On a Friday episode of Baseball Night in New York for SNY, writer Andy Martino raised questions about who the New York Mets could plug into the holes in their bullpen and rotation down the stretch and into the playoffs.
New York holds on to the final Wild Card spot in the National League by two games, but their position is anything but secure. The club lacks a reliable right-hander who could enter the game in the mid innings, with matters only being worse as it was recently announced that reliever Reed Garrett will be done for the season.
“If you look at [manager] Carlos Mendoza and what he has available to him right now, he does not have a right-handed reliever who he could bring in the fifth, sixth, or seventh inning to put out a rally with guys on base,” Martino said.
“Tyler Rogers is someone who [Mendoza is] probably saving now, one of the few members of the circle of trust that you could use as the setup guy at this point. Diaz is obviously the closer, so he doesn’t count in that respect. There’s nobody else.”
According to Martino, everything is on the table for New York. It could be Kodai Senga or Clay Holmes who steps into that righty-bullpen hole, or it could be any other players who find a way to plug the hole at the perfect time.
It wouldn’t be true to say Mendoza and the Mets haven’t tried to fill their pitching holes. They recently made history for having the most pitchers to appear in a game in one season with 46.
The answers may not be clear on how the Mets could fill their righty reliever hole, but their position in the playoff race isn’t making it any easier on them. If New York had its spot in October clinched, the team would have more freedom to test players and combinations out. Unfortunately, the Mets have been one of the worst teams in baseball since the trade deadline, meaning they have to fight in each of their final nine games to secure a postseason berth.
It’s not just the bullpen that has questions, but the starting rotation as well. Right now, the Mets are relying on a trio of rookies, Nolan McLean, Jonah Tong, and Brandon Sproat, to guide them into the postseason.
The good news for Mets fans is that in the rookies’ last three starts, they have combined for 17 innings with zero allowed runs.
Their recent performances offer some promise, but it is impossible to predict how a rotation with three rookies would fare in postseason baseball. That may be too far-sighted, though, as the Mets still need to clinch their position in the Wild Card.
New York opens up a three-game series against the Washington Nationals at 4:10 p.m. EST today. Against the second-worst team in the National League, now is the time for the Mets to catch some momentum.