In the offseason, the Mets felt they needed to add another back-end reliever that they could plug into their bullpen. As a result, they decided to sign 32-year old Anthony Swarzak to a two-year, $14 million contract to fill their need.
To date, though, Swarzak has not lived up to expectations in the slightest as he currently has a 6.28 ERA, 1.81 WHIP, seven walks, and 16 strikeouts in 14 appearances (14 1/3 innings pitched) this season. He has also allowed five home runs in that span.
Last night was no better for him as he allowed three runs in only a 1/3 of an inning while walking two batters.
He admitted to Tim Healey of Newsday that his slider is not working the way he would like it to.
“Right now I’m trying to find a remedy to get hitters out. I had success throwing some sliders in the past, so coming in with runners on, I’m trying to throw that slider. Right now it’s not working, but it’s a process. It really is.”
Swarzak, though, believes that he is somehow trending in the right direction.
“I’ve had some injuries this year, but mentally I feel fine. Physically, I’m getting stronger every day. My stuff is better now than it was two weeks ago, so maybe in two weeks, I’ll be the best pitcher in baseball. I’m not joking. I don’t know. You have to continue to work every day, trust your process, play for your teammates.”
Now, maybe he’s just trying to be optimistic, but come on. How is his stuff any better than what it was a couple of weeks ago?
He’s allowed six runs in his last four innings of work including two home runs. The fact is nobody could care in the slightest what his stuff looks like if he can’t manage to get hitters out when it matters, which so far he hasn’t been able to.
Is it possible he’ll figure it out? Of course. But those type of quotes are not the ones that people want to hear when someone is posting the stats he is.
Right now, Swarzak is simply a bad reliever and nothing close to the one with a 2.33 ERA last season, which the Mets hoped they were signing back in December.
