Corey Oswalt
Well, the rotation problem which surfaced when the team had to move Matt Harvey to the bullpen has reached near crisis after another terrible Steven Matz start resulting in a Mets 9-1 loss.
Strange thing is Matz had been looking good retiring the first four batters, and the light hitting Kolten Wong, the only lefty in the Cardinals lineup, strode to the plate.
He’d hit the ball up middle, and Wilmer Flores couldn’t make the bare-hand play. Michael Wacha bunted, Matz made a terrible throw, and Flores didn’t come off the base thereby allowing Wong to get to third.
That was the first of three Mets errors between the third and fourth.
Like other Mets meltdowns, we saw runs being walked in and safety squeezes where runs score easily. At the end of it Matz didn’t get out of the fourth.
Matz’s final line was 3.1 IP, 5 H, 7 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, and 3 K.
Matz was victimized by poor defense, but he was also victimized by poor pitching. Time and again, when he had a chance to make a big pitch, he didn’t. It should leave the Mets wondering what to do with his rotation spot.
Maybe that spot could go to Corey Oswalt.
The rookie pitcher, who was last year’s Eastern League Pitcher of the Year, came in and did yeoman’s work.
He entered into a bases loaded jam with one out, and if not for an uncharacteristic Todd Frazier error, he would’ve limited the damage to one run. As it stood, he limited the damage to two runs.
Mostly, Oswalt saved the Mets bullpen by pitching the final 4.2 innings, and he pitched well yielding just two runs on two hits. He’d walk none and strike out four.
Arguably, he’s earned another look, which is more than you can say about Harvey or Matz right now.
Game Notes: Asdrubal Cabrera was held out of the game with an injury. Jay Bruce delivered the Mets lone run with a third inning RBI single.
Through seven innings, the batters in this game might as well have gone up to the plate blindfolded and holding onto a broken tennis racket. That was how good their chances were scoring a run against either Jacob deGrom or Julio Teheran, both of whom dominate the other team and allowed just four hits apiece tonight. Really, their final lines were practically identical:
deGrom (ND) 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 10 K
Teheran (ND) 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, BB, 6 K
It wasn’t until the bullpens got involved that these offenses would wake up, and with the Mets being the away team, they were the ones who went off first.
Wilmer Flores drew a leadoff walk against Braves reliever Sam Freeman, and he moved to second on a Jose Reyes single. For Reyes, despite him entering this game 0-20, he had a resurgent game reaching in his first three plate attempts going 3-4 with a run and a stolen base.
The pivotal moment of the inning, and at that time, the game was when Ozzie Albies just botched catching the throw in his haste to turn a double play on a Michael Conforto grounder. While Reyes was initially ruled out, Mickey Callaway challenged the call, and Reyes was ruled safe.
As an aside, it was the second successful challenge for the Mets on the day. The other was just as important on what was initially ruled an Ender Inciarte stolen base of third with no outs in the sixth:
.@Mets challenge call that Ender Inciarte is safe at 3B in the 6th; call overturned, runner is out.
Powered by @Mitel. pic.twitter.com/hqOZqxQq1v
— MLB Replay (@MLBReplays) April 22, 2018
Todd Frazier‘s holding on the tag kept the game scoreless, and it helped allow this game remain scoreless into the eighth.
With the bases loaded and no outs, this was the spot where you assumed Yoenis Cespedes would come through. Even with his recent struggles, and his batting .195 on the season, he’s still gotten the clutch hits, and he is still hitting with the bases loaded. Except for tonight. He hit a shallow fly to Nick Markakis, and with Flores on third, there was no way he was going to tag up and score on that. With Cespedes’ failure to deliver, it put the rally in jeopardy.
That was until Asdrubal Cabrera came up and hit a clutch two run RBI single to give the Mets a 2-0 lead. Jay Bruce followed with an RBI single, and he hustled to second on an Inciarte fielding error.
