The Mets bullpen has an issue that goes beyond skill.
Screaming and yelling about a possible DH scheme where Mark Vientos seizes at-bats anytime a lefty is on the pitch and DJ Stewart begins against a bunch of righties is reasonable. We will be raising our hands, though, if the New York Mets decide to piece together a designated hitter strategy without adding a reliable player to the position.
A minor facet of the Mets roster has received little attention, while being a source of great discussion already.
A bullpen pitcher’s prospects of making Opening Day can occasionally be determined by how highly sought-after their minor league options are. Teams are expected to always have one or two places open since it’s standard procedure for them to shuffle bullpen arms up and down from the minors.
Not the Mets. On the 40-man roster, they have an abundance of bullpen arms without minor league options. How are they going to pull this off?
The Mets’ bullpen is unflexible and their roster is rigid.
Only Reed Garrett, Josh Walker, Grant Hartwig, and Kodai Senga are pitchers on the 40-man roster that the team may option to the minor leagues. We may also include Austin Adams there because he has a split deal.
The Mets are already superheroes when it comes to having optional starting pitchers. David Peterson, Tylor Megill, Jose Butto, and Joey Lucchesi are all susceptible to being sent down. Finding any space to move them back up is the problem.
The Mets will need to find a way to get rid of the two pitchers they now have in excess. Easy enough. That’s when things get tough. The Mets haven’t had a day off since April 4 and it is now April 15. They will play the Pittsburgh Pirates in a three-game series starting soon. Not only had the Atlanta Braves tormented the relievers the previous week, but the Kansas City Royals, unexpectedly, didn’t give them much of a break over the weekend either. How are they going to respond?
Ways to improve the Mets’ bullpen
Phantom injuries aren’t the answer, particularly in light of Major League Baseball’s close scrutiny in the wake of Billy Eppler’s claims from the previous year, the outcome of which, for the record, we were meant to know by the end of 2023. For a week, a team can use a bum shoulder to promote a fresher arm, but how is this a solution?
There’s no simple way out of this situation. The Mets’ options for any quality free agents they sign will already be exhausted. The Mets have actively provided us with pitchers like Cole Sulser, Chad Smith, and Danny Young who will pitch their hearts out to make the club, but they don’t have any apparent minor leaguers that can already be counted on for a roster position.
The Mets will already need the roster space where they may demote or promote players as needed in order to create a semi-six man rotation. On game day, Megill or anybody else may be called up to take the field. After then, there will be other relievers with options to take his spot. Following the game, Megill is demoted in favor of a different bullpen pitcher in accordance with MLB policy, which stipulates that a player must wait 10 days to be recalled, with the exception of an injury.
Thankfully, there are several simple DFA or even trade possibilities on the MLB roster who the Mets are willing to deal with. They are Phil Bickford and Sean Reid-Foley. Swap one out for a rotating door space. Either the Mets acquire an optional reliever by trade, or the team makes an offseason minor league signing.
Although signings like Jorge Lopez and Michael Tonkin were inexpensive, they also caused some early chaos by allowing the option to start a younger pitcher. Because they don’t have a true long man either, expect the Mets to be flexible in how they construct their final bullpen.