Since the Mets acquired him way back when in 2015, Addison Reed has been nothing but a god-sent for the Mets.
In 97 games since being acquired, Reed has been one of the top set-up men in the game. In his Mets career, he has a 1.84 ERA with 108 strikeouts and a 10.5 K/9 rate. He’s allowed only 19 earned runs in 93 innings.
The Mets settled on a salary of $7.75 million for the 2017 season with Reed this offseason. He will quickly be earning every penny of that money as the beginning of the 2017 season may be when the Mets rely on Reed the most.
With the Mets likely to begin the season with closer Jeurys Familia suspended due to a violation of the domestic violence policy, Reed will likely be expected to fill in as the closer. He has closed before in his career, from 2012-2014 with the White Sox and Diamondbacks he recorded 101 saves.
With the Mets having been knocked out of the playoffs in the Wild Card round last season, Reed watched the rest of the postseason closely. One thing that stood out to him the most was the bullpen usage. He loved how Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona used lefty Andrew Miller throughout the playoffs.
Reed hopes to be used in just that way this season. The righty wants to be a super reliever of sorts for the Mets. He wants to pitch in any situation, no matter what the inning. About this “super-reliever” role, Reed told Kevin Kernan of the NY Post that he takes “the same mindset out there no matter what inning, I’m throwing.”
Reed also added that he thinks the saves stat is an “over-hyped stat.” He believes that roles play too much of a factor these days. “Three big outs in the sixth are just as important as three outs in the ninth,” Reed said.
I agree with Reed on this point. People focus on the save stat way too much. Say like Reed said, a reliever comes in in a big spot, men on base and nobody out in the sixth and gets out of trouble. Then in the ninth the closer gets three straight outs with no men on base. Why should the closer earn a save if he does no heavy lifting. Just because you’re the closer and you are the last pitcher in the game you get a save? No, it shouldn’t work like that. Saves are exactly as Reed says a “over-hyped stat.”
Terry Collins and Dan Warthen must be very happy to have a pitcher like Reed on their staff. He has come out and said he’s ready to go no matter when the Mets need him to pitch. The Mets are certainly going to need the righty early and often this season. I look forward to seeing Reed dominate out of the Mets bullpen again this season.