Eventually, Adrian Gonzalez was intentionally walked, and Jose Lobaton hit a sinking line drive which Preston Tucker almost misplayed. Instead he made a sliding catch getting the Braves out of the inning down 3-0.
With his performance yesterday, you thought this would be enough for AJ Ramos to lock down. Unfortunately, we didn’t see that Ramos tonight.
No, we saw the Ramos who has troubles maintaining the strike zone. He’d bookend an Inciarte strikeout with walks to Ryan Flaherty and Albies. With Mets killer Freddie Freeman coming up, Callaway understandably went to his lone lefty Jerry Blevins.
Much like how he performed on the season, Blevins failed to get the exact guy he was brought into the game to get. Freeman hit a two RBI double to pull the Braves within one.
Blevins would strike out Markakis, but the damage was done. It was done not just because the Braves plated two runs, but because Blevins failure to get both left-handed batters, but also Ramos’ ineffectiveness, Jeurys Familia needed to come into the game to get the last out of the eighth.
Going multiple innings like this was something that was once old hat for Familia, and with him doing it already two times this season, the hope was he could do it tonight. He didn’t.
It started with a leadoff walk to Dansby Swanson, who scored the game tying run on a Johan Camargo (yes, the very same one) triple.
The Mets got a bit of a break with Kurt Suzuki lining a ball off of Frazier’s glove. Suzuki reached first safely, but Camargo wouldn’t score on the play. It seemed things were turning back towards the Mets direction as Charlie Culberson struck out, which at least created the possibility the Mets could get out of the inning with double play. That didn’t happen because, as Gary Cohen predicted may happen, Inciarte dropped down the drag bunt:
Live from Atlanta, it’s a Saturday night walk-off win! #ChopOn pic.twitter.com/okMgxtJ9u1
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) April 22, 2018
With that bunt, the Mets lost the game 4-3. More than that, the Mets blew a great start from deGrom. More than anything, this is the second time this week, the Mets bullpen has lost a game against a division rival. It is still too early to begin worrying about these sorts of things, but it is never to be soon to be aware of what issues it could raise for the Mets down the road.
Game Notes: Before the game, it was announced Matt Harvey was moving to the bullpen. Joining him there was Corey Oswalt. Gerson Bautista was sent down to make room for Oswalt.
Last night, Matt Harvey had another low moment in his Mets career. Really after Terry Collins went to the mound in Game 5 of the 2015 World Series, it has been nothing but low moments for Harvey. He’s was diagnosed with Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, forever complained about his mechanics, and he had stress reactions from being rushed back to the rotation.
Now, this was supposed to be the year Harvey turned it around. He had Mickey Callaway and Dave Eiland there to help get him back on track. He is also a pending free agent, and the assumption always is Scott Boras free agents always have their best years in their contract walk years.
In his first start of the season, there was a real glimmer of hope. In five innings, Harvey limited what is a pretty decent Phillies lineup to one hit over five scoreless innings while striking out five and walking one. He focused more on locating than blowing it by batters. Really, this is what everyone agrees Harvey needs to be now, and he looked great doing it.
Since then, he hasn’t been quite as good. Against the Nationals, he fooled no one allowing four runs on nine hits and one walk in five innings, and he only struck out two. That said, Harvey did keep the Mets in the game. That’s something he has failed to do in his two subsequent starts.
The worst of which being last night with the Braves tattooing Harvey in two separate innings to score six runs.
Even with that, if you wanted to find a silver lining, it was there for you as Harvey retired 11 of the last 12 Braves he faced. After the adversity of the first and third innings, he didn’t meldown. He refocused, and he at least got the Mets through the sixth inning. If you wanted to justify giving him another start, you had it right there.
As it stands anyway, it does not seem like Jason Vargas is going to be ready in five days. Corey Oswalt was held out of his last start with an illness meaning he’s no longer lined up for Harvey’s next start, and it’s not likely Chris Flexen is going to be lined up for Harvey’s next start either.
