21
2011
Mets Sign Tim Byrdak To A Minor League Deal
An article by Craig Lerner
Adam Rubin of ESPN New York, confirms what was reported late last night by NY Baseball Digest. Tim Byrdak has signed a minor league deal with the Mets and will be invited to spring training.
If used properly, he can be very effective and a serious weapon for Terry Collins against left handed sluggers like Ryan Howard and Chase Utley.
Lefties hit .210 off him in 2010. For his career, he has held lefties to a .677 OPS.
Original Post 1:00 AM
On Wednesday, Adam Rubin reported that free agent reliever Tim Byrdak is on the Mets radar and could end up competing with Taylor Tankersley for a left-handed relief role in spring training.
While at a kids event at Citi Field, Mets Merized Online was on hand when manager Terry Collins told a large group of bloggers and reporters that he was optimistic that Sandy Alderson was working on adding another left-handed reliever and that they were talking with a couple of relievers.
Late Thursday night, NY Baseball Digest tweeted that Byrdak’s deal with Mets was complete and later added that he spoke to Mike Mosa the agent for Tim Byrdak who told him that “he will be coming to St. Lucie on a minor league deal”. I know this site’s policy on blog sourced rumors, but given that they have spoken directly to the agent for confirmation and provided a direct quote, it sounded pretty credible to me.
Of the two quality left handed relievers still available, Byrdak was probably my least favorite, but only because I have a higher regard for Joe Beimel. Plus at 37-years old Byrdak does pose a bit of a risk and Beimel is three years younger.
Byrdak did have a solid season in 2010 with the Astros going 2-2 with a 3.49 ERA in 64 relief appearances, and he held left handed hitters to a .213 batting average. Here are his numbers over the last three seasons.
| G | IP | H | ER | HR | BB | SO | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.90 | 59 | 55.1 | 45 | 24 | 10 | 29 | 47 | 109 | 1.337 | 7.3 | 4.7 | 7.6 | 1.62 |
| 3.23 | 76 | 61.1 | 39 | 22 | 10 | 36 | 58 | 128 | 1.223 | 5.7 | 5.3 | 8.5 | 1.61 |
| 3.49 | 64 | 38.2 | 40 | 15 | 4 | 20 | 29 | 112 | 1.552 | 9.3 | 4.7 | 6.8 | 1.45 |
| 3.53 | 199 | 155.1 | 124 | 61 | 24 | 85 | 134 | 116 | 1.345 | 7.2 | 4.9 | 7.8 | 1.58 |
Aside from a very high WHIP last season, the numbers are solid, and he’s certainly a better option than Taylor Tankersley who has yet to establish himself as a specialist in my opinion.
What do you think Mets fans, worth the shot?
About the Author: Craig Lerner
I'm a data analyst and researcher for a leading news agency who loves life and is hooked on the Mets. I love following the Amateur Draft and have a particular fondness for the Mets Minor Leagues who I follow each day. Give me a cold beer, a summer day, and a Mets game, and I'm good to go.
19 Comments + Add Comment
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| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 42 | 30 | .583 | - |
| Phillies | 35 | 37 | .486 | 7.0 |
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| Mets | 27 | 40 | .403 | 12.5 |
| Marlins | 22 | 48 | .314 | 19.0 |
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The more competition and depth we can have going into Spring Training the better. Tankersley is a former #1 draft pick and highly regarded when he was with the Marlins. He had a little setback with injuries that hindered him, but might be ready for a break out season. I think Alderson had done a great job piecing together a roster that has a chance to be very competitive. Adding Byrdak to the mix does nothing but enhance that.
I dont see what everyone likes about Tankersly? His numbers look awful.
8.72 K/9, .217 BA against, 1.19 WHIP for career is awful? man you have high standards.
Career is nice and all but what has he done over the last 2 years would be more relevant to me.
I mean is he consistantly averaged thos number every year or did he peak early in his career and struggled ever since or is he coming off a injury trying to recapture his good days again?
I know I can look it up and i dont expect you to find that info but i only say this cause just showing his career numbers can be misleading at times.
