Opening Day 2.0 is right around the corner and like most teams the New York Mets have some last-minute roster decisions to make. The team’s bullpen is one of the biggest areas that needs to be addressed before they begin the 2020 regular season on Friday.
The Mets’ Opening Day bullpen was likely going to consist of Dellin Betances, Edwin Diaz, Jeurys Familia, Seth Lugo, Justin Wilson, Brad Brach, Jared Hughes and Robert Gsellman. However, both Brach and Hughes were placed on the injured list last week and Gsellman is currently dealing with right triceps tightness and may not be available for Opening Day.
If indeed all three miss Opening Day and three replacements are needed, the Mets will have plenty of options to choose from to round out their bullpen. Three candidates that should be strongly considered for those positions are Drew Smith, Hunter Strickland and Erasmo Ramirez.
Drew Smith
Smith, who pitched extremely well in the minors for parts of four seasons, also found some success in his one and only MLB season. In 2018, Smith posted a 3.54 ERA, 1.429 WHIP and 3.66 FIP, while striking out 18 batters in 28 innings.
Smith likely would have received ample playing time last season had he not needed Tommy John surgery in March 2019. Instead it has been 660 days since Smith last played in a regular season game.
Despite the surgery and all the time he has missed, Smith looked impressive during the Mets intrasquad game on July 16 in what was his first outing back since Tommy John surgery. Mets manager Luis Rojas has mentioned how Smith has been throwing mid-90s and above during the Mets summer camp, according to Anthony DiComo of MLB.com.
With the possibility of three bullpen spots being open, Smith has a good shot at making the Opening Day roster as long as the focus is on his past successes and progression since surgery, rather than his performance in his second inning of work during Sunday’s exhibition game against the New York Yankees.
Hunter Strickland
The Mets signed Strickland and added him to their player pool on June 29. It did not take long after that for the Mets’ skipper to hint at Strickland eventually finding himself on the Mets’ 30-man roster at some point.
“We have guys like Melky Cabrera that came into the club. You have Hunter Strickland for the depth in the bullpen,” Rojas told the media on July 4. “Jared Hughes, those guys that come in, you gotta keep an eye on those guys. Those guys have plenty of experience and they’ve been successful at the big league level and they can be great assets for us, too.”
Strickland struggled last season between the Seattle Mariners and Washington Nationals, posting a combined 5.55 ERA, 1.233 WHIP and 6.30 FIP, while striking out 18 batters in 24 1/3 innings. Furthermore, he struggled with the Nationals in spring training this year, giving up 12 hits, eight earned runs, three home runs and one walk in 6 2/3 innings.
However, Strickland comes with a pedigree of success with the San Francisco Giants. From 2014 to 2018, Strickland pitched to the tune of a 2.91 ERA, 1.195 WHIP and 3.40 FIP, while striking out 211 batters in 226 innings.
One of the key differences in Strickland’s success with the Giants compared to his woes with the Mariners and Nationals was his home run rate. Over parts of five seasons with the Giants he allowed 17 home runs in 226 innings for 0.7 home runs per nine innings. In 2019 he allowed six homers in 24 1/3 innings for 2.2 HR/9.
If Strickland is able to keep the ball in the yard more in 2020, he could, as Rojas suggested, become an asset for the Mets this season.
Erasmo Ramirez
Ramirez may be less of a guarantee to make the Opening Day bullpen compared to Smith and Strickland, but could be a good short-term option for the Mets if Brach, Hughes and/or Gsellman return sooner rather than later.
Unlike Smith and Strickland, Ramirez has not recently experienced much regular season success. He pitched in only one game last season and struggled in 10 starts in 2018. His best two seasons came in 2015 and 2016; the former in which he was primarily a starter and the latter in which he was primarily a reliever.
However, the reasoning behind Ramirez’s inclusion on this list is the success he has experienced in spring training and summer camp this year.
In eight innings of spring training, Ramirez limited opposing batters to five hits, three walks, and one run (a solo home run). During the Mets intasquad game on July 17, Ramirez went four innings of one-run ball, and limited batters to three hits and one walk.
Going into Opening Day with Ramirez could be a case of the Mets riding the hot hand until the first of Brach, Hughes and Gsellman returns.
