You Make the Call: Ramon Ramirez

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

He's got a name destined to get tangled in mind with dozens of other similarly-named Latin American pitchers, unless he's something special, and who says he's not?

The Mets will be his 5th big-league team in the last 6 years, but that in some ways speaks to his usefulness, as does a career 3.16 ERA, .226 BAA and 1.24 WHiP. He was terrific for the Giants after they picked him up in 2010. You could probably make an argument on numbers alone that he oughta be the closer for these Mets.

What do you think this guy does this year?

[smg58]

The closer by the All-Star Break. 2.90 ERA in 65 IP.

[smg58]

PS I'm now Kevin Mitchell. I suppose my three cats should be worried.

[smg58]

And no sooner do I post that then I become Mike Scott. My cats are grateful.

[Edgy MD]

Scuffer.

I think, as a fellow strong, black Latino righthander, he maybe takes some of the heat off the closer. I don't know. I like that they're both alliterative.

Gets too many walks and I think a good start is imperative.

He's, in many ways, a better test for Nu Citi than Pelfrey. He got beat up in Colorado and Boston, but was real effective in San Francisco.

[Benjamin Grimm]

80 games. 3.20 ERA. Schaefer Mets Reliever of the Year.

[ashie62]

Possibly makes the all star team.

[Ceetar]

This guy was signed at 15! and then didn't throw a professional pitch for 7 years.

He was beyond terrific for the Giants. He only allowed 2 ER in 27 innings in exchange for a minor league reliever who still sucks. And then somehow was only used in 4 IP of garbage time (that's what it looks like anyway) in which he absolutely sucked. 6 ER in 3 appearances, one in each series, and the Giants won each game. How do you have a reliever be that dominant for you down the stretch to get you into the playoffs, and then not use him?

You're right he had a bad half year in Fenway in 2010, but he as good there in 2009. Interestingly, when he started with the Rockies he had a high K rate, and continued that with the Royals where he started to keep the runs off the board. That second year where his ERA looks bad was mostly bad luck across a small 17 IP sample. (10.9 H/9 is way high) in 2009-2010 with Boston and the Giants he stopped striking guys out. His crazy run with the Giants he had a Pelfreyesque K rate. Then last year it jumped back up again.

I think he'll have a really good year. He 'should' be the closer but at this moment he's probably 3rd or 4th on the depth chart there. I don't really have a good feel for how Collins likes to use the bullpen, it was bad for good portions of last year and most guys were pretty streaky and then there was the "no defined closer" period. So he did a lot of mixing it up. Will he allow RR to take someone else job, even if they're merely not as good? I suspect he'll get a lot of innings, because Collins will recognize that he's good, despite not wanting to supplant the other established guys. Hopefully those established guys don't need supplanting either. That'd lead to a pretty dominant bullpen.

74.1 IP, 2.44 ERA, 69 K, 27 BB, 1.185 WHIP.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I'm just about certain he begins the year in the role that they tried to get Parnell into last year, yes, the all-important 7th Inning Guy. He'll flip in and out with Byrdak to navigate lineups late and most nights hand it to Rauch then to Francisco, at least according to plan.

But relievers are hard to predict.

Uh, I think he more or less resembles Turk Wendell's 1999 in fewer appearances:

5-4, 3.05, 60 games, 75.2 IP, 67 K, 33 BB

[Edgy MD]

I prefer having two more-or-less equally effective set-up guys, using whoever's freshest, and being willing to get two innings out of them. If you need him in the seventh, go to him, if not wait until the eighth. Don't use him at all! See if I care.

It could be like that for Rauch and Ramierz, as it was in 2006 for Heilman and Sanchez, then Heilman and Mota.

This "seventh-inning guy" and "eighth-inning guy" stuff drives me nuts. You can't over-engineer the win. They're hard enough as it is.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I like that he pitches while wearing an electronic dog collar by the way. If he tries to sneak out of the bullpen too early he gets a mild electric shock.

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, come on. What is that thing?

[Fman99]

I think he'll suck less than most of the relievers around him in the Mets' pen.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

3.28 ERA, 62 G, 65 IP, 61 K, 25 BB, 6 HR allowed, 4 Saves

New Citi isn't as nice for flyball pitchers as New Candlestick is.