The Morning Grind – Bullpen Goes Ka-Putz, Now What?

The Morning Grind is the place for Mets fans to sound off on anything and everything! An open thread for ranting and raving about the Mets, completely raw and uncensored!

That eighth inning was hard to watch last night. I think we have our new Heilman… or Mota… or you get the idea…

After a bad outing on Sunday, J.J. Putz is trotted back out there on Monday and really outdoes himself with one of the most pathetic displays of relief pitching we’ve seen all year. After taking over for Pedro Feliciano with one on and one out, Putz comes in and gives up four straight singles and turned a Mets 5-3 win into what would become an 8-5 loss.

As AOL Fanhouse points out,  Putz’s strikeout rate is way down, he’s walked as many hitters as he’s whiffed and his ERA has risen from 3.21 to 4.76 in less than 48 hours. It is a major concern.

Before the game, Jerry Manuel asserted that Putz, and not Parnell, was his 8th inning setup man. You may want to rethink that Jerry…

Putz didn’t dash out of the clubhouse as he did on Sunday, and made a brief statement after the game.

“Everything was coming out of my hand good. They were like three-hoppers up the middle,” Putz said about the hits. “Tip your hat on those. They were just hit in the right spot. I was pounding the strike zone with my pitches.”

He was pounding the strike zone alright, no doubt about it. But he was pounding the zone with flat as a pancake fastballs that barely hit 92 MPH on the radar gun. His velocity is down from 98 MPH and his fastball has no life, no zip, no explosiveness.

Manuel said he would temporarily move  Putz out of the setup role, but eventually he would regain the role after working a couple of things out.

At this point, do you trust Putz?

Is it time to strongly consider Bobby Parnell for the setup duties?

Maybe we should consider expediting Billy Wagner’s return if he’s throwing as hard and as good as everyone is saying he is.