Baby Them, Rick!

By Stefi Kaplan
Posted Monday, November 26, 2007

One thing that seemed evident toward the end of 2007 was that our bullpen had some confidence issues. Sure, our bullpen was not the greatest of all time to begin with, but they actually are a pretty talented group. The bullpen did not change much from the first half of 2007 to the second half, yet they went from solid to brutal in a New York minute. If you watched the relievers stepping out of the bullpen in the fifth or sixth innings of a game in that second half, their heads were hanging low and they looked defeated before having even reached the mound. And they didn’t pitch so many innings that they should be collectively fatigued to the point of complete ineffectiveness.

So, I think it must have been a confidence thing.

The signs were all there. I wrote about it here in the middle of the season with respect to Guillermo Mota and Aaron Heilman. But it wasn’t just them. Scott Schoeneweis was booed every time he took a step out of the bullpen – that didn’t help. I remember towards the end of the season seeing Mr. Show interviewed by Kevin Burkhardt, who asked him what was responsible for the bullpen struggles. Mr. Show admitted that it was a confidence issue, that most of the relievers had taken a lot of the abuse for the team’s collapse, despite the fact that the starters consistently failed to pitch six innings night after night and that it was taxing on them. That gave me pause to think.

Even Billy Wags made some choice statements at the end of the season about the lack of guidance from Rick and the rest of the coaches – let’s face it, these guys want to be babied.

Yes, you can argue that anyone who lacks confidence shouldn’t play in New York, but I feel that logic is flawed. Relievers on the whole tend to lack confidence, because unless they are closers, they are probably failed starters for one reason or another. The volatile nature of relievers could explain why relievers’ stats are anything but consistent from year to year and why generally they don’t warrant long term deals (why I think it is preposterous to give a non-closer anything more than two years).

The fact is, part of their success is based upon having success in previous games and getting into a “nice little rhythm” over the course of a season. Anyone can have a good stretch of innings and all of the sudden he looks like Cy Young. But ask him to duplicate his success over the next season (or worse, the next four seasons) and you’ll almost certainly regret the signing. I believe that’s why you see guys like Wagner having a tremendous start to the season and then being unable to pick himself back up after one bad game. It’s why someone like Former Met Guillermo Mota was so successful for half a season in 2006 and struggled mightily in 2007. It’s why Joe Smith started out so strong this year and then once he gave up a grand slam, he fell into a routine of blowing games. Same with Jorge Sosa and his early 2007 success.

Apparently, the bullpen needs to be coddled. And you cannot ask the fans not to boo. You cannot expect the fans to lend a hand in raising the bullpen’s collective confidence level. But we’ve got Rick Peterson, psychological guru. So, Rick, go coddle them. Seriously, I don’t care how much they are paid and how much they shouldn’t be in New York if they lack confidence, the fact is they are here. They are New York Mets and I want them to be as successful as they can. Coddle them, make them feel good about themselves, and the rest just might fall into place.

It is with this in mind that I say Guillermo Mota could have a bounceback year in 2008 (but I’m glad it won’t be happening in Blue and Orange). And I believe Mr. Show will have a bounceback year as well as he becomes more comfortable with his role on the team. But it is the same reason I am not all that confident that Duaner Sanchez will be the magician he was in 2006 or that Joe Smith will return to his first half of 2007 form.

Bullpens are highly volatile and they take a lot of heat for things that really are not their fault. The starters didn’t pitch enough innings, the defense was poor behind the relievers and the team’s offense put tremendous pressure on them by failing to score enough runs night after night. In 2006, the rest of the team made the bullpen look great by staking them to big leads and good defense and asking them to pitch only a few innings a night. The confidence level of the entire team in 2006 was sky-high. In 2007, the margin for error was significantly reduced. After a while, that takes a toll on the pitchers, pitching in high leverage situations night after night. And the confidence? Well, that went out the window by the end of June.

But even if Omar doesn’t make any moves to bolster the bullpen, our ‘pen should still be up there with the best of the National League, believe it or not. So go on, Rick. Baby the ‘pen. Tell them how great they are and how excellent they can be. Lie if you have to, just raise those confidence levels to the point where they feel like they are the most important players on the team. Treat ‘em like winners and maybe, just maybe, they will win some games for us in 2008. It’s worth a shot, right?

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