The Future of Relief – Mets Style

By John Mackin Ade
Posted Wednesday, June 20, 2007

It’s obvious that the drafting philosophy of the Mets regarding relief pitching has changed this year. Maybe it’s because of the meteoric rise of Joe Smith. Possibly it was the successfully trade baiting of Henry Owens. Obviously we will never know, but the fact remains that drafting 2 relief pitchers with the first handful of picks has not been high on Omar Minaya’s priority list prior to this past draft.

The Mets current relief staff is 7 deep, consisting of:

Pedro Feliciano 30 years old
Aaron Heilman future probably with a new team
Guillermo Mota turning 34, coming off 50 game suspension
Aaron Sele just turned 37
Joe Smith a keeper
Billy Wagner keeper v 2.0
Scott Schoeneweis nothing to write home about this year
Also on the 40-man roster are Juan Padilla and Duaner Sanchez, both serving time on the DL list.

Some teams carry 7 RP’s while others go as high as 8, but a quick glance at the current staff seems to spell out only 3 players (Feliciano, Smith, and Wagner) that might be around for both the 2008 and 2009 season.

So, the Mets drafted relief pitchers. So what? Don’t expect any of these kids playing at Shea the next 2 years (is one another Joe Smith?). That being said, let’s look at what’s down on the farm and how they are doing this first half of the 2007 season.

One word of caution: It’s tough to judge anyone on minor league stats. Let’s remember, most of the innings pitched are against players that do not have major league talent. That being said:

New Orleans (AAA):
Jose Santiago - 1-3 6.66 1.70 19Ks 50.0 IP
Willie Collazo - 1-2 2.68 1.15 29 Ks 43.2 IP
Steve Schmoll - 1-1 3.05 1.11 27 Ks 41.1 IP
Jon Atkins - 1-2 4.26 1.39 23 Ks 31.2 IP
Ryan Cullen - 1-2 3.20 1.38 18 Ks 25.1 IP
Eddie Camacho - 2-0 4.71 1.57 15 Ks 21.0 IP
Clint Nageotte - 1-1 10.39 2.31 11 Ks 17.1 IP
Lino Urdaneta - 1-0 5.84 1.14 2 Ks 12.1 IP
Ivan Maldonado - 0-0 4.15 1.50 20 Ks 17.1 IP
Ambiroix Burgos - 0-0 4.50 1.33 8 Ks 6.0 IP

The first glaring statistic is the lack of strikeouts for the entire staff. No one seems to be standing out here and both Atkins and Burgos have been huge disappointments so far this season.

Who graduates to Shea next year? Well, frankly, none of these guys so far.

Binghamton (AA):
Tim McNab - 6-3 2.55 1.16 30 Ks 49.1 IP
Ricardo Morales - 3-2 5.28 1.29 27 Ks 44.1 IP
Robert Paulk - 2-0 3.60 1.53 28 Ks 40.0 IP
Marcelo Perez - 1-3 4.59 1.44 28 Ks 33.1 IP
Carlos Muniz - 1-2 3.23 1.01 32 Ks 30.2 IP
Joseph Serfass - 3-1 4.22 1.03 14 Ks 21.1 IP
Raul Valdes - 0-1 5.11 2.03 12 Ks 12.1 IP
Brandon Nall - 0-0 11.25 2.25 7 Ks 12.0 IP
Mike Swindell - 0-1 15.00 3.00 3 Ks 3.0 IP
Kevin Tomasiewicz - 0-0 0.00 0.50 3 Ks 2.0 IP

Much better than New Orleans, with McNab and Muniz obviously earning a trip to the Big Easy for 2008; however, still poor staff K/IP ratios and no one is lights out.

St. Lucie (A+):
Jacob Ruckle - 4-4 4.68 1.20 20 Ks 42.1 IP
Nick Abel - 1-1 2.81 1.34 24 Ks 32.0 IP
Jeramy Simmons - 0-2 5.68 1.74 25 Ks 31.2 IP
German Marte - 0-0 3.62 1.35 27 Ks 27.1 IP
Grady Hinchman - 0-3 6.14 1.70 10 Ks 14.2 IP
Waner Mateo - 0-1 7.36 1.73 8 Ks 14.2 IP
Ricardo Morales - 1-0 1.80 1.30 12 Ks 10.0 IP
Joe Hietpas - 1-0 3.24 1.08 6 Ks 8.1 IP
Alexis Beras - 1-0 6.75 1.50 3 Ks 4.0 IP

Again, nothing screaming off the paper here from a staff who’s lowest WHIP is a converted catcher; however, Abel and Morales will definitely move on some day.

Savannah (A):
Jeremy Mizell - 3-5 6.26 1.66 34 Ks 37.1 IP
Nelson Portillo - 0-3 4.38 1.41 25 Ks 37.0 IP
David Koons - 1-4 2.59 0.89 26 Ks 31.1 IP
Emary Frederick - 1-0 5.70 1.87 42 Ks 30.0 IP
Todd Privett - 0-4 8.46 1.81 26 Ks 27.2 IP
Jonathan Castillo - 0-2 4.55 1.73 13 Ks 27.2 IP
Ryan Meyers - 0-1 2.25 1.31 17 Ks 16.0 IP

Actually, not a bad staff for a very poor hitting team. Frederick has the highest K/IP ratio in the system and Koons and Meyers are earning themselves a trip to St. Lucie some day.

So, what does all this mean?
a. You got 7, maybe 8 spots on your parent team for relief pitching
b. The current Mets staff have 3 locks for the future
c. And out of the 36 current RPs in the 4 minor league full season teams, only 6 are earning themselves a future promotion

Now you know why the Mets are drafting relief pitchers.