7 Comments

And so here they are hoping that their potentially second best arm in the pen does not go down to injury. Got to love Stearns' ability to recognize talent and potential but when so many games are decided by the pen due to short starts from the starters, your top 2-3 arms in the pen need to be solid contributors. I've never believed that you need to have all-stars at each position and considering the CF situation, and that Baty or Mauricio might be starters on this team if they can't sign Alonso, that holds true for the Mets. But in this day and age, a questionable pen seems like a recipe for disaster. Tanner Scott and Jeff Hoffman are still out there and Ryan Stanek showed his value in the playoffs and is worth a shot. Still some work to do on this pen so they are not considered the third best team in the division.

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Great set up Brian. Really enjoyed your building the picture so clearly on all fronts.

This whole thing to me is a microcosm of Stearns' view of pitching and pitchers in general. For the sake of the record, it scares me. Its not how I would approach building a pitching staff. But, he's the whiz kid, with the pitchers and accomplishments to prove it. I see it as high stakes gambling right across the board for the 25 staff.

I dont see any way you can put Nunez in the "count on" column for next year, even of he was feeling fresh as the morning dew right now. List the names, Nunez coming of legit injury issues, Blackburn, Canning - I would never have signed Canning, even though he's free for the most part. I could lose them all for Tanner Scott and not bat an eye. I constantly harbor thoughts that these acquisitions are protective measures "to sort of get people that could work in case we cant sign who we want", but thats my stamp on an otherwise obvious situation: Stearns is not buying into long-term deals for pitchers. Period.

To me Senga is basically in the same situation as Nunez. I get the feeling that they literally expect him to deliver 150 innings of 1.1-1.2 WHIP. I just cannot see that myself. Id be shocked if he gives 120 IP. So I expect if Nunez survives ST, then hes going north and they will throw him until they cant. For all the talk about the pitching lab and successes (Manaea, Severino, Peterson), I still cant shake Senga being out forever, pitching a few innings, and then being taken down by calf strain for the remainder, only to appear next in the post season and getting shelled like a AA pitcher. Not a good gamble, not a success. Is Nunez next in line for the same treatment?

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Thanks Chris.

I guess I'm in the middle between you and Stearns. I think the PoBO is absolutely right not handing out long-term contracts to pitchers in their 30s. But I wish he shopped in the Walker Buehler section, rather than the Griffin Canning one.

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I agree with all of you for the pen, but not all of you for the rotation. Canning was a gift, and that gift was gifted so that he can use the lab before he becomes a free agent. As we read coming from the Angels, they don’t help their pitchers and Canning will be a free agent and wanted to go to a pitcher’s park and a lab. It got Manaea $75,000,000. When you are running a $300MM payroll, you don’t draw the line at two pitchers making $4+MM each - Blackburn and Canning.

As for Nunez, it would be great if he could become the Mets version of Betances, who was a reliable setup man, but that bridge’s ending is too far away.

We don’t know yet who will get hurt in spring training and who may need extended spring training to get ready. There’s always room for more.

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The Mets bullpen has a lot of question marks. Do we want to run this bullpen out in a quest for a championship? You bring up a lot of good points about Nunez.

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I'm okay with this as the Opening Day bullpen. It's easier to get bullpen pieces during the season than any other spot.

My preference is for the Mets to solve the infield and DH before Spring Training starts. I'm fine with waiting the market out in January. I'll start to get a little nervous when February rolls around.

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I wasn't okay with the opening bullpen and your article made me more concerned. Last year I thought that Nunez was better than Diaz. Nunez 's health and endurabilty are major concerns. It would be prudent to obtain one more reliable reliever.

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