With the trade deadline fast approaching, it is a “near certainty” that the Mets will look to add a middle reliever, Newsday’s Marc Carig reports.
There will be a plethora of options on the market, ranging from the Yankees’ high end trio of relievers to the hard throwing lefties on the San Diego Padres. However, in an effort to avoid drawing from their top minor league talent pool, the Mets are more likely to take a flier on a buy-low type player.
One name rumored to be on the Mets’ radar is Angels’ reliever Joe Smith. The former Met is in the midst of a down year, posting a career worst 4.36 worst ERA so far, but he does have a wealth of experience pitching in high leverage situations. Before becoming an integral part of the Angels’ bullpen as a closer and set up man, Smith was a part of the Mets’ relief corps during the collapses of 2007 and 2008.
Perhaps the only reliable arm in those awful bullpens, Smith could be hungry to return to the postseason with the team that drafted him back in 2006. With his track record of success and relatively low cost, the side arming right-hander could be a fit.
Whether the Mets choose to add Smith or another arm of his caliber, any such move will go a long way towards bolstering an overtaxed bullpen that must continue to perform in order to keep the team’s postseason hopes alive.
