Rebooting the Pen

[Edgy MD]

Lost among discussion on whether the Mets should be renewing their relationship with Edwin Diaz is the reality that he's not the only 2022 reliever not under contract for next season. The team's four relievers with their biggest workloads from 2022 are looking at free agency before heading into 2023. Of the 25 relievers who appeared out of the pen for the the team this past year, those four and five others have expiring contracts, while five more are already gone.

[th]Rank[/th]	[th]Name[/th]	[th]IP[/th]	[th]ERA[/th]	[th]W[/th]	[th]L[/th]	[th]SV[/th]	[th]HLD[/th]	[th]BS[/th]	[th]BB[/th]	[th]SO[/th]	[th]fWAR[/th]	[th]WPA[/th]	[th]Status[/th]
	1		Adam Ottavino		65 2/3		2.06		6		3		3		18		3		16		79		1.1		0.53		Free Agent
	2		Seth Lugo		65		3.60		3		2		3		16		3		18		69		0.2		0.03		Free Agent
	3		Edwin Diaz		62		1.31		3		1		32		4		3		18		118		3.0		3.65		Free Agent
	4		Trevor Williams		51		2.47		1		1		1		1		1		15		55		0.7		-0.66		Free Agent
	5		Joely Rodriguez*		50 1/3		4.47		2		4		0		9		0		26		57		0.4		0.04		=#7030A0]Arbitration Eligible
	6		Drew Smith		46		3.33		3		3		0		14		2		15		53		-0.1		-0.30		=#000000]Controlled
	7		Chasen Shreve*		26 1/3		6.49		1		1		0		4		1		10		29		-0.3		-0.70		=#FFC000]Released 7/8
	8		Trevor May		25		5.04		2		0		1		6		0		9		30		0.1		-0.17		Free Agent
	9		Adonis Medina		23 2/3		6.08		1		0		1		0		0		6		17		0.0		0.32		=#000000]Controlled
	10		Tommy Hunter		22 1/3		2.42		0		1		0		1		0		6		22		0.0		0.35		Free Agent
	11		Stephen Nogosek		22		2.45		1		1		0		0		0		7		21		-0.1		-0.16		=#000000]Controlled
	12		Mychal Givens		19 2/3		5.03		1		1		0		1		1		6		20		-0.1		-0.24		Free Agent
	13		Colin Holderman		17 2/3		2.04		4		0		0		1		0		7		18		0.4		0.30		=#FFC000]Traded to PIT, 7/22
	14		David Peterson		14 2/3		3.68		1		0		0		1		1		7		16		-0.1		0.22		=#000000]Controlled
	15		Yoan Lopez		11		5.73		1		0		0		0		0		5		10		-0.1		0.31		=#7030A0]Arbitration Eligible
	16		Sean Reid-Foley		10		5.40		0		0		0		0		0		7		8		-0.1		-0.12		=#757171]Controlled but, Like, out until at Least Mid-May
	17		Jake Reed		6		11.37		1		0		0		0		0		6		6		-0.2		-0.11		=#FFC000]Claimed off Waivers, 7/13
	18		Tylor Megill		6		6.00		0		0		0		0		0		2		4		0.0		-0.09		=#000000]Controlled
	19		Alex Claudio*		3 1/3		0.00		0		0		0		0		0		2		2		0.0		0.01		Minor League Free Agent
	20		Bryce Montes de Oca		3 1/3		10.80		0		0		0		0		0		2		6		0.1		-0.02		=#000000]Controlled
	21		Nate Fisher*		3		0.00		0		0		0		0		0		2		1		0.0		0.13		=#000000]Controlled
	22		R.J. Alvarez		2 1/3		11.57		0		1		0		0		0		3		2		-0.3		-0.23		Minor League Free Agent
	23		Darin Ruf		2		0.00		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0.0		0.00		=#000000]Under Contract
	24		Sam Clay		1		0.00		0		0		0		0		0		1		2		0.0		0.00		=#FFC000]Claimed off Waivers, 7/10
	25		Rob Zastryzny*		1		9.00		0		0		0		0		0		0		1		0.0		0.01		=#FFC000]Claimed off Waivers, 8/25
[th][/th]	[th]Others[/th]	[th]IP[/th]	[th]ERA[/th]	[th]W[/th]	[th]L[/th]	[th]SV[/th]	[th]HLD[/th]	[th]BS[/th]	[th]BB[/th]	[th]SO[/th]	[th]fWAR[/th]	[th]WPA[/th]	[th][/th]
	26		Mike Montgomery		0		---		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0.0		0.00		Minor League Free Agent
	27		John Curtiss		0		---		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0.0		0.00		=#0070C0]Team Option
	28		Phillip Diehl		0		---		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0.0		0.00		Minor League Free Agent
	29		Locke St. John		0		---		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0.0		0.00		Minor League Free Agent

So, assuming guys with options and guys with arbitration eligibility are all retained, if the season began today, the bullpen looks like:

• Joely Rodriguez


• Drew Smith


• Adonis Medina


• Stephen Nogosek


• David Peterson


• Yoan Lopez


• Tylor Megill


• Bryce Montes de Oca

We're assuming that Darin Ruf will be otherwise engaged. Assuming further that Peterson and Megill are needed in the rotation, that brings Nate Fisher (a lefty!) and John Curtiss (his middle name is "Pickens"!) into play.



And yeah, "crisis" means "danger" and "opportunity" and all that. Expiring contracts mean open roster slots and salaries off the books too, but the work is cut out for them.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Bryce Montes de Oca needs to be issued a number like 91 or 98 and get a reputation for pitching inside. That's a recipe for an All-Star appearance.



I've been waiting for the Lugo bubble to pop for years, it could be time to say goodbye, May, maybe. Diaz would be nice to have around for another few seasons.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I think they're done with Trevor May. There will be a lot of competition for Diaz. Interesting that the Mets, with so many pending free agents, didn't look to extend any of them, at least as far as we know. (We do know that they didn't succeed in extending any of them.) Locking up a few of their players would have provided that much less uncertainty going into the offseason.



Are we going to have a sister topic for "Rebooting the Starting Rotation"?

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

so much may depend on how they Reboot the Front Office with Billy getting a new boss

[Fman99]

I most hope to see Diaz and Ottavino in Mets colors for 2023. Williams and Drew Smith seem like good choices to bring back too. I also think Lugo is on borrowed time but wouldn't be abject to his return.

[Edgy MD]

One guy I failed to list, who is a candidate for both boots, is Joey Lucchesi.

[Lefty Specialist]

#1 priority for this team is Diaz. It's be nice to pick up a serviceable lefty for the pen, too. I don't really trust Joely Rodriguez, even though he had his moments.



I'm OK with Ottavino coming back. Smith is a box of chocolates. I want to see Adonis Medina get more work, he's got good stuff and that save against the Dodgers showed he had balls of steel.



Peterson and Megill may very well be starters next year; I don't think they're really bullpen pieces. I'm guessing Williams will look for a rotation job with another team, but if he wants to come back in the same role I'd be pleased.



Trevor May is bad at his job. He should go elsewhere. And take Mychal Givens with him.

[batmagadanleadoff]

I don't know what to think other than I think that Diaz is a priority, but like Grimm already said, lotsa teams are gonna go after him. Lesser relievers just aren't that reliable and also, the Mets have been just awful, crappy, awful at developing reliable relievers, going back many, many seasons now, back to the depths of the Madoff crisis. On top of that, they've been putting out a parade, a chorus line of relievers over the years, enough to seemingly field two football teams worth of relievers -- all forgettable and interchangeable. P.J. Conlon? Jacob Rhame? Scott Copeland? Neil Ramirez? Jamie "Lizard Tongue" Callahan? Donnie Hart? Brooks Pounders?