With the Mets in the midst of 10 straight games without an off day, and the team playing 15 games over the next 16 days, including stops at Atlanta, St. Louis, and San Diego, they should avoid using Robert Gsellman or Seth Lugo for a spot start. The bullpen has issues of its own with the team twice needing to go into the minors to get a fresh arm, and after Gerson Bautista‘s performance last night, they may need to do it again. The bullpen issues need not be exacerbated for the sake of one start.
Really, all signs indicate Harvey should probably get just one more start. However, if that does happen Jose Lobaton cannot be the one who catches him.
In the two starts they have been paired, Harvey has an 8.18 ERA and batters are hitting .348/.367/.630 off of him. Contrast that to the 3.60 ERA and .250/.302/.375 batting line opposing batters have off of him when d’Arnaud caught him.
Maybe it’s just the reflection of small sample sizes. Maybe its’ the difference in opponents. Maybe Harvey doesn’t jive well with Lobaton, or maybe Harvey needs a good pitch framer to get those borderline strikes to ensure he doesn’t have to pitch closer to the strike and hitting zone.
Whatever the case, we’ve seen a glimmer of hope with Harvey. The team needs one more start out of him before Vargas returns. You’ve invested so much into him the past few seasons. Give him one last chance with the best chance to succeed with Tomas Nido behind the plate.
If that doesn’t work, you can honestly say you’ve tried all you can do, and it’s time to discuss bullpen, minors, or releasing him. But before you do that, just give him one last start with every chance for him to succeed.
This year, we have seen the Mets dip down into the minors and call-up a player for the first time in their baseball career. The first time was Corey Oswalt, who was so tantalizingly close to getting into a game and making his debut, but alas, it was not meant to be.
So Oswalt would not be the first Mets rookie to make his Major League debut this year. That honor would go to another pitcher. Can you name him? Can you name the other Mets to do so this decade? Good luck!
Gerson Bautista Tyler Pill Ty Kelly Daniel Muno Eric Campbell Scott Rice Kirk Nieuwenhuis Brad Emaus Ruben Tejada
After an epic eighth inning bullpen meltdown against the Washington Nationals, the fans and media began the process of second guessing Mets manager Mickey Callaway. With that the central question was why Callaway went to Seth Lugo instead of allowing Jacob deGrom to face Howie Kendrick, who deGrom has completely dominated both that night and over the course of his career.
As we know, Lugo did the inexcuable and walked Kendrick on four pitches. This led to Jerry Blevins, AJ Ramos, and Jeurys Familia not getting the job done. With the exception of Blevins, there were ensuing questions about how each reliever was used in that inning.
These questions are interesting for debate, but they are missing the larger issue here. In his brief managerial career, Callaway has ridden the bullpen too hard for this team to have sustained success over the course of a 162 game schedule.
There are a number of caveats many people will cite. There have been a number of off days. The Mets pitchers aren’t going deep enough into games thereby forcing Callaway’s hand. The bullpen can’t possibly be overworked because they have pitched just the 17th more innings in the majors.
Here are some other key stats to consider. There are 15 pitchers in baseball who have made double digit appearances this season. The Mets have three of those pitchers with Familia, Ramos, and Blevins. By the way, they were also the three pitchers who failed to get the job done that fateful eighth inning.
By the way, the Mets are the only team to have three relievers make double digit appearances, and that number will grow to four when Robert Gsellman, who has scuffled a bit of late, makes his next appearance.
We tend to over-focus just on the number of appearances, innings, and pitches relievers throw. Them getting up to warm up also counts. It is part of the fatigue which can set in for a reliever.
At this point, we can not be definitively sure any of the Mets relievers are gassed even with the recent drop-off. Really, that can be explained by regression to the mean or just a fluke small sample size.
Here’s what we do know. For most of this season, Callaway has had a bullpen with an extra arm in it. Despite that, the Mets have had to make roster moves on two separate occasions to get a fresh arm into the bullpen. First, it was Corey Oswalt for a day. Now, it’s Gerson Bautista for who knows how long?
The answer to that one may just be up until he gets gassed and the Mets need to go back to the minors to pull up Hansel Robles or Jacob Rhame again. Maybe this time, it’s Tyler Bashlor who comes up to the majors straight from Double-A.
Point is, the way Callaway is using this bullpen is having an effect, and it is causing the Mets to need to dip into their minor league depth to get fresh arms into this bullpen. Maybe this was the plan all along, and that plan is buttressed by Sandy Alderson’s moves at the trade deadline last year. Probably not.
Whatever the case, the Mets are going to have to figure something out because this cannot continue for 162 games.
You know you have a good team when they bring it every day no matter what the circumstances. You know you have a great team when they always respond to adversity. They respond to a tough inning in the field with a good at-bat. When the opponent takes they lead, they come right back and tie the score.
Tonight was just the latest in seeing how this Mets team can be great.
In the first, Wilmer Flores doubled off Caleb Smith to score Michael Conforto, who led the game off with a double. In the fourth, Asdrubal Cabrera hit a monster home run:
Watch: Cabrera’s HOME RUN puts the Mets up 2-0!! pic.twitter.com/2c0L4R2KVu
— SportsNet New York (@SNYtv) April 11, 2018
In the fifth, Amed Rosario hit a double, and Conforto singled him home to give the Mets a 3-0 lead. With Jacob deGrom cruising, it seemed like this was going to be an easy game for the Mets.
Unfortunately, the fifth would prove to be an ugly inning for the Mets. It started with a Yadiel Rivera grounder to third, which probably should’ve been called foul and Mickey Callaway should’ve challenged but didn’t. We’d later see Todd Frazier deflect a ball he should’ve let go to Rosario, which led to the Marlins first run of the game.
The second run was scored on a Starlin Castro sacrifice fly. On the play, Conforto completely missed the cutoff man allowing Rojas to go to second. Justin Bour, who had a big night against the Mets, then homered to give the Marlins a 4-3 lead.
Where some teams would be shell-shocked, the Mets immediately responded with a Frazier double. He’d then get aggressive on the bases tagging up on a Cabrera fly ball to left field and beating Derek Dietrich‘s throw. After a Kevin Plawecki walk, this put him in position to score on the ensuing Juan Lagares sacrifice fly to tie the game at 4-4.
Surprisingly, given how Callaway has handled the pitching staff, deGrom came out to pitch a scoreless sixth. He’d get a no decision, and his final line was 6.0 innings, seven hits, four runs, four earned, one walk, and six strikeouts. Not a great start, but he did put his team in position to win the game. With better umpiring and some better defense, that line would have looked much better.
In the seventh, Jacob Rhame came into the game, and he just didn’t have it. The one none sacrifice out he got was a deep fly ball to center that probably would have gone for extra bases had it been someone other than Lagares out there. Rhame did have a chance to get out of the inning, but he made a mistake on the first pitch to Bour. Bour launched his second homer of the night giving the Marlins the lead against at 6-4.
Paul Sewald in just his second appearance of the year got the final out of the inning allowing the Mets a chance to comeback and tie the score.
Given how this Mets team has played so far this year, it should come as no surprise they did actually tie the score in the top of the eighth. Flores and Cabrera would both homer off Kyle Barraclough.
In the bottom of the inning, Hansel Robles and the Mets dodged a bullet as Bryan Holaday just missed a homer. Everyone but Robles, who probably wasn’t pointing up, thought that was out. Where many expected Robles to melt down, he bore down. He got out of the inning highlighted by punch out of Rojas to end the inning.
As a bad Marlins team will learn many times this year, you don’t give a good team like the Mets this many chances.
