Posted on by Dancehall General

INSANITY

The Mets just went on the road and took two out of three games from both the Washington Nationals and Philadelphia Phillies.

Yet, it doesn’t quite feel like a cause for celebration.

Last night, the Mets suffered a loss to the Washington Nationals in which they held a six run lead. The Nationals scored seven times in the bottom of the ninth to secure a walk off victory and hand the Mets their most crushing loss since game 162 of the 2008 season.

According to FanGraphs, the Mets had a 99.7 percent probability of winning the game.

Guess what? The Mets came out today and won in convincing fashion.

This team is so easy to root for. Just when you think they are down for the count they dust themselves off and start winning again.

I just don’t know if they have the ability to overcome their bullpen.

Yesterday, before the minor league debacle, the Syracuse Mets lost a game in which they held a 13-6 lead in the 8th inning!

You may recognize some of the names of the Syracuse pitchers who coughed up the lead. Stephen Nogosek. Brooks Pounders.

These men are just a few members of the Syracuse to Queens carousel.

Some other members include:

Now, I don’t mean to be negative. I just want to chat. Out of the list above… Gun to your head. Who do you trust to get an out?

All jokes aside. You could call up Erik Goeddel, Jamie Callahan, Kevin McGowan, PJ Conlon, Buddy Baumann or any other Ghost Of Mets Bullpen Past and