After trading away Josh Smoker, the Mets have put themselves in a bit of a situation, as they currently only have two left-handers on the entire 40-man roster. Those two are Jerry Blevins and Steven Matz.
As a result, the Mets must find some options to fill their second LOOGY role in the bullpen. While the simple choice would be to just go sign a reliever such as Tony Watson or Fernando Abad, Sandy Alderson hinted that the team could potentially claim someone off waivers at the team’s Spring Sendoff at Citi Field. He said this on the matter:
“As these free agents begin to sign, there’s going to be a lot of roster churn among the teams and other opportunities. So it’s going to be interesting the next two or three weeks.”
Most teams are at or near their max on their 40-man rosters at the moment. Which begs the question, what team might have excess left-handed relievers to offer?
The Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Dodgers currently have 10 left-handed pitchers on their 40-man roster that currently sits at 39 as of today. The team has remained quiet for most of the offseason, like many other teams, which likely sets the team up to make a move or two in the coming weeks.
However, one of the moves they did make was acquiring a left-handed reliever, Scott Alexander, from the Kansas City Royals.
Anyways, if they make two moves, the team will be forced to DFA a player on their 40-man roster. Most teams tend to remove positions in which they have redundant pieces, which in the case of the Dodgers is left-handed relievers.
As of today, Roster Resource projects the Dodgers to open the season with Alexander, Tony Cingrani, and Adam Liberatore as the rare trio of lefties in the bullpen.
The name in that list that stands out for the Mets is Liberatore, who most would say makes sense to be the odd-man out on the 25-man roster.
The 30-year old only appeared in four games last season before getting a season-ending forearm injury. For his career, though, Liberatore has a 3.69 ERA, 1.203 WHIP, 3.05 FIP, and 81 strikeouts in 75.2 innings pitched (101 appearances).
While he can definitely handle right-handed hitters, he dominates against lefties with a career .208 batting average against them.
Liberatore could very well have the ability to provide the Mets with a proven lefty-specialist if the Dodgers were to cut bait with him.
However, the Mets would likely have to go out and actually make a trade for him, as many teams would be interested in his services if the Dodgers were to DFA him. There would be little to no chance of him clearing waivers.
Its unlikely he will be the guy to get DFA’d, though, because there are much more practical options for the team to remove from the 40-man.
One of those options might be 31-year old Edward Paredes, who made his MLB debut in 2017. The lefty is currently projected to not make the team.
He did impress in his short stretch with the team, though, as he allowed three runs, and struck out 11 batters while walking none in his 8.1 innings of work. That was good for a 3.24 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, and 2.08 FIP in his limited sample size.
His overall minor league track record does not bode well for him in the future, though. He has a career 4.31 ERA and 1.43 WHIP to go along with 509 strikeouts over 538.1 innings.
However, his more recent track record potentially does. In 44 innings pitched between double-A Tulsa and triple-A Oklahoma City, he had a superb 2.25 ERA, 66 strikeouts, and a .230 average against him.
The strikeouts are particularly impressive as it appeared he was missing bats at a rate he previously was unable to.
While finally having success at the upper levels of the minors at the age of 31 is not that impressive, it is possible that he could have figured out any of his previous issues in the minors and might have finally turned a corner.
If he were to get DFA’d, the Mets would have a much better chance at acquiring him as it is very unlikely that a team would want to use a 40-man roster spot on a 31-year old lefty specialist that still has rookie eligibility while over 100 free agents sit out on the open market.
There is one more name to keep an eye on and this is by far the most interesting one on this list. That pitcher is Henry Owens.
The former top prospect has already gone through some change of scenery this offseason as he was claimed on waivers twice already after being outrighted to the minors by the Boston Red Sox. He was first claimed by the Arizona Diamondbacks only to be placed on waivers again two weeks later and claimed by the Dodgers.
The 25-year old has hit rock bottom in his career after starting off his career with a lot of hype. In his career in the majors, the lefty has a 5.19 ERA, 5.00 FIP, 1.518 WHIP, and only 71 strikeouts in his 85 innings of work (16 starts).
His minor league statistics tell a different story, though, as he has a career 3.49 ERA and 1.30 WHIP to go along with 828 strikeouts in his 781.2 innings pitched.
The main reason Owens is on this list is because of his likely availability. The fact that Owens has been DFA’d twice this offseason already suggests that he does not have much value in the game right now.
Heck, the Mets could probably offer the Dodgers cash and they could have him today, regardless of if the need for a roster spot presents itself. They almost certainly would cut bait with him before anyone else on their 40-man roster.
However, he could present an intriguing option for the Mets. He is still only 25 years old and could very well still be fine-tuning his skills.
As the old adage goes, you shouldn’t give up on a young lefty that shows promise in the minors. It sometimes takes them a little bit longer to harness their mechanics at the major league level.
While many would say Owens should probably not start anymore, he could find a niche as a reliever if given the chance.
Owens is a complete wild card. I get that. It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, though, to bring him into camp and see if he can find a role in the bullpen or if he can show some of the promise that once made him a top-50 prospect.
Worst case scenario: Mets dump him with no penalty.
Best case scenario: Mets find a viable LOOGY option in an unlikely place.
With Matt Purke, a 30-year old reliever with only 12 MLB appearances in his career, being the only option to fill the second lefty role in the bullpen, bringing in Owens to compete with him could at least give the team another option to consider.
All of these relievers could probably be had for the right price with the Dodgers having so many options on the 40-man roster already. One of them, at the very least, is likely going to become an option on the open market before the offseason is over.
