Fortunately for the Mets on Monday, they had completed a trade which brought them RHP Tyler Clippard from the A’s in exchange for the promising but distant Casey Meisner to shore up a solid but incomplete bullpen.
But Clippard went from becoming a great addition to a vital upgrade seemingly moments after the transaction was complete, when Sandy Alderson and the rest of the front office learned Jenrry Mejia had received a second PED suspension which will ban him for the next full season’s worth of games.
The news is more disappointing than anything else. Remarkably a that. It’s unfathomable – and truly unprecedented – a player could receive a second ban three weeks after returning from the initial ban.
What’s more, the player used the same drug that got him banned the first time.
“I’m extremely, extremely disappointed in what’s happened,” Terry Collins said after the game. “This team’s had enough bad breaks and bad luck this year to last a long time. This is just another situation that the guys in the locker room are almost numb to problems now.
“They’re disappointed, but we’ll move forward.”
They did before, and the first ban served potentially as a blessing in disguise despite all of this forcing the Mets to scramble in their bullpen.
The Mets spent 80 of the first 100 games without their former closer, and they cultivated a new and better closer in Jeurys Familia in the process. It’s afforded opportunities for other relievers to emerge and grow into key roles for the club, although as it did before, it leaves the Mets searching for a plan B formula again.
But that’s where Clippard comes into play, and they should still be fine. He’s an experienced upgrade to Mejia with a signature change-up which eats up left-handed hitters.
Sure, Clippard was supposed to be a late-inning tandem with Mejia to help get them to October. But while the Mets could sure use Mejia, they are in the very same situation they’ll be in should they reach the tournament anyway, because Mejia’s first ban made him ineligible to participate in the playoffs anyway.
Alderson said there wasn’t a plan to add to the bullpen ahead of Friday’s trade deadline in light of this news with Mejia. Their focus will remain on augmenting the offense, and Alderson said on Friday despite losing out on the Troy Tulowitzki sweepstakes, they will continue to look for such bats.
“We’re still talking,” Alderson said. “I’ve been hesitant to make predictions in the past and will continue to be hesitant to do so. There’s still a few days to go. We’ll continue to talk, and we’ll see where it takes us.”
Meanwhile, Alderson’s latest acquisition delivered a scoreless ninth inning of relief on Tuesday in the club’s 4-0 win over the Padres.
Before the game, Clippard seemed excited to be back in a pennant race, especially against the Nationals, his former team.
And he made a bold statement about them, too.
“They’re beatable,” the reliever said. “There’s no perfect team in baseball right now. Everybody can go on skids. Everybody is vulnerable. Obviously, they’ve battled the injury bug this year. … But you never know. It’s one of those things – you’ve got to play the season out and see what happens.
“There’s a lot of incentive there for me on a personal level and on a professional level,” the pitcher said.
The Mets surely have come to understand such streaks in 2015. But the front office understands lock down bullpens can prevent their own losing streaks, extend their winning streaks, and stop winning streaks against the opposition.
They also recognize, after watching the Royals for the last year and a half, lock down bullpens get teams to October and help teams win in October.
That’s where Clippard comes in.
Just Mets 