What I'm Looking for in '24

Spring training is almost upon us. Here's what I hope to see from the New York Mets this season.

Here in New England, winter has announced itself rather loudly these past couple of weeks. It hasn't affected me as much as in a typical year. I'm stuck in the house the majority of the time, anyway, after hip replacement surgery. I can't drive yet, so I don't have to deal with the adverse conditions on the road. I can't go out and shovel after the relatively minor storms that have hit my area. Still, as someone who holds no love for the winter, I wouldn't be sorry to see Old Man Winter dial it back a bit.

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.

Growing Your Own

One key to their success going forward will be the Mets' ability to develop arms for their bullpen.

There's a really good piece in The Athletic (subscription required) about New York Mets relief pitchers Colin Holderman and Stephen Nogosek using the 2020 COVID-19 shutdown to reinvent themselves as pitchers. It's paying off for the Mets this year, as both young men have contributed to the Mets bullpen this season.

Coming Soon to a Ballpark Near You, Baseball That Looks Familiar

2020 will always be remembered as a bizarre baseball season, by far the weirdest of my lifetime. The only seasons that approached it in sheer peculiarity were 1981, where a strike shut the game down for two months from June 12 - August 9, and 1994, when baseball just packed up and shut down for the rest of the year without crowning a champion. Still, at least to my mind, 2020 stands alone. Not only for the dramatic accommodations MLB had to make to play an abbreviated season at all, but how very weird all of our lives became outside of the game itself.

Building a Better Bullpen

In more civilized times,
relievers used to enter in style

Last Friday morning Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweeted out that the Mets were "close to agreement with free-agent reliever Brad Hand." I saw another tweet from SNY's Andy Martino confirming that his own source verified Rosenthal's tweet. As I'm sure you know, as of Monday afternoon there has been no deal reached. Other sources have pushed back against the idea that an agreement is close, but by most accounts talks are ongoing. Should the Mets and Brad Hand eventually come to terms, the Mets are — barring injuries, of course — heading into 2021 with possibly their finest bullpen in team history.

The Evolving Bullpen

One of the huge reasons that the Tampa Bay Rays are in the World Series is their bullpen. Despite a less-than-impressive cast of starting pitchers, the Rays have ridden a deep, diverse, and pretty darned cheap bullpen to October success. Of course, whenever any team pushes deep into the postseason, other teams are going to look at what they do and try to appropriate what works for them. The Rays bullpen will definitely be an important topic of conversation this offseason as teams look to build their own bullpens.