Brian Anderson threw a ball away allowing Rosario to reach safely instead of the Marlins recording the second out of the inning. Brad Ziegler followed the error by walking Conforto to put the game in Yoenis Cespedes‘ hands. Even with Cespedes being on a 1-20 cold streak, he still had the magic to deliver a two RBI double to give the Mets an 8-6 lead.
The two run lead was more than enough for the resurgent Jeurys Familia to close it out.
Ultimately, the Mets won this game because they are resilient. They won because Cabrera hit two huge homers. They won because they are embodying the spirit of Frazier who responds to every negative play with a positive one. They won because they’re a great team.
In fact, at the moment, you can argue they’re the greatest team in Mets history because they now have the best start to a season in Mets history with them standing with the best record in baseball at 9-1.
Game Notes: Before the game, Brandon Nimmo was sent down to Vegas to make room on the roster for Corey Oswalt. Oswalt was called up due to how taxed the bullpen has been early in the season.
It is quite fitting that today is unseasonably warm because we have the first sign of Spring with the Mets pitchers and catchers officially reporting to Spring Training. No matter what your opinion on the Mets offseason, this time of year always brings a bit of hope for the fanbase because seeing the Mets players in uniform, you can begin to dream the players can put it all together and win the World Series.
For the Mets, like it has since 2015, the entire hope surrounds the starting pitching.
Now, there are people who are claiming there isn’t enough. They still want the Mets to go out and sign Lance Lynn, Alex Cobb, or any number of a group of free agent starters who didn’t compile 200 innings, were coming off injuries themselves, or really just couldn’t even sniff this Mets rotation when healthy. In fact, you could argue with their recent injury histories and peripherals, Lynn and Cobb are just more of the same. Actually, what the Mets have is just better.
That’s part of the reason why the narrative the Mets did nothing to address their franchise worst pitching needs to end right now.
The first move the Mets had made this offseason to address the pitching was to go out and hire Mickey Callaway. If you are going to be a pitching staff built on pitching, Callaway was the inspired choice. Joining him on his pitching staff is Dave Eiland, who is renown for his ability to work with pitchers. One of his keys to success is how he helps pitchers with their mechanics, which in turn, helps reduce injury.
Speaking of injuries, gone is favorite punching bag Ray Ramirez. In his place is Jim Cavallini, who will oversee everything related to player care and conditioning. This includes nutrition, sleep science, injury prevention, and rehabilitation. Apparently, after all these years of injuries, the Mets are finally interested in getting players to eat better, sleep better, and take better care of themselves.
And yes, we know even with that Zack Wheeler needed osteoarthritis injections this offseason. Matt Harvey has not been able to stay healthy since that magical 2013 season. Steven Matz has continued to suffer one injury after another. Technically speaking, Seth Lugo is pitching with a torn UCL much like the Yankees have seen with Masahiro Tanaka.
Yes, these injuries and injury histories exist, but as noted, the Mets finally have the people in place to not only help prevent those injuries from happening again, but also to get Harvey, Wheeler, and Matz back to form. If they are, watch out because this is a pitching staff that can once again lead the Mets to the World Series.
If not? Well, there’s real pitching depth in the Mets organization. As noted above, there’s Lugo. The team also have Robert Gsellman and Chris Flexen. Yes, they both struggled last season, but they have an opportunity to learn from those struggles. They also have the support system with Eiland, Callaway, and Mickey Abbott in Las Vegas.
Behind them are some intriguing prospects in Triple-A. Corey Oswalt was the Eastern League Pitcher of the Year. P.J. Conlon continues to defy the odds with his under 90 MPH stuff to pitch to a minor league career 2.35 ERA. Marcos Molina is healthy after Tommy John, and he looks to build off a strong season. Mickey Jannis is a late blooming knucke ball pitcher much in the same vein as R.A. Dickey. And if you want to get deeper, Ricky Knapp rejuvenated himself after struggling in Vegas by pitching completely lights out as he helped pitch the Rumble Ponies to the Eastern League playoffs.
