24
2013
Mets Could Release Feliciano By Tuesday, Laffey May Have Nailed Down Final Bullpen Spot
An article by 
The Mets have until Tuesday to make a decision on whether to add Pedro Feliciano, LaTroy Hawkins and Tim Byrdak to the 25 man roster.
According to the rules of the new collective bargaining agreement, the Mets must inform each player by Tuesday if they intend to carry them on the major league roster. The alternatives are that either will be assigned to the minors and receive $100,000 or they will be released.
It will be interesting to see if the Mets decide to keep Feliciano, who has not seen his velocity improve one bit and he hasn’t been able to get his fastball past 80-82 mph. In eight appearances this spring, Feliciano has a 2.08 ERA spanning 4 1/3 innings with three strikeouts and one walk., but the big concern is his velocity which won’t cut it in the majors.
“I want to see the consistent velocity,” pitching coach Dan Warthen said. “I would like to see it a little faster (above 85 mph), but we’ll find out.
It could be the end of the road for Feliciano.
Hawkins, on the other hand, has clearly won a spot in the bullpen and has yet to allow a run this spring, while Byrdak, who is still rehabbing his left shoulder following surgery, will likely accept his minor league assignment.
If the Mets were to pass on Feliciano, it would most likely mean that one left-hander will emerge out of Robert Carson, Scott Rice and Aaron Laffey. Only Josh Edgin has already locked down a job among the southpaws in camp. The Mets have said they intend to go with two leftys in the bullpen.
I’m thinking they go with Aaron Laffey if only because in addition to being a second lefty, he can also serve as a long reliever or spot starter. Laffey has not allowed a run in 9.1 innings pitched this spring and has experience shifting from the rotation to the pen and back, for most of his career in the majors.
How they make room for all these additions to the 40 man roster will be another story, but here is my final updated bullpen projection of the spring:
- Bobby Parnell - Closer
- Brandon Lyon - Setup
- Scott Atchison - Middle
- LaTroy Hawkins - Middle
- Aaron Laffey - Long
- Josh Edgin - Lefty Specialist
- Greg Burke - Righty Specialist
Original Post 3/20
According to Adam Rubin of ESPN New York, the Mets are going to have two left-handed relievers in the bullpen to begin the season.
I’ve been saying this would be the case before camp even started, and this confirms my speculation that Jeurys Familia and Jenrry Mejia will be assigned to Triple-A Las Vegas within the next few days.
Josh Edgin, of course, is the lock, and the second spot will go to one of Pedro Feliciano, Robert Carson, or Scott Rice.
My money is on Feliciano and if he continues to improve there’s no chance he gets squeezed out by the other two.
Here’s what we’re looking at which really hasn’t changed much from what I’ve been projecting all along:
- Bobby Parnell - Closer
- Brandon Lyon - Setup
- Scott Atchison - Middle
- LaTroy Hawkins - Middle
- Josh Edgin - Middle
- Greg Burke - Righty Specialist
- Pedro Feliciano - Lefty Specialist
So, what do you think?
Do you see a better bullpen, a worse bullpen, or more of the same?
About the Author: Joe DeCaro
I'm a lifelong Mets fan who loves writing and talking about the Amazins' 24/7. From the Miracle in 1969 to the magic of 1986, and even the near misses in '73 and '00, I've experienced it all - the highs and the lows. I started Mets Merized Online in 2005 to feed my addiction. Follow me on Twitter @metsmerized.
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I still don’t see how they can be rolling without an actual long man. Is there anyone there likely to pitch more than 1 inning, 2 tops?
I know Terry tends to overdo it with the pitching changes (maybe he thinks it is little league and everyone has to get into the game?) but I hate to see them have to use 6 guys any time a SP comes out early.
I was figuring that Hefner would be the long man, so with him in the rotation, Laffey could be the 2nd lefty.
I also hate OOGYs in general, and if you go with 2 LOOGYs, very easy to see Terry consistently using Edgin, Burk and Pedro to get through the 6th or 7th inning on a regular basis.
Considering they really don’t have a need for that 5th starter at the beginning of the season, they should be ok, No?
VAN, MORE THAN LIKELY HEFNER TRANSITIONS FROM THE ‘WHENEVER #5′ TO THE “LONG WHEN NEEDED”OPENING AS FOR THE MOST PART THEY’RE ONE & THE SAME POSITION WITH ONLY MINOR DISCREPANCIES.
