The Mets were perhaps the most star-studded team in baseball in 2008. They had the game’s best pitcher, Johan Santana, along with solid secondary rotation options in former 15-game winner John Maine and an inconsistent, yet dazzling Oliver Perez. They had a lineup that featured All-Stars Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado and David Wright. They were destined to finally make a deep postseason run after the disappointing end to the two previous seasons. The roster was stacked with stars, except for in one area:
The bullpen. The Mets’ ‘pen eventually caused them to crash, burn and ultimately miss the playoffs. They had the fourth-worst bullpen ERA in baseball, and this only got worse when closer Billy Wagner went down with an elbow injury that August. Once Wagner went down, journeyman middle-relievers Luis Ayala and Aaron Heilman helmed the closer’s role, without any success.
Nine years after that team crashed and burned in Shea Stadium’s final act, another team in the NL East bears an eerie resemblance to that 2008 Mets team. Luckily for Mets fans, that team doesn’t play in Flushing. It plays in Washington. The Nationals, despite having one of the most talented rosters in the league, have not addressed the gaping hole on their roster that is their bullpen. Mark Melancon and Kenley Jansen have both scoffed at deals from Washington, leaving them with no pitcher on their roster with extended experience as a closer.
Shawn Kelley would presumably be the team’s top choice to close should the Nats not make an acquisition between now and the start of the season. He briefly served as the Nats’ closer in between Jonathan Papelbon and Mark Melancon in 2016. But he has never averaged more than one inning per appearance in a season, and his limited work as a closer makes him a less-than-ideal option for a contending team.
But in reality, Kelley is the least of Washington’s bullpen problems. Aside from Blake Treinen, who had a 2.28 ERA last year, the Nats’ bullpen looks pretty terrible. It includes the likes of Koda Glover (5.03 career ERA in 19 games), Oliver Perez (4.95 ERA in 2016), Trevor Gott (nine appearances in 2016), Rafael Martin (21 career outings), and Matt Grace (31 career appearances). That’s not a lot of experience for a team that is going to need to win some close games to come out on top in a contentiously-competitive division.
Washington could still sign a closer. Veterans Greg Holland, Santiago Casilla, Joe Nathan and Sergio Romo remain available as Spring Training inches even closer. Although none of these are ideal choices, they all have experience closing and playing in the postseason– something the team’s ‘pen currently lacks. But even if the Nationals do sign a closer, they have a myriad of other holes in the bullpen.
They’re going to need to hope Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg and Tanner Roark can consistently go seven innings every night, and that Bryce Harper and Daniel Murphy can hit well enough to put games out of reach for their opposition. It didn’t work for the 2008 Mets though, which bodes well for the 2017 Mets.
