An article by Former Writers
With the Mets seen as the probable last-place team in the National League East when the season began, it was a pleasant surprise to end the first half with a 46-40 record. This leaves the Mets right in the thick of the National League Wild Card race and still contending for the division.
After dropping the first three games of the second half to the Atlanta Braves, the Mets’ weakness is already glaring.
The Mets’ bullpen is statistically the worst in the majors.
Much of the talk has been about the Mets going out and acquiring a catcher, possibly Ramon Hernandez from the Colorado Rockies. Though Hernandez would be an upgrade behind the plate, their bigger need is to address the bullpen.
With still two weeks to go until the trading deadline, the Mets have an opportunity to really scout out some available arms that could be an upgrade. Matt Belisle and Brandon Lyon are among the guys that could fill a great need for the Mets in the middle innings.
It’s also key for the Mets to get Lucas Duda going in the second half. He ended the first half of the season in a terrible slump, and is now bothered by a lingering hamstring injury.
If the Mets really want to be a playoff team in 2012, the starting pitchers have to pitch like they did for most of the first half. Dickey has to get back on track, as well as Santana and Niese. Each of them have given up five or more runs in their last start. This is a trend that needs to stop if the Mets want to be towards the top of the league at the end of the season.
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Certainly not the end of the world for NY Mets but the schedule is ripe with either having a deep breath and remaining above .500 and putting a dent in the division lead or demise. This is not the first time this season we have walked into an away series and came up empty handed. It speaks to the upcoming series. We have no choice but to go into Washington like banshees.
There are so many what ifs that you will go crazy.
The bullpen is beyond what if……..
The bullpen is not performing but Let’s not forget that three SP laid eggs too. This team will only compete with great starting pitching and that is not easy to upgrade. at this point they need to play well in this Nat’s series but most importantly they have to get great SP.
This. Just about said the same thing on a previous thread here.
Batista inserted into the rotation is the equivalent of raising the white flag, IMO. They have to do better than that. At this point, I’m starting to think Harvey up here by the weekend is a very good bet.
Saw this on Rubin’s morning briefing as well:
A scout who has watched Zack Wheeler pitch twice this season said he is equipped to face major league hitters now. Still, Terry Collins was resolute Sunday in dismissing the Double-A phenom as a consideration for Saturday’s start against L.A., saying Harvey is the consideration for a call-up.
Is it that out of line to suggest Wheeler could make his first MLB start in San Francsico a few weeks from now?
I’m not scout or talent evaluator but from what I’m reading, Wheeler doesn’t look to be in the running for skipping AAA and being called up. I really have no idea if he’s ready or not. Same with Harvey. Although even if Harvey needs more experience throwing more of his set up pitches, I can’t help but think he’s still has to be better than inserting Batista into this rotation. Heck, I don’t even want Batista in the BP…..
“The Mets’ bullpen is statistically the worst in the majors.” All about sample sizes. If you hit, and pitch well early, you don’t need to put so much focus on the bullpen.
The key to the Mets 2nd half is Dickey/Johan and guys who we rely up to step up. Duda/Davis/Wright have to perform in the 2nd half.
If you have those guys flounder kinda like they did this weekend then it doesn’t matter what you “add” to this team.
The Mets terrible bullpen performance is a SAMPLE SIZE??? WHAT?!?!
You cant be serious….how many games has that sample size cost the Mets?
“18 games”
That is 2nd worst in the whole league…How much better off would the Mets be if that pen loss 7 or 6 less games?
It is asking Too much of Dickey, Santana to continue to carry such a large load. Do you expect them to pitch 9 innings every start. When they come out of the game after 7 innings the game becomes a toss up.
Point blank the Mets can field an allstar lineup and this pen will still handicap them.
I guess Dickey hasn’t had a good season I mean afterall he has the same sample size as the pen does! Actually less as they have been involved in more games than he has!
I think we need to stop talking about replacing Thole around here and just agree it’s something on the todo list but accept the fact there really isn’t anyone out there that really improves on him.
Our SPs seem to have done quite well with him behind the plate calling games (he called the No Hitter!) so I really see any talk about replacing him as just another effort to chase our tail.
If it was such an important thing the way to handle it was to draft one this year instead of more MIs we seemingly have no room to play later on unless your willing to give up on Tejada and Murphy who if you ask me is playing as good a 2B as anything Tuefel ever played and may even have a better bat than Tim!
the Mets used their second highest pick on a catcher, but regardless, you do not draft a player because of a need on the major league club because of how much time it takes for a drafted player to make his MLB debut.
If you’re lucky it will take 2 years and the whole dynamic of a team can change in that time…