Player Data: Age: 31 (Born 11/17/1989), B/T: R/R

Primary Stats: 46 G, 46 1/3 IP, 4-3 W-L record, 3.50 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 55 SO, 21 BB

Advanced Stats: 4.24 xERA, 3.77 FIP, .237 BAA, .307 BABIP, 18.5 K-BB %, 0.8 bWAR, 0.4 fWAR

2021 Salary: $2.9 million

Grade: C+

2021 Review

Seth Lugo was the Mets’ most dominant reliever in 2018 and 2019. New York revamped its bullpen and starting rotation over the winter, so after a move to the rotation did not go as planned in 2020, Lugo moved back to the bullpen role where he saw plenty of past success. Lugo’s 2021 season hit a bump in the road quickly. In February, he underwent surgery to remove bone spurs from his right elbow that kept him out for the first two months.

When Lugo returned in the beginning of June, he looked like the pitcher we all became used to seeing out of the bullpen in 2018 and 2019. From June 2 until the All-Star break, Lugo pitched to a 2.65 ERA over 16 games, striking out 21 batters in 17 innings while holding batters to just a .197 batting average. Although we have become accustomed to seeing Lugo go multiple innings, he was used in a more traditional role. He only pitched more than one inning three times while pitching less than one full inning in four of his outings. His only save of the season came on June 5 against the Chicago Cubs, when he pitched two scoreless innings to close out the win. He only allowed multiple runs once, when Ozzie Albies homered off of him following a walk to Freddie Freeman on June 21.

In his first outing after the All-Star break, Lugo was roughed up in Pittsburgh. He only recorded two outs while allowing five runs on three hits and two walks, and he gave up a three-run home run to Wilmer Difo. His ERA on the season increased from 2.65 to 5.09 after this game. Lugo did not allow another run the rest of July, but he did not have his usual dominant outings. He pitched 5 2/3 shutout innings to finish the month despite allowing seven hits and two walks over that span.

In August, Lugo had another dominant month that included a stretch of six straight outings against baseball’s two best teams, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants. In the first five outings, Lugo threw one inning in each game and allowed just a leadoff infield single to Max Muncy in the first game and a leadoff double to Darin Ruf in the last game before stranding both runners. However, in the sixth game — pitching for his second consecutive day — Lugo struggled. He gave up a leadoff single to Mike Yastrzemski before hitting Curt Casali. Facing Ruf for the second straight day, he allowed a go-ahead RBI single in the eighth inning that the Mets could not make up. Overall, Lugo finished the month pitching 11 2/3 innings, allowing just two runs on eight hits and two walks while striking out 12.

Lugo struggled to finish the season, allowing runs in four of his 12 outings in September and multiple baserunners in eight of the 12. While his overall numbers for the month were not as bad as they were in July, the damage did not come in one awful outing like earlier. Lugo’s September did not feature any blow-up outings, but he did not have many easy ones, either. He finished the month allowing six runs on 11 hits and six walks over 11 1/3 innings while striking out 15 batters.

If another reliever came in and put together the overall season that Lugo had in 2021, he would almost certainly get a better grade than a C+, but the inconsistency along with the dominance we have seen from Lugo in the past made his 2021 season feel much more underwhelming. He had two months where he looked like the elite reliever we all know he can be, but followed both of those months with inconsistent stretches that left fans wondering if he was fully recovered from his offseason surgery. By season’s end, that feeling of confidence that was there whenever Lugo came into a game in the past was not there anymore.

2022 Outlook

The 2022 campaign will be a contract year for Lugo. While he prefers to start games, he is most valuable as a multi-inning reliever who can be used in a role similar to how Josh Hader had been used in Milwaukee prior to this season. The 2021 season was an inconsistent one for Lugo after surgery delayed his debut for two months, but despite the shaky stretches, he did show that he can still be a big weapon out of the bullpen. With a new contract and a chance to re-establish himself as one of the game’s premier relievers on the line, a return to form for the right-hander would come as no surprise.