And if you are masochistic, this could finally be the year for Rafael Montero.
Point is, unlike last year, the Mets have actual starting pitching depth to start the season. If one goes down, there’s two or three behind them to pick up the slack. The team has a manager and pitching coach better suited to getting these pitchers to reaching their full potential.
Sure, it would be nice to see the Mets add a pitcher or two on a minor league deal to serve as a swing man, but even if the Mets don’t make that move, they have the depth they need in the organization. Today is the day that group gets in peak physical shape and realizes their full potential.
And if you have a hard time believing me, sit down, take a deep breath, and remember the first two games of the season will have Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard starting for the Mets. If you can’t get excited about that, nothing will.
It is a slow going offseason, but it seems even slower for the Mets. With so many teams with more money than the Mets still interested in many of the same free agents, it is hard to believe the Mets will make significant additions before the end of the offseason. If they don’t, here is what the 2018 Mets Opening Day roster will look like:
C – Travis d’Arnaud
1B – Dominic Smith
2B – Wilmer Flores
3B – Asdrubal Cabrera
SS – Amed Rosario
LF – Yoenis Cespedes
CF – Juan Lagares
RF – Michael Conforto
Bench – Kevin Plawecki, Brandon Nimmo, T.J. Rivera, Matt Reynolds, Phillip Evans
Rotation – Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Steven Matz, Matt Harvey, Zack Wheeler
Bullpen – Jeurys Familia, Anthony Swarzak, AJ Ramos, Jerry Blevins, Hansel Robles, Paul Sewald, Seth Lugo
This should only highlight about how much work the Mets actually have to do this offseason.
Sure, we can buy the pitching staff as a whole as is because they have viable depth. In the rotation, Lugo could get transition back much like how he did in 2016. After that, they have Robert Gsellman, Chris Flexen, Corey Oswalt, and Mickey Jannis. And that is before the Mets go deeper with pitchers like P.J. Conlon. Suffice it to say, the Mets do have sufficient rotation depth.
Considering many of the aforementioned pitchers could go to the bullpen, the bullpen also has sufficient depth. And behind them, the Mets also have David Roseboom, Chase Bradford, and Josh Smoker.
However, that offense. You can’t sell anyone that is going to be alright. Mostly, that is because the Mets don’t believe themselves that it will be. And that is before you take into account the injury issues Conforto and Rivera are currently rehabbing from this offseason.
For example, the team has all but given up on Gavin Cecchini, who should be in a position to at least compete for a spot on the 25 man roster. He won’t. What’s scary is there is no real Major League ready talent behind him . . . at least no immediately as players like Luis Guillorme and David Thompson need at least some time in Triple-A. By the way, there’s no real outfield depth in this system.
Looking over this roster, you’d be hard pressed to believe the Mets will be better than the 70-92 team they were last season no matter how much they sell us Mickey Callaway as the solution to all that ails the Mets.
So, it really should not come as a surprise to no one the Mets have a lot of work to do, and it goes well beyond just adding one or two players. That applies just to the starting lineup. After that, they really need to build a Major League caliber bench.
Again, the good news is there are still many free agents available. However, it’s still hard to believe the Mets will be able to add the players they need to become a postseason contender.
Tonight at 8:00 P.M. is the deadline for the Mets to add players to the 40 man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 Draft. At the moment, the Mets 40 man roster stands at 35, which means the team could add as many as five eligible players to the roster.
Typically speaking, the Mets won’t go that far for a few reasons. First, the team will need to add players this offseason to help bolster a team desperately in need at some key positions. Second, the team may want to keep some spots open so they could add a player or two during this year’s Rule 5 draft. Considering there are some teams facing a roster crunch, there may very well be some intriguing names that become available.
For the moment, let’s assume the Mets will add five players with the team likely considering DFAing a couple of names already on the 40 man roster. If the Mets have that ability, here are the players I believe the Mets should add to the roster.
