Can you exhale now?
After a significant pair of wins, the Mets are in far better position, both mathematically and spiritually, to avoid an historic collapse and fall from the playoff picture.
But work remains, and one of the most significant projects is identifying a right-handed reliever who can come in from the bullpen to kill mid-inning rallies.
The Mets currently have two trusted righties in the pen — Edwin Diaz and Tyler Rogers. One is the closer and one is often needed in a setup role.
But what if it’s the fifth, sixth or seventh inning, the opposing team has runners on base, and Carlos Mendoza needs a high-leverage reliever?
Can he call on Reed Garrett? Sometimes yes, sometimes, well …
Ryne Stanek? Same answer but more so.
Ryan Helsley? Eek.
It seems that, to make the playoffs and succeed once there, the Mets will need to get creative in filling this important role. The team has not yet decided on a course of action, but is busy evaluating several options.
On Tuesday, we asked president of baseball operations David Stearns if he would consider his young pitchers (take Nolan McLean out of that mix; he looks more like a Game 1 starter). But what about Brandon Sproat? Jonah Tong?
And for that matter, veterans Kodai Senga and Clay Holmes?
"I wouldn't take any of that off the table right now," Stearns said. "I think we are, with 12 games left in our season, going to do what we need to do to win as many games as possible. And if that means asking pitchers to take on slightly different roles for various turns through our rotation, that's what we're going to do."
Holmes was a late-inning reliever for the Yankees during that team’s World Series run last year. Wouldn’t that make him the most logical choice?
"It's still a transition for him, Stearns said. "I mean, he has the experience from the past, but it's still a transition for him to do that. So I think it's as much of what the matchups say, who we're facing, how the rest of the pitching staff as a group is performing, and then holistically, trying to make the best decisions we possibly can."
That answer provided a subtle reminder that Stearns and his group tend to prefer high-end, swing-and-miss stuff and specific matchups to a factor like Holmes’ bullpen experience.
Sproat and Tong have those qualities, but carry risks of their own. Neither has yet proven himself to be big league ready. Sproat struggled in a brief bullpen experiment in Triple-A, though in a tiny sample size. It’s still possible that the Mets will want him to start postseason games.
Tong has one more chance to prove he belongs in the big leagues this year, period. His stuff bursts with the type of potential that the Mets love, but so far his sequencing and command appear in need of further development. The Mets knew that Tong was the least polished of the three rookie pitchers recently promoted.
Senga is such a creature of routine that he might find it difficult to come out of the pen. He is simply trying to salvage his season by working on his mechanics in Triple-A. Mets brass genuinely has no idea if or how it might be able to use Senga this year.
Holmes, for his part, thrived on Tuesday as the first pitcher in a piggyback with Sean Manaea. His next assignment will come this weekend in a similar arrangement, though he might be the one to come out of the bullpen this time.
As for the short relief, mid-inning role that the Mets need, Holmes' sinker does present concerns because it induces contact. The Mets‘ defense is not strong enough to reliably convert contact into outs.
One other option, Triple-A reliever Dylan Ross, is a real possibility to get a tryout this month.
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