You know what I am saying?
well ’06-’07 in full years in the majors he dominated lefties. ’08 he dominated both hands in AAA but struggled in the majors. ’09 he was recovering, and last year he dominated the few lefties he faced.
So the only time in his career he didn’t dominate lefties was ’08 and that was 31 hitters.
Bottom line is when the dude is right, he gets lefties out. Now what we have to hope is that he is right. Seemed to be last year. and this year will be one more year removed from surgery. I mean I’m not saying anything is guaranteed but the upside is there.
Thanks for the info
Meh, big deal. If it means no Ollie than Im fine with it.
This is actually one of the better signings if true. His numbers against lefthanded hitters are very similar to Feliciano and he’ll be far cheaper.
Its amazing how fake all you metsie fans are. you whined and cried and belly ahced about all the signings that omar minaya made, which were identical if not beter to the lousy signings your new out of date and out of touch snob gm makes, and now you claim that they are all awesome. Is it bigotry or is it just pute stupdity little metsies.???? I assume it is the latter. can’t wait till my team comes to your little ugly ballpark… i’ll get seats anywhere the place will be so empty. Yay!!!!!
who r u kidding? u hav no team. y do u think your even here with a ‘happylilmetsfan’ name rather than a name reppin another team? cause u hav none. i tell u what u can be a ollie fan ok? call yourself ‘happylilolliefan’ ok?
Great job signing Byrdak. This signing improves this bullpen a lot. I wouldn’t be surprised if Terry took both Tank and Byrdak up north after ST. The more lefty relief, the better.
I like this signing too. It will set up competition for those open spots in the bullpen so that no one will feel they have the spot all to themselves going in. They will have to earn it. As for taking 2 lefties north, I’m thinking if they do, the 2nd one will be Pat Misch. He is out of options and while he might get through waivers to go to Buffalo, the Mets might not want to risk it. Misch, though his skills are inferior somewhat to Tankersley, has one advantage: he can start. As a long man / LH specialist out of the ‘pen, Misch provides the Mets with an emergency starter should the need arise during the season. So if the Mets do keep 2 LH relievers (I hope they do), I could see it being Byrdak as the LOOGY and Misch as a Long Man / Spot starter. Tankersley would go to Buffalo, along with Mike O’Connor, and give the Mets some LH depth @ AAA.
I agree with 2 lefties going North and if Misch is the long man in the pen(spot starter) he will not be considered a lefty reliever. Kind of like your closer being left handed you still would like 2 lefties for situtations earlier in the game. I also like the signing and it’s possible Misch, Tankersly and Byrdak make the club.
I would like to see all three make the team, as well. With Pelfrey, Dickey, Niese, Young and Capuano as the starters, K-Rod, Parnell, Carrasco, Buccholz, that looks like a nice little 12-man staff.
Interesting debate. I agree with you, but I’d rather see Tankersley establish himself more in the minors while giving Gee a shot to be the long man spot starter. Otherwise I like the way you filled out the rest of the staff.
HoJo, I’d like to see Gee pitch every 5th day. He showed me something last year, as I think he showed us all, and he’d be first in line to take over for an injured starter on my roster. But he doesn’t have a major league second pitch yet, and I don’t think he’d get the work necessary to develop one pitching once or maybe twice a week in relief.
I understand that, but it will now be his third straight season in Buffalo after two full years in 09 and 10. I think at this point he is what he is, and I don’t believe he has the quality of stuff to be anything more than a spot starter/long reliever or bottom of rotation guy on a low market team. Tankersley on the other hand has the quality and was a number one pick that was certainly rushed by the Marlins and could use the seasoning to his benefit and the Mets. They drafted him in 04 and he was in 49 major league games in 06. He regressed every year after that, got hurt, missed year and pitched 12 very poor innings last year when he came back. A little seasoning would be good for him.
That’s a good point. Although Tankersley has the potential to be a great loogy, and Gee has the potential to be a good back-end starter. To me, Gee’s role is more important and should be the team’s focus on optimizing his potential over Tankersley.
That being said, there’s the possibility of having both guys stay in Buffalo. Byrdak would be the primary loogy and Misch is left-handed if they need a second one later in the game. If they both stay down, Beato has the chance to prove himself. There are plenty of options, even though some of them are unrpoven.