The New York Mets showed some slight improvement last season in the bullpen after having the worst bullpen in the major leagues in their two previous seasons.
The Mets ranked 27th with a .259 opposing batting average, 30th in strikeouts, 25th in WHIP and finished 22nd with a 3.99 ERA.
Among the 12 relievers to appear in 15 or more games for the Mets last season, righthander Greg Burke ranked last with a 1.83 WHIP and 5.68 ERA in an appalling 32 appearances. Opposing offenses torched the 31-year old for a .312 batting average, allowing 43 hits and 15 walks in 31.2 innings.
You would think that would spell the end for his short and disastrous Mets tenure, but in fact the Mets are interested in re-signing him to a minor league deal, according to Adam Rubin of ESPN New York.
The question of course is why? I didn’t realize we were that hard up…
The fact is that once the Mets started to play their own younger and internal options, the bullpen started to perform infinitely better in the second half of last season.
In addition to solid options like rookies Scott Rice and Gonzalez Germen, the Mets have some more great internal options on the way in Jeff Walters and Jack Leathersich along with promising holdovers Vic Black, longman Carlos Torres and Josh Edgin.
The good news is that Burke is also drawing early interest from the Blue Jays and Rockies and could receive offers from both of those teams soon.
Thank God for small favors…
