On Bullpens And Loyalty

By Metstradamus
Posted Friday, August 15, 2008

I can remember a time not too long ago where the Mets problems were quite the opposite than they were today. Just two years ago, the Mets were chided for not having a starting staff worth a damn while their bullpen was a strength. Of course, that's when they were running roughshod through the N.L. East on their way to Game 7 of the NLCS.

We know what happened there. They had lived by the sword all the way up until that point. And on that night ... and seemingly since then ... they've been dying by the sword. They died by the sword all the way through '07 when Guillermo Mota became the only fireman ever to carry a blow torch. And they've died by the sword through most of '08, as Aaron Heilman and company have been turning the last three innings of every game into the opening scene from Saving Private Ryan.

But how did it get this way? Those who think Omar Minaya screwed up at the deadline not getting bullpen help are misguided. Omar Minaya probably screwed up last winter not getting bullpen help. But why? Well, probably because Minaya is too nice a guy ... sticking with the guys that brought him to previous dances much like Heilman, who should have been traded after 2006 ... or Mota, who probably should have been let go after '06 as well. But Minaya is way too loyal to this bullpen that was so good in '06, but is the bane of our existence now.

This is where Billy Beane has the right idea regarding bullpens. Unless you have an elite closer, one of the true elites, guys like Heilman and Mota can always be sold for above market value if traded at the right time. Yeah, trading Mota for the right to not sign Johnny Estrada was probably more than what Mota was worth, but recognizing the peak of somebody's value in the bullpen can sometimes lead to trades that will help your ballclub down the road. But people like Minaya, who work for a big market team, probably sees methods like Beane's as being too "small market" and reserved for somebody backed into a corner. So it's either one philosophy or the other ... and that's the way most people seem to think.

Yeah, it's probably too soon to worry about the off-season until the ... off-season. But Minaya would be best served to use a little of Beane's philosophies to deal with improving this bullpen for next season, while keeping most of the big market philosophies that brought the Mets out of the doldrums of 2004. What's wrong with bringing together divergent philosophies? If everyone was against bringing together two different ideas, we wouldn't have Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.