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While speaking at the winter meetings, New York Mets manager Terry Collins endorsed Bobby Parnell as his closer in 2015. Before missing all but one game last year, Parnell was the Mets’ closer – and he was fairly successful in his first year in the role in 2013. However, this was prior to Tommy John surgery and, perhaps more importantly, the emergence of both Jenrry Mejia and Jeurys Familia.
When Parnell went down last season, the Mets used a closer-by-committee, using Kyle Farnsworth and Jose Valverde until releasing both of them. Mejia, who’s been up and down between the majors and ninors since 2010, was struggling as a starter. The thing was, and is, he has good stuff. The Mets moved him to the bullpen to see how he would do, and he thrived. In his first year closing, he saved 28 games 31 chances (90 percent). Compare that to Parnell’s 22-of-26 (85 percent) in 2013, and when you factor in Parnell’s career numbers (62 percent) it’s simple to understand Mejia is the better option.
Before the 2014 season ended some of the media and fans even wondered whether Familia should be closing. He’s more of a stereotypical closer then Mejia, and he converted all five of his save opportunities to a tune of a 1.177 WHIP and 8.5 K/9. But now with Parnell coming back, both of these young pitchers are being pushed back. Young players can struggle with confidence, which can greatly alter how they perform.
There is already speculation that Parnell won’t be ready for Opening Day. If that were the case, Mejia will probably be closing. But when Parnell returns, do the Mets just push Mejia back to the eighth and Familia to the seventh? Parnell, if anyone, should be put into the seventh, leaving the other two where they belong. He hasn’t pitched in a year, and who knows how he’ll perform returning from surgery.
If Collins is set on closing with Parnell, then throwing him into the ninth off the bat is definitely a better option than letting him pitch in the seventh or eighth (or wherever) and then moving him to the ninth. It’s professional baseball and the other relievers – Mejia and Familia – in particular should understand why the Mets did that, but they could still see that as a demotion. By tinkering around with the bullpen like that, Collins could be messing up something good just by accident.
Obviously, last year the Mets had their issues in the bullpen early on and, if that happens again, moving some players around wouldn’t be terrible. Every team will do that. But from Opening Day, and until he proves he’s unable to close, Mejia should be coming out every ninth inning he can. Parnell was a good closer. Other teams may see him that way. The winter meetings are going on now, and he may have some value as a trade piece. It doesn’t seem that GM Sandy Alderson has been talking about him very much, but he should definitely gauge the interest.
However, if Parnell and Mejia are both on the Mets come April, the choice for their closer should be obvious. And the answer isn’t Parnell.
Matt Turner is a New York Mets writer for www.RantSports.com. “Like” him on Facebook, follow him on Twitter @MturnerNY, or add him to your network on LinkedIn or Google.
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