OF THE 2 PEN OPTIONS, I THINK THE FELICIANO #2 GROUP WILL PROVE OUT AS TC PROCLAIMED “VETS WILL GET TIE-BREAKING CONSIDERATIONS TO THE BACKS OF THEIR CARDS. FELICIANO’S “STUFF” TO LHH TRUMPS HIS VELOCITY ISSUE, IMO. HIS ST SUB 2.60 ERA YELLS “TAKE ME NORTH” ESP AS EDGIN HAS BEEN VICTIMIZED BY UTLEY/HOWARD WHERE THE TABLES ON THOSE 2 LHH IS TURNED 180 BY FELICIANO. THAT SIDEWINDER DELIVERY OF HIS SLIDER CAUSES MANY SLEEPLESS NIFGHTS BEFORE GAMES AGAINST PHL & ATL. CHIPPER HAS AL;READY OUTED McCANN’S BIGGEST FEAR IS A FELICIANO AB!
ONE NEED ONLY LOOK @ THE LATE CAREER APPEWRANCES BY OROSCO TO WEIGH CRAFTY OVER VELOCITY. “ALL THINGS WE KNOW ARE NOT EQUAL” AS PEDRO MAKES THE BETTER LH COMPANION TO EDGIN. PERPETUAL PEDRO MAY NEED TO MORPH MOREW INTO PERPLEXING PEDRO
Reports are that Marcum had a cortisone shot due to a shoulder impingement yesterday and will be skipped in rotation.
And Gee is getting hammered tonight. This is the 2nd outing in a row.
That means that 3/5 the rotation is up in the air.
I’m not convinced that this is much more than a mediocre bull pen.
You get what you pay for.
Is it good to have two lefties in the pen? Of course. It would also be good to have a closer in the pen.
Parnell as closer? Well, when once you don’t succeed, try, try again. And the Mets have certainly tried – no one can say they haven’t given him a chance.
He does not have the temperament to be a closer IMHO. I’d like to be proven wrong because he has some nasty stuff – but how often does he get the first two outs – only to blow it?
He seems, at times, unable to put someone away.
The rest of the pen has been picked up at the two dollar shop.
Alderson should never have taken the winter off.
It is so demoralizing to a team to have the bullpen lose games. That is what starts whopper lsoing streaks.
LoL, you know I tweeted Rubin your “Projecting the Mets Opening Day Lineup and Roster” article Joe D and mentioned his bullpen projection matched up with what you had.
Now I can only laugh cause Rubin now posts an article about his roster projection and the 4 names he mentions as the most vulnerable of being removed to make room for Byrd, Atchison, Hawkins, Feliciano and Quintanilla are the following players, Reese Havens, Brandon Hicks, Elvin Ramirez and Cesar Puello.
Which is pretty close if you recall to the 5 names you gave me when I asked you who you would cut. Your five were Carson, Germen, Ramirez, Havens, and Puello.
What gives? Are you two in cahoots?
Better ‘pen than last year and it’s ot even close. Also, that’s exactly how it will turn out IMO.
I disagree with you because it’s just too early to really know either way. Take that!
Hey – Tejada got a hit!!!!
This bullpen and this team will surprise a lot of people. The outfield while not good should be a lot better than last year, Dudda 20 or so homers, Cowgill/Valdespin, and Byrd 250 with 8 hrs. is a huge upgrade over last year. The bullpen should be much better too even league average, especially if Familia can come up in July and pitch well. Catching could be close to league average and even better if Darnaud comes through when he comes up. The infield could be better than average if Davis continues his second half hitting and if Murphy is ever able to play and continue to improve his defense. The big worry is the starting pitching the thing everybody thought was good. Will Santan win 5 games? How many innings will Marcum pitch? Is Gee healthy? Can Harvey pitch as good as last year or has the league caught up with him.
I think we’ll see Carson over Feliciano to start because I don’t think they feel Pedro is ready. 83 MPH fastballs wont cut it in the MLB…
One batter at a time they might.
he will only be facing lefties, and won’t throw a FB to Ryan Howard anyway, so as long as the big breaking slider is working, 83 MPH is not that big of a deal.
To me Laffey makes the most sense as he could pitch long relief when needed as well . Send Pedro to extended ST and then see what moves need to be made after 2-3 weeks.
The bullpen is worse than the outfield.
Parnell and Edgin are the only guys worthy of even being mentioned. Sad truth is Frank Francicso is still Collins best option.
