Short on Southpaws

By Kevin McCarthy
Posted Thursday, February 12, 2009

Omar Minaya has done a wonderful job this off-season addressing the team’s most pressing need, the bullpen. First, let’s take a look at who is out and who is in.

Out: Aaron Heilman, Joe Smith, Luis Ayala, Scott Schoeneweis, Billy Wagner (DL), Ambiorix Burgos, and Matt Wise

In: Francisco Rodriguez, J.J. Putz, Sean Green, Tim Redding, Rocky Cherry, Connor Robertson, and Darren O’Day (DL)

Add those guys to the remaining Mets: Pedro Feliciano, Duaner Sanchez, Brian Stokes, Bobby Parnell, and Carlos Muniz. Most likely, the bullpen will consist of something along the lines of Rodriguez, Putz, Green, Feliciano, Sanchez, Redding (or in the rotation), and Parnell/Stokes.

Mets fans are used to having a plethora of left handed options in their bullpen. Last year, there was Wagner, Feliciano, and Schoeneweis. Willie Collazo was in the organization as well (now he is with Florida). With Wagner sidelined until September at the earliest and Schoeneweis shipped to the Grand Canyon, the Mets only have one left handed option in Pedro Feliciano.

Now, Feliciano has always been a solid reliever for the Mets. Although he no longer has the same success he had against righties, he still can hold the fort against the left handed hitters. Lefties have averaged an OPS of about .580 against him the last three years. The ones Mets fans really care about though are Ryan Howard (.523) and Chase Utley (.644). Last year, Feliciano fared even better against these two guys, with respective OPS totals of .000 and .453. Obviously these are small sample sizes, so they can really be taken with a grain of salt.

But with the absence of another solid lefty, should the Mets be pursuing Will Ohman or Joe Beimel? Don’t forget, the Phillies also picked up Raul Ibanez (a lefty) to replace Pat Burrell (a righty). Another left handed pitcher would seem to be a vital need, wouldn’t it?

First off, my choice between the above would be Ohman. One aspect of Beimel’s game is that he may be a good guy to have run out from the bullpen for a bench clearing brawl. Remember when he was inactive in the 2006 NLDS because he cut his hand at a bar? Who are we kidding, Shooter McGavin didn’t exactly like the guy. He did have a great season last year, but Ohman is the more attractive of the two because he is a better left handed specialist.

But before these two free agents, the Mets already have a guy that is pretty solid against left handers. With a fully recovered Duaner Sanchez, the Mets have a guy that can use his great fastball-changeup combo to get left handed hitters out when Feliciano is either out of the game or unavailable. He held lefties to a .622 OPS last year, which is not amazing, but it isn’t bad at all, either. Some may point out that Sanchez isn’t the best against lefties career-wise, but let’s face it, he won’t be needed against the big guys that often and he saves a roster spot for another need.