August and Everything After

In balancing the needs of the present with those of the future, the Mets are doing right by their fans.

Things have been fairly hectic for me lately. I haven't been able to post here as often as I would wish. More on that later, but first, let's catch up on some Mets thoughts. My last post was a week before the trade deadline. Although I did expect the Mets to make a stronger push for a left-handed reliever, I wasn't surprised that the Mets didn't make a huge splash in the deadline market. The brain trust had pretty well telegraphed their thinking ahead of time, and it was clear they weren't going to trade top prospects for rentals.

Decisions, Decisions: Relief Pitchers

We're looking at some tough decisions the Mets front office will need to make after this season. Today we discuss the bullpen arms.

The New York Mets are in the midst of a special season after years of frustration. I'm very much looking forward to watching my team finally take part in the playoffs come October. But I'm also intrigued by the impending free agency of many important players and what that might mean to the Mets going forward. In part one of this series, we looked at the starting pitchers. Now we'll turn our focus to the bullpen, where the Mets must decide how much they're willing to pay to retain some key contributors.

Do the Mets Have a Playoff-Caliber Bullpen?

Winning is awesome, but the bullpen is still a huge question mark for the Mets.

The New York Mets have enjoyed strong starting pitching early on this season, despite the absence of Jacob deGrom. Running the second-highest payroll in MLB allowed them the luxury of adding Max Scherzer and Chris Bassitt to the rotation, giving them a level of depth they never enjoyed in the years that the Wilpons were signing the checks. Not only have the two additions pitched well, but they've also clearly taken on a role as mentors to young pitchers such as Tylor Megill and David Peterson. It's one thing to sign a bunch of guys to reverse the fortunes of a ball club, but it's every bit as essential to have the right mix of guys in the clubhouse. The early returns are positive in that area.

The 2022 Mets Continue to Impress

Despite adversity, the Mets have enjoyed a very positive start to the 2022 campaign, but bigger tests lay ahead.

First, the New York Mets finished a successful road trip by taking 2 of 3 from the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. While we, of course, continue to acknowledge that it's still very early, it was still a significant accomplishment for a team that went 30-51 in road games last season. Then the Mets came home to honor Tom Seaver (long overdue) and play the Diamondbacks. While it could have gone a bit better against Arizona, I enjoyed watching their heads-up win on Sunday. It felt like the sort of game they would find a way to lose in previous seasons.

Early Thoughts from Spring Training

The Mets will have some tough decisions to make this spring, particularly in the outfield and who will be the bullpen lefty.

As the New York Mets continue to prepare for the season, Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer have both given fans reasons to feel good about the top of the team's rotation. On Monday, Max Scherzer debuted first, pitching against the Marlins in their ballpark. Scherzer clearly had been doing the work during the protracted lockout. He went 5 innings against Miami, throwing 72 pitches. Scherzer wants to be prepared to throw 100 pitches when the regular season gets underway in a couple of weeks. The Mets hitters gave Max the "deGrom treatment," failing to score a run for him. Scherzer took the loss despite allowing only a solitary run.

How Much Is Enough?

The Mets did so much to improve this off-season. Is it terribly greedy to wish they had done just a little more?

We're just over two weeks away from the New York Mets' season opener in Washington on April 7. With only 3 exhibition games under their belts, the Mets really don't have much time to prepare for games that count. The offense hasn't looked very good in the early going, beyond a flurry of home runs in the first game.

Comings and Goings

There have been a few minor player additions since Steve Cohen and Sandy Alderson have taken over the team, but inking reliever Trevor May earlier this week represents the first significant move of the offseason. It wasn't quite the Trevor signing that everyone wanted to see, but it was a decent first step to building a better team for next season. Assuming that Jeremy Hefner remains the pitching coach, he'll be reunited with a pitcher that he previously worked with successfully as a bullpen coach in Minnesota. The one big red flag for May is that he is somewhat homer prone, but the same thing could be said about much of the Mets bullpen, including the current closer.