer picture of their need when the All-Star Game arrives.

But, the Mets have to figure out a way to survive these late game rollercoasters between now and then. Right now, that’s appearing to be a tall task.