As soon as the Dodgers decided to non-tender left handed reliever, Joe Beimel, I remember thinking to myself, this guy will be signed within a week. Wrong again…
The 31 year old specialist had a solid season last year after posting a 2.02 ERA in 71 games.
During the 2007 season, Beimel set a record for the Dodgers by making 83 appearances, the most by a left-handed pitcher in the Dodgers history.
I took a look at his three year average as I believe it’s more reliable than just looking at one season.
In 216 games he has a 3.04 ERA, but more importantly he held left handed hitters to a .232 batting average and has only allowed two homeruns in 280 at bats against him. That’s pretty impressive. In that same span, J.J. Putz allowed 10 homeruns.
While with the Dodgers, he was not only used as a lefty specialist, but also as the team’s setup man and emergency closer.
Currently, the Mets only have one left hander, Pedro Feliciano, in the bullpen. Some have said that’s okay because of the additions of J.J. Putz and K-Rod. If one of the two were left handed I would agree, but if you were able to bring in Joe Beimel to face Ryan Howard and Chase Utley instead of Putz, wouldn’t you have to do it?
Barry Bonds who destroyed mostly all relievers in his career, even left handers, was only 1-16 against Beimel.
Left handers had an .803 OPS against J.J. Putz last season, while Beimel held them to .641 OPS. That’s over a .150 difference…
Would it be so bad to hedge our bets and bring in a guy like this?
The real question is, would he upgrade the current makeup of the back-end of the bullpen?
If the answer is yes, and all he is seeking is $4 million per season, which is not much more than we gave Schoeneweis, why not?
I’d rather not tempt faith and have this discussion after a game winning homerun from Ryan Howard off of J.J. Putz.