RHP Tyler Bashlor
Age: 24
Level: St. Lucie & Binghamton
Stats: 3-2, 3.44 ERA, 46 G, 13 SV, 49.2 IP, 84 K, 1.309 WHIP, 4.5 BB/9, 15.2 K/9
Bashlor is a power arm who can routinely get it into the high 90s. This along with his curveball is a reason why he gets huge strikeout numbers. The problem with him is he walks too many batters. It’s been a problem his entire minor league career. To that point, there is one caveat. In the small sample size he worked with Glenn Abbott in Binghamton, he only walked 2.5 batters per nine, which is a much more manageable number. If he can keep that up, he’s a shut down reliever who could very well be a future closer for the Mets.
RHP Gerson Bautista
Age: 22
Level: Carolina League & St. Lucie
Stats: 3-3, 4.22 ERA, 37 G, 9 SV, 59.2 IP, 73 K, 1.592 WHIP, 4.7 BB/9, 11.0 K/9
Bautista was the crown jewel of the Addison Reed trade. The reliever has immense talent with the ability to get up to triple digits on the radar gun. What is really interesting with him is that once he became a Met, he was finally able to harness his abilities. In 10 appearances with St. Lucie, he had a 1.88 ERA, 0.907 WHIP, 1.9 BB/9, and a 12.6 K/9. If he is truly that pitcher, he has an outside chance to pitch in Queens in 2018.
MI Luis Guillorme
Age: 23
Level: Binghamton
Stats: .283/.376/.331, 20 2B, HR, 43 RBI, 4 SB, 3 CS
Guillorme is a throwback player who is a highlight reel at second or short. At the moment, he’s more than ready to contribute defensively at the Major League level. Offensively, Guillorme finds his way on base, and he’s a smart baserunner. He’s also aware that he needs to begin hitting for more power, and he has set out to do that. Given his work ethic, it shouldn’t be ruled out he will hit for enough power where he may one day be a top of the lineup hitter.
RHP Corey Oswalt
Age: 24
Level: Binghamton
Stats: 12-5, 2.28 ERA, 24 G, 24 GS, 2 CG, SHO, 134.1 IP, 119 K, 1.176 WHIP, 2.7 BB/9, 8.0 K/9
Oswalt was not only the best pitcher in the Mets organization this past season winning a Sterling Award, he was also the best pitcher in the Eastern League as evidenced by his being named the Eastern League Pitcher of the Year. He’s a four pitch starter who may not dominate opposing batters, but he knows how to get people out. Given the rash of injuries the Mets have faced in their starting rotation in successive seasons, this is something that should not be overlooked, and the Mets certainly should not risk a chance of losing him.
RHP Adonis Uceta
Age: 23
Level: Columbia, St. Lucie, Binghamton
Stats: 6-0, 1.51 ERA, 41 G, 14 SV, 59.2 IP, 67 K, 0.905 WHIP, 3.0 BB/9, 10.1 K/9
The Mets converted this former starter to a reliever, and he took off this season. With him mainly focusing on his two best pitches, a mid to high 90s fastball and an outstanding changeup, Uceta dominated opposing batters. For a three month stretch, he did not allow one earned run while oppositing batters hit .133/.198/.158 off of him. It’s a big reason why he quickly rose through the farm system last year, and it’s a big reason why he could contribute in the Mets bullpen next season.
Overall, it’s unlikely the Mets protect as many as five players, and it’s equally unlikely the team protects three relief pitchers. To that end, it’s really a debate over who to protect. Do you protect Bashlor and Uceta, who could reasonably contribute in the bullpen next year? Or maybe, you protect just one of them to make sure you keep Bautista who is likely the best arm of the three. It’s not the easiest decision in the world, but it is one that Alderson now faces.
Hopefully, no matter what decision he makes, we won’t be revisiting this one like we have revisited the Jeff Walters – Matthew Bowman decision.