Well, sort of.
This past Friday the Miami Marlins designated former-Met Jon Rauch for assignment and in the past 24 hours there have been conflicting reports regarding his potential release. If talk of his release is accurate, the Mets should be biting.
As my colleague Ed Leyro pointed out back in February, this Mets ballclub doesn’t quite measure up in comparison to last year.
With the non-tendering of the 6’7″ Mike Pelfrey, and the non-signings of the 6’10” Chris Young and the burly 6’11” Rauch, the Amazin’s lost their three tallest players. At the time of Ed’s article, not a single Met on the active roster was listed at over 6″4″, however both LaTroy Hawkins (6’5″) and Scott Rice (6’6″) have since trumped that mark.
Rauch has had an unfortunate start to the year, going 1-2 with an ugly 7.56 ERA in just 15 outings with Miami. His stats across the board are pretty unsightly, however given that he was one of the more dependable arms out of the ‘pen last season, Rauch is worth taking a chance on.
The now 34-year old has a career 3.80 ERA–discounting this year–and pitched effectively in 2012 with the Mets to the tune of a 3.59 ERA and 0.988 WHIP. Given the lowly state of the Mets’ bullpen that has somehow found a way to be even worse than last year, he is at least worth taking a look at.
If Alderson and company were to choose to take a flyer on him, Rauch could once again stand tall as a go-to arm of out of the mess known as the bullpen. What is there to lose?
What does everyone think? Anyone up for a Rauch reunion?