Wow, that looks awful still… again, I like parnell, and apparently so do the mets, but the guy is just not cut out to be a closer, I think the guy in the 6th or 7th inning is just fine for us, but if you put him in a situation of high level pressure, he’ll fail. I mean, time after time we’ve seen how incapable to close the game out this man is. some people are just not cut out to perform well in the clutch.
My bet is on Edgin being the closer and taking off with it by August.
No way. No how.
Yeah, I can see that.. Problem is, Edgin is not showing anyone anything special either. The potential is there, but I see this bullpen still as a weakness…
I don’t know, Edgin impressed me a lot last year. As for ST numbers, not really that concerned.
Laffey indeed looks like the most likely 2nd LH right now with Carson & Rice at AAA and Feliciano possiby heading towards retirement.
I am still not convinced that Hawkins will beat out Familia for a bullpen spot. Considering that Atchison & Lyon are two relievers with a similar repertoire to Hawkins and the 40-man roster crunch – and Hawkins less than stellar history – I’m not sure the Mets won’t try to convince LaTroy to serve as AAA depth for the time being. Especially with a spot in need to be cleared if & when FF is there. If Familia shows growing pains, you can always send him down whereas Hawkins would need to be DFA and thus would mean the Mets lose two players for nothing in a short time ( Hawkins and whoever is removed from the 40-man for him).
A Parnell – Lyon – Atchison – Edgin – Burke – Familia – Laffey bullpen does look intriguing. And Familia has looked very promising this spring. It’d also be a better mix of pitch types with another hard thrower like Familia in that group.
For Atchison, Laffey, Byrd and Quintanilla, I expect to see Havens, Hicks, Germen and either Puello or El. Ramirez be removed from the 40-man. And looking around the league, it wouldn’t be surprising to see some of them get picked up.
Santana is so far away he may end up on the 60 day DL, opening another spot.
Familia has looked impressive this spring but I wouldn’t mind him starting the year in AAA and coming out of the bullpen from the very beginning as the team’s closer. Hopefully in doing so he can becomes a bit more consistent with his control, and in allowing him time to do this the Mets brass will also get a good luck at how Familia’s mentality transitions into the closer role. This will give the team a backup plan at closer for the future, and possibly give the pen more flexability in the near future.
I like the idea of letting Familia become fully settled in as a RP, and if there is no one else obvious being the closer in Vegas will be good practice for him, and give the team a feel for how he responds.
even if he later came up the set up role is pretty much the same, in terms of use, and quite common for a MiL closer to come up as a set up man.
Plus I believe that Hawkins is still good enough to be in a major league pen, so convincing him to take a spot in the minors in favor of an unproven rookie with erratic minor league stats will likely be a tough sell.
Are we sure we’re convinced Laffey will give this team more than Feliciano’s lack of velocity? Im not watching the game against St Louis but the stat line looks pretty bad. On top of that Laffey has never really put up numbers in the past that lead me to believe he’ll be a dependable contributor.
Lets face it, all of the Mets lefthanded options have flaws.
As a matter of fact when last season ended and I speculated that Jack Leathersich could be in the majors as soon as the 2013 season, some laughed. Many of them are not laughing anymore.
As to Laffey over Feliciano neither is optimal, and it will simply come down to the gut feelings of Terry Collins and perhaps even Dan Warthen.
well, they do fill different roles. Laffey is a long man/spot starter, though I am sure Terry would just look at his arm and OOGY him. Pedro is more experienced, and accomplished, at that but needs to be lefty only.
I know my ban is until tomorrow, but DEN DEKKER just got injured, I hate (love to hate) being a Mets fan.
So much for Laffey as the 2nd lefty.
And I still don´t see how sending down Familia can be justified. If he´s a reliever for good, might as well let him loose in the majors instead of Vegas.
So, I guess beyond Parnell – Lyon – Atchison – Edgin, three spots remaining up for grabs for one lefty from Feliciano – Rice – Carson and two spots remaining for righties Burke – Hawkins – Familia.
Quintanilla seems to have won the backup MIF job over Hicks & Bixler.
Byrd has won the RHH OF job over Brown & Hoffman (as expected).
So, that leaves Turner vs. Lutz (assuming both Wright and Murphy are ready for Opening Day) with Turner likely in the driver´s seat and Valdespin vs. Nieuwenhuis (with Valdespin having more than just a leg up). Actually, Den Dekker´s injury makes sending down Kirk even more likely as he can continue playing CF in Vegas.
Oh, and technically Recker vs. Powell as backup C, though Recker has the 40-man roster spot.
With Hicks gone (and likely replaced by Q.), still a need to slash 3 or 4 players off the 40-man roster.