Brodie Van Wagenen spent a chunk of his first offseason with the Mets revamping the bullpen that finished 2018 with the third-worst ERA in MLB.
Twenty-eight games into 2019, the Mets were right back in the same spot.
There was still plenty of season left entering Tuesday’s game against the Reds at Citi Field, but the Mets’ relievers were adamant that a small sample size — a 5.45 bullpen ERA through the first month-plus of games — will not soon turn into a worrying trend.
“I don’t put too much thought into ERA. An ERA is a statistic. Statistics are what happened in the past,” Seth Lugo said. “It’s got nothing to do with what’s going on in the future or what’s going to happen today. I don’t think there should be any worry. The worry should be if guys aren’t confident, then that’ s when you worry. But I think we just gotta get our confidence back, start winning some games and the ERAs and stats will take care of themselves.”
That confidence, Lugo believes, has played a part in the Mets’ Jekyll-and-Hyde performance in relief.
Entering Tuesday, in games in which the Mets were leading after six innings, they were 12-0. When the game was tied after six innings, they were 1-1. And when they were trailing after six innings, they were 1-13.
“When we’re winning, we know we’re good and we trust ourselves,” said Lugo, who has turned around his own early-season struggles. “When we’re losing, we kind of have that doubt at times. That doubt will kill you. I think it’s just as simple as that.”
That the Mets had won all 12 games in which they held leads after six innings was a source of optimism for manager Mickey Callaway,
“At least you’re holding the leads that you’re supposed to hold,” Callaway said. “So at this point, you have to be satisfied with that. We do expect a little bit more when we’re down. We haven’t done a great job of keeping that gap a little smaller so we have a chance to come back. But overall, the one thing you look at the most is when we’re up, do we hold the lead? We do.”
Closer Edwin Diaz, acquired in December’s blockbuster with the Mariners, has been the steadiest reliever, though he ran into his first loss Monday night. Lugo has settled in as of late, while the Mets’ other multi-inning weapon, Robert Gsellman, appeared to have, too, until giving up four earned runs over three innings in his past two outings before Tuesday.
New lefty Justin Wilson has been solid, but is currently working his way back from the injured list with elbow soreness.
Setup man Jeurys Familia, who was brought back on a three-year, $30 million deal, has run into trouble often, entering Tuesday with a 5.48 ERA and 12 walks in 12 ²/₃ innings.
“At times, he tries to get a little bit too much [velocity] and his head snaps a little bit and that’s when that ball runs off,” Callaway said.
Of course, even throwing money at established relievers with strong track records cannot guarantee the strongest bullpen. The Rockies thought they had put together a shutdown relief corps entering 2018, when they signed Wade Davis, Jake McGee and Bryan Shaw to contracts worth a combined $106 million. The result was a combined 5.41 ERA between the three.
The Mets, meanwhile, are hoping to live up to their own billing sooner than later.
“We have weapons down there,” Gsellman said, “we just gotta start using them the right way.”
