Mets Need Bullpen Reinforcements to Get Healthy Soon

The Mets bullpen gave manager Buck Showalter a scare on Wednesday night in the seventh inning and the ninth inning when Edwin Díaz wasn’t pitching. Wednesday’s starter Max Scherzer was on cruise control until the bottom of the seventh when three straight batters reached base with one out, two of them coming on four-pitch walks. Uncharacteristic of the future Hall of Famer, that certainly drew the attention of Showalter. After the second walk, without pause, Showalter came out of the dugout to pull Scherzer at 91 pitches.

Enter Adam Ottavino. The right-hander has been the Mets’ best reliever all season outside of Díaz with a 2.18 ERA pitching in mostly high leverage spots.

Ottavino looked like he got the Mets out of the huge jam with a double play ball off the bat of Vaughn Grissom with the bases loaded to end the inning. However, after replay, the call was reversed so the Braves had scored one run to make it 6-2 and the inning continued. The next batter, Robbie Grossman, hit a three-run homer to shrink the Mets lead to 6-5 in the seventh inning.

With the heart of the Braves lineup coming to bat in the eighth inning, Showalter decided to go with Díaz just like he did two weeks ago against Atlanta. Díaz did his normal work throwing a scoreless 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts. The Braves are now 2-for-22 with 14 strikeouts and no walks against Edwin this season. Díaz hasn’t allowed a run since June 18 and his ERA for the season is down to 1.30 in 46 appearances.

The Mets got three insurance runs in the top of the ninth inning thanks to a two-run single by Pete Alonso and an RBI double from Daniel Vogelbach. The newfound 9-5 lead allowed Showalter to sit Díaz for the ninth inning.

Enter Trevor May. Things did not go well for the right-hander after getting Eddie Rosario to strike out swinging to start the inning. Back-to-back singles and a stolen base set up Grissom with an opportunity to knock in two runs with a hit, and he did with a single to left field. Ronald Acuna Jr. gave Mets fans a scare as he lined one to the warning track in right field, but Starling Marte was able to track it down to end the game. The Mets won 9-7, though it was certainly not as easy as Buck would’ve liked.

Ottavino and May combined to allow three runs and three inherited runs to score in only 1 2/3 innings. As mentioned previously, Ottavino has been terrific this year so these types of outings will happen. May had allowed one run in four innings with seven strikeouts in his first few outings off the injured list before Wednesday. Seth Lugo was used to get five outs on Tuesday so he was unavailable. Trevor Williams will have to give the Mets bulk innings soon with Carlos Carrasco on the IL and Taijuan Walker likely to miss at least one start. Stephen Nogosek pitched two innings on Tuesday, and recently promoted Sam Clay hasn’t pitched in the big leagues with the Mets yet. Mychal Givens has been unreliable since the Mets acquired him from the Cubs.

Showalter had didn’t options outside of the ones he used on Wednesday, and he went to the best he has. The issue is the lack of depth in the bullpen that is partly caused by injuries, but a big onus has to fall on Mets’ GM Billy Eppler. The first-year Mets GM said that when he traded bullpen arm Colin Holderman to the Pirates for Vogelbach –obviously a move that has paid dividends for the Mets– it was a robust reliever market and then only traded for Givens. Givens was a solid add for the price. However, he is morea depth arm than a late-inning shutdown reliever. Plus, the Mets have struggled to find a consistent lefty reliever all season, and Eppler didn’t address that need.

Eppler was clearly banking on multiple guys injured at the deadline who will come back healthy to help stabilize the Mets pen. With that in mind, let’s take a look at where the Mets potential bullpen help is in terms of health right now.

• LHP Joey Lucchesi – Will start a rehab assignment on Sunday with St. Lucie Mets.
• RHP Tylor Megill – Threw live batting practice on Wednesday.
• RHP Tommy Hunter (back tightness) – Expected to be activated on August 21 when first eligible.
• RHP Drew Smith (Strained right lat) – Throwing from 75 feet.

Another name to note is minor league lefty Josh Walker making his first appearance of the season on Wednesday night for Triple-A Syracuse. He had missed all of the 2022 season to this point with an arm injury after impressing the Mets in big league camp this Spring. Walker, mostly a starter to this point, was used as a reliever last night and saw a bump in his velocity up to 96 mph. The big left-hander is not on the 40-man roster and hasn’t pitched in the majors yet. Despite that, he could be one of the Mets best options for a lefty out of the pen if he continues to show improved velocity to go with his good command and an impressive curveball.

I also did a profile on Triple-A Syracuse Mets closer Bryce Montes de Oca recently as he gets closer to being an option for the Mets pen as well.

Hunter is the closest to returning of the group, and he has been solid for the Mets this year with a 2.51 ERA in 11 games. The veteran will give the Mets a more stable option at the end of the bullpen.

Lucchesi looks to be the next arm the Mets could see as he recovers from Tommy John surgery. The left-hander has experience pitching in numerous roles, much like Williams has this year for the Mets. His return would give Showalter another lefty option and someone that can give him multiple innings a game.

Smith is the farthest out, and the Mets have to hope they can get him back for meaningful innings for the stretch run.

Megill is the wild card in all of this. If the right-hander can get healthy, he has the stuff that could play as a lockdown reliever. Megill has experience as a college reliever and his first season in the minors with the Mets.

The Mets certainly hope they start getting bullpen options back soon and that they can provide Showalter quality innings when they do.