Archive for Mets

Rick Porcello and Tanner Roark are both leaving the Winter Meetings with new teams, as Porcello agreed to a one-year, $10 million deal with the Mets and Roark will provide much-needed innings for the Blue Jays on a two-year, $24 million deal. Neither pitcher has had an ERA below 4.00 in any of the last three seasons, but both pitchers have been remarkably durable and largely reliable as innings eaters.

Porcello, of course, has a 2016 American League Cy Young Award on his résumé. While he has not pitched close to that level since, ample run support and regular turns in the Red Sox’s rotation have helped him to win 31 games over the last two seasons. In 2018, he went 17-7 with a 4.28 ERA, and that was good enough for Porcello to rank 41st among starting pitchers in 5×5 Roto value. With the Mets, he will hold down the fourth or fifth spot in the rotation, depending on whether they trade one of their other starters in the wake of adding both Porcello and Michael Wacha during the Winter Meetings.
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The Mets signed Michael Wacha to a one-year, $3 million deal with $7 million worth of incentives on Wednesday afternoon, and he ostensibly fills the rotation vacancy left by Zack Wheeler, albeit as their fifth starter. Wacha has exceeded 170 innings only once in his seven-year career, and his 2019 season was discouraging, featuring a 4.76 ERA and a couple of demotions to the Cardinals’ bullpen. On the plus side, he recorded a 3.20 ERA in an injury-shortened 2018 season, and at 28 years old, he could still have several good seasons ahead of him.

Wacha’s fantasy appeal has never been about strikeouts, but he has authored four seasons with a sub-3.50 ERA. In each of those years, he has had low HR/9 ratios and BABIPs, both of which were frequently aided by soft contact rates. Pitching at Busch Stadium helped as well. Over his first six seasons, Wacha had a 3.54 ERA and an 0.7 HR/9 at home,, but a 4.02 ERA and a 1.0 HR/9 on the road. This past season, he was better at home yet again, but neither set of splits was very good. Wacha was abysmal on the road with a 5.30 ERA, and he gave up more than two home runs for every nine innings. At home, his ERA was superficially respectable at 4.07, but he needed to strand 81.7 percent of his baserunners to keep it that low, as hitters collectively put up a .278/.338/.481 slash line against him.
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With a playoff spot on the line, Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash did not hesitate lifting Emilio Pagan from a save situation after giving up consecutive singles to Mookie Betts and Rafael Devers before striking out J.D. Martinez. Colin Poche entered with Mitch Moreland and Jackie Bradley Jr. due to hit. However, Boston countered with Christian Vazquez pinch hitting for Moreland and striking out. Then Xander Bogaerts entered the fray for Bradley Jr., also striking out ending the game. Poche notched his second save stranding both inherited runners. Pagan gets credit for his eighth hold and remains the top closing option for the Rays going forward but he’s struggled at times versus the Red Sox and with every game carrying extra meaning, Cash will do whatever it takes to ensure a victory. Read the rest of this entry »

In Sunday’s edition of the Bullpen Report, Ben Pasinkoff covered some of the key happenings from Sunday afternoon’s games, and the most notable of those was Justin Wilson getting the save in the Mets’ 6-3 win over the Reds. This is a hard move to interpret, as not only was Seth Lugo available, but he set up for Wilson in the eighth inning. It was also not a matter of Mickey Callaway using Lugo in a high-pressure situation in which the Reds’ best hitters were due up. Lugo entered the game with a three-run cushion and Tucker Barnhart, José Iglesias and José Peraza coming up. These were the Reds’ 5-6-7 hitters. Lugo gave up a leadoff home run to Barnhart but nothing else. It was the first home run yielded by Lugo since Juan Soto went yard against him on Aug. 10.

The Mets got the run back in the top of the ninth inning on Brandon Nimmo’s solo shot off Sal Romano. Wilson protected the 6-3 margin, allowing only a walk to Joey Votto. It was the lefty’s fourth save of the season, and given that there is no clear alternative explanation for this pattern of reliever usage, one can only assume that Wilson and Lugo will be splitting whatever save opportunities come the Mets’ way over the final week.
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For the final time this season, let’s see who’s movin’ and shakin’ in National League lineups.

