Francisco Liriano, Relief Pitcher 

Bats/Throws: Left/Left
Age: October 26, 1983 (36)

Traditional Stats: 69 G, 70 IP, 3.47 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, 63 K, 1.80 K/BB, 1.0 HR/9
Advanced Stats: 0.3 fWAR, 1.1 bWAR, 4.53 FIP, 123 ERA+, 98th Percentile Exit Velo

Veteran Francisco Liriano spent an entire season in the bullpen for the first time in 2019 with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Impressively, in his first year with that type of role, he made 69 appearances and tossed 70 innings. While he certainly allowed too many baserunners, he limited hits (7.7 H/9) and the long ball (1.0 HR/9).

Digging deeper into the success that Liriano had in 2019, you see that he was one of the best relievers in baseball at limiting hard contact. His average exit velocity was in the 98th percentile and his hard hit % was in the 96th percentile. He had a small increase in his strikeout rate (18.8% in 2018 to 20.9% in 2019) and small decrease in walk rate (12.5% in 2018 to 11.9% in 2019) that helped him be more successful in 2019.

The move to the bullpen saw Liriano’s velocity jump on on all of pitches, most notably from 92.0 MPH to 93.0 MPH on his sinker and from 84.5 MPH to 87.0 MPH on his slider. His slider proved tough to hit, with the league having .143 AVG, .286 SLG, and 42.1 whiff % against the pitch in 2019.

Liriano held lefties to a .659 OPS during the 2019 season, though he held his own against the righties with limiting them to .730 OPS (.775 OPS was league average in this scenario).

Of course, Liriano also has plenty of experience as a starter, he has started 300 games in his career including 26 in 2018 with the Tigers.

Contract

Last offseason Liriano received a minor league deal that would pay him a $1.8 million base if he made the major league roster and could earn another $1.5 worth of incentives. After pitching better out of the bullpen, I believe that Liriano could be in line for a guaranteed deal this time in line with the $1.8 million base he had last year.

Recommendation

Right now the Mets have a bullpen that looks like right-handers Edwin Diaz, Dellin Betances, Jeurys Familia, Michael Wacha, Brad Brach, Robert Gsellman, and Seth Lugo, and lone left-hander Justin Wilson. Gsellman has options and can be sent to the minors if Mets add another arm and plus that is assuming everyone is healthy come late March.

While the Mets pen only has one lefty, they have guys in Lugo (.647 OPS), Betances (.509), Diaz (.592), and Wacha (.663 OPS) that have pitched well against lefties in their career.

If the Mets do decide they need another left-handed pitcher in the pen, Liriano is one of the best available and would be a solid addition. Remember, relievers must now face a minimum of three batters or finish the inning.