On Tuesday, Joe Pawlikowski of FanGraphs wrote about how the Mets bullpen could actually be a strength this season. This would obviously be very welcome for the Mets this season for many reason. The success of the Mets bullpen would say a lot about a lot of different things in my opinion.
First and foremost, it would obviously speak to Sandy Alderson’s ability to put a strong team together under any circumstances. The Mets ability to spend money this past winter was hindered by a combination of past financial negligence on the part of both Omar Minaya and his team as well as the current state of the ownership. For those reasons, the Mets only spent approximately $10 million this off-season on new players. Five of the seven players starting the season in the bullpen for the Mets were not in the organization last season. For Alderson to put together a strong bullpen in this way would be a pretty impressive feat. For more on Alderson and one of the Mets new relievers Taylor Buchholz, click here.
Second, what would it say about other teams like the Yankees and their habit of spending tons of money on their bullpens? Let me preface this by saying that Rafael Soriano and Pedro Feliciano, a guy who will always be admired by Mets fans, are both good relief pitchers. But the Yankees spent a combined $43 million on two relievers, guys that are pretty much their marquee pickups for the off-season after missing out on Cliff Lee. Was that really necessary? Is it necessary for any team to be spending that type of money on relievers who won’t even be closing for you? The Yankees have an excuse. They’re the Yankees and they spend tons of money (though I think even Brian Cashman didn’t like the Soriano signing, he didn’t want to give up the draft pick). But other teams giving out contracts longer than two years to a reliever really just isn’t necessary.
I look forward to seeing how Alderson’s move work out for the Mets over the course of this season. The rotation has two more low risk, high reward players in the rotation in Chris Young and Chris Capuano. Even though I wish the Mets had money to spend on free agent acquisitions, I like to see the commitment to smart spending as well. Sometimes, signing big money free agents just isn’t what your team needs.
