Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports reports that the Washington Nationals may turn their sights to Oakland Athletics left-handed reliever, Sean Doolittle, as they continue to search for a closer.
With the possibility of Doolittle being available, it may behoove the New York Mets to take a look at him themselves as they look to solidify the back end of their bullpen.
Doolittle, 30, has been quite a steady reliever over the last few years. He had an injury shortened 2016 season, pitching to a 3.23 ERA with a WHIP of 1.05 while appearing in just 44 games.
Over his five-year career, Doolittle has logged 231.2 innings while pitching to a 3.07 ERA with a spectacular WHIP of 0.95. He has not had too many closing opportunities since 2014, a career year for himself, where he pitched to a 2.73 ERA with a WHIP of 0.73 while accumulating 22 saves.
There was a stark difference though in how he fared against left-handed hitters compared to right-handed hitters last season. In 2016, lefties hit to a batting average of just .206 against Doolittle while righties hit to an average of .250. He pitched to a 4.29 ERA against righties, while pitching to just a 2.00 ERA against lefties.
Over his career though he has been close to equal against batters from both sides of the plate. With lefties hitting to a .195 average against him in his career and righties hitting to a .215 average.
It is unknown at this time as far as what Oakland may be looking for in return for Doolittle. For the Mets though, a bullpen piece is one of the last pieces of the puzzle they need to complete their roster and Doolittle could fill two holes with being a southpaw as well as someone you can use at the back end of the game.
The Mets are sure to make a move for a reliever at some point over the coming weeks, it will be interesting to see if they may look to make a trade such as this or head to the free agent market once some cash is freed up.
