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Throughout Sandy Alderson’s tenure as GM of the New York Mets we have seen him sparkle when it comes to trading and drafting young talent. By drafting young players such as Brandon Nimmo and Gavin Cecchini, as well as trading aging stars for super prospects Zach Wheeler, Travis d’Arnaurd and Noah Syndergaard. But the one thing that Mr. Alderson is yet to do is form a formidable bullpen that can shut down the late innings.
Since 2011, when Alderson put his stamp on the team, the Mets bullpen has been far below average ranking 28th in 2011, 29th in 2012 and as of Thursday morning 17th in the MLB in ERA. Those stats are pretty alarming for any Major League team.
Let’s talk about why this maybe happening. Could it be that we take other team’s scraps of players that are thrown away? Or maybe they’re just too old? When I think about the problem what crosses my mind is the closer. When you think about the closers we have had in that time (Frank Francisco and Bobby Parnell) you can see why this bullpen has been unsuccessful.
Alderson’s first big mistake was signing Francisco, a 32-year-old relief pitcher who hadn’t had an ERA under 3.30 in his career, as the closer. Any team that starts the season with this guy in that role is in big trouble. Before last season, Francisco had 49 career saves, while blowing 18 saves opportunities, in seven seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays and the Texas Rangers.
Those numbers do not scream dominant to anyone. While watching him pitch none of his pitches exploded or had any type of electricity to them. Last season we saw him throw an average fastball that he had trouble spotting up, as his 21 walks in 42 innings indicate, his off speed was so-so, and he wasn’t able to get keep hitters off balanced.
All his pitches are hard mid 80’s to low 90’s pitches that hitters can adjust too with the speed difference not being substantial. When you throw like he does you need to be able to locate pitches or risk getting hit as he did last year. To me this signing should never have happened. A pitcher in his 30’s, who’s never really been a closer, shouldn’t be given that role. The teams he had been with knew he wasn’t cut out to be a full time closer. But, of course, the Mets shelled out big money for him and came out losers again.
Parnell, on the other hand, is an interesting guy who has the potential to be that shut down closer. We all know about his explosive fastball and slider. But last year we saw the same thing that was happening to Francisco happen to Parnell, he couldn’t keep batters off balanced.
Both his fastball and slider were only separated by around 8 MPH. As a hitter you just sit hard stuff since that’s all he has. But this year we’re seeing a different Parnell, one that has developed a curveball and creates unbalance in a hitters approach. With this new found pitch hitters now have to sit either curveball or fastball, depending on the situation.
When a hitter knows that a 92 to 100 MPH pitch is coming it’s pretty easy to make an adjustment even if your fooled. But throw in a low 80’s curve ball in the mix and now you mess with a batter’s timing. Parnell is still relatively young and very unproven, but he has the potential to be a very good closer in this league. The only thing I worry about is if he has the mind set to be a closer. As a closer you need a very short memory since every day is a new day. When given the opportunity so far in his career Parnell has fallen on his face for the most part. But I am starting to see some signs of maturing and possibly being that pitcher we all hope he can be.
The closer probably has one of the hardest jobs in sports. The last three outs are the hardest three outs to get in any game. Sandy may have finally found the closer we have been waiting for, but he has shown in his time with the Mets that he has an eye for talent, just not in the bullpen.
Jerry Elsing is a New York Mets writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @ j_els22, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google