Arizona

Wilmer Flores continues to hit and keep his bat in the lineup, starting four of the last six games. Conversely, Jarrod Dyson’s epic slump (3 for 41 prior to Wednesday’s game against the Marlins), has meant a reduction in playing time, as he has started two of the last five games against righties. The most recent of those starts was on Wednesday, when Ketel Marte was out of the lineup. With Marte’s back issues possibly keeping him out for the rest of the season, Dyson could get an opportunity to work his way out of his slump. He did go 2 for 4 on Wednesday, though he was dropped to the eighth spot in the batting order.
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Greg Jewett made a speculative call in Tuesday’s Bullpen Report that doesn’t look so speculative now. He noted how Shaun Anderson has thrived since moving to the bullpen, and given how depleted the Giants’ relief corps is right now, he could see some save opportunities in the former starter’s future. The first of those opportunities came as soon as Tuesday night against the Pirates. With Will Smith (back) still unavailable and Tony Watson (wrist) likely out for the season, Anderson got the call to pitch in the top of the eighth inning with two outs and a 5-4 lead, which had been a 5-0 advantage heading into the inning.

In getting José Osuna to fly out to end the threat in the eighth and pitching a scoreless ninth, Anderson recorded his first career save. With Smith’s return not looking imminent, Anderson and Jandel Gustave, who blew a save chance in Monday night’s series opener, figure to be the primary candidates for save opportunities in the near term.
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Entering the ninth inning with a win potential of just under 93 percent, the Giants bullpen coughed up a chance to preserve a home win for Madison Bumgarner versus the Pirates. It started rather innocuously with Tyler Rogers returning to the mound with a two run lead in the top of the ninth after retiring the side in order in the eighth inning. However, a lead-off single by Kevin Newman chased Rogers from the game with San Francisco bringing in Fernando Abad to face Cole Tucker. Abad induced a fielder’s choice groundout allowing Newman to reach second base, then walked Josh Bell before giving up a single to Elias Diaz loading the bases with one out.

This prompted Bruce Bochy to bring Jandel Gustave into the game for the save chance fresh off his first on on Saturday getting the game ending double play versus the Dodgers. It also sounded the alarms for Will Smith owners who remains out due to back tightness. He last pitched on September sixth with very little news about when Smith will return. Tony Watson also remains sidelined with a wrist injury last working on September fourth. Kevin Newman greeted Gustave with a game tying single scoring two runs then Bryan Reynolds gained a measure of revenge versus his former franchise hitting a single driving in the go ahead run for Pittsburgh. A fielder’s choice ground out allowed Melky Cabrera to reach first again loading the bases and Jose Osuna drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. Pablo Reyes popped out ending the inning but not before Gustave suffered a blown save leading to an eventual loss to Abad, his second of the season. Read the rest of this entry »

To suggest it’s been a tumultuous season for Edwin Diaz would be an understatement. He suffered his seventh blown save serving up a two-run home run to red hot J.T. Realmuto on Friday night but garnered his second win after Pete Alsono drew a bases loaded walk for the literal walk-off victory. Not only did Diaz set a career worst with his seventh blown save, the home run also tied him for another dubious place in history, along with his teammates: Read the rest of this entry »

Though each team in the National League has brought their September callups aboard, only a handful of teams are giving even a single newly-added player significant playing time. Here is the rundown of lineup and batting order changes for each team.

Arizona

Josh Rojas has become a regular in the outfield, having started each of the last six games, and he is in the lineup once again for Friday night’s game in Cincinnati. After starting his career off 6 for 33 (.182) with one double, Rojas has since gone 10 for 26 (.385) with two home runs and two doubles.
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The Mets’ 11-10 loss to the Nationals on Tuesday night, as heartbreaking as it was, merely reinforced the team’s bullpen hierarchy. Seth Lugo has been used consistently as the closer for the last two-and-a-half weeks (including in the top of the ninth inning in tie games), and he was in line for a two-inning save against the Nationals. He relieved Jacob deGrom in the bottom of the eighth inning after the Mets’ starter gave up a two-run homer to Juan Soto that cut the lead to 5-4, and Lugo retired all three batters he faced. However, when the Mets blew the game open with five runs in the top of the ninth, the save opportunity was gone, and Mickey Callaway opted to let Paul Sewald finish out the game.

In retrospect, it’s easy to say that Callaway should have left Lugo in, as Sewald retired only one of five batters he saw, and he bequeathed a 10-6 lead with runners on first and second base to Luis Avilán. Yet Sewald had been superb since rejoining the Mets from Triple-A Syracuse, allowing one run over 7.1 innings with 13 strikeouts, one walk and four hits allowed. After Sewald departed, Avilán gave up a single to Juan Soto, so Edwin Díaz entered with still only one out and the bases loaded.
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