Bullpen a work in progress -

Billy Wagner enjoys reading the Harry Potter books, a made-up world in which flying broomsticks, magic wands and evil sorcerers are easy to imagine.

[the blogfather]

***CORRECTION***
DEAR MR. LENNON,
HUMBER IS AT TRIPLE A NEW ORLEANS, NOT NORFOLK.

[Brian]

This is one of the worst articles about the Mets bullpen I've read so far this year.

The fact that we don't have specific roles assigned such as an 8th inning guy, or 7th inning guy is in fact a good thing. Both Heilman and Feliciano are capable of being that guy in the 8th inning, as was Smith earlier on in the year. If we had Sanchez back and in the same form as he was last year, then he too as well would be capable of playing that role quite well.

The fact that Heilman may come in the 7th one day and the 8th another day doesn't mean Heilman can't do the job. Willie often plays matchups, in fact a bit too much maybe.

Also, Feliciano is NOT a left handed specialist. He was used in that role early last year and proved he could get righties out and was given more responsibility last year. This year he's continued with that responsibility and had an even better year. The fact that he was brought in only to face Prince Fielder and removed after he hit him, was just one instance and does not make the case that he is just a left handed specialist as even your numbers show that both lefties and righties can barely touch him.

The Mets are going to Mota to give him more reps, per say. This does two things, one it lets the other arms rest by throwing out the fresher arm (Mota missed 50 games due to the suspension) and they are hoping that with more reps he'll get in a groove and become more effective and thus a valuable arm down the stretch. Last year after coming over he was light's out. Now was that because of the performance enhancing drugs mainly or not? That's what the Mets are trying to find out.

As a side note. The Mets bullpen is one of the best in the majors, so they are far from being a work in progress.

[kat]

Brian wrote:

This is one of the worst articles about the Mets bullpen I've read so far this year.
The fact that we don't have specific roles assigned such as an 8th inning guy, or 7th inning guy is in fact a good thing. Both Heilman and Feliciano are capable of being that guy in the 8th inning, as was Smith earlier on in the year. If we had Sanchez back and in the same form as he was last year, then he too as well would be capable of playing that role quite well.
The fact that Heilman may come in the 7th one day and the 8th another day doesn't mean Heilman can't do the job. Willie often plays matchups, in fact a bit too much maybe.
Also, Feliciano is NOT a left handed specialist. He was used in that role early last year and proved he could get righties out and was given more responsibility last year. This year he's continued with that responsibility and had an even better year. The fact that he was brought in only to face Prince Fielder and removed after he hit him, was just one instance and does not make the case that he is just a left handed specialist as even your numbers show that both lefties and righties can barely touch him.
The Mets are going to Mota to give him more reps, per say. This does two things, one it lets the other arms rest by throwing out the fresher arm (Mota missed 50 games due to the suspension) and they are hoping that with more reps he'll get in a groove and become more effective and thus a valuable arm down the stretch. Last year after coming over he was light's out. Now was that because of the performance enhancing drugs mainly or not? That's what the Mets are trying to find out.
As a side note. The Mets bullpen is one of the best in the majors, so they are far from being a work in progress.

. Good Post Brian, totally agree about the bullpen. Why do you think that these so called baseball expert, Steve Philips, Peter Gammons etc etc say the Mets pitching is so avg, especially the starters?

[TEM-rM]

True the Mets bullpen is decent. I personally am not a Mota fan. He has good velocity but tends to pitch softballs over the middle of the plate and it usually hurts him. I would like to see the Mets work more with Burgos. Sosa I think is an awesome addition to the bullpen and he definitely should no longer start another game this year. If you play Pelfrey instead the worst that will happen is he will lose, which is what Sosa is doing. Pelfrey has great stuff and will improve with time. Sosa is on the decline as a starter.
Pelfrey is due for a win. Lets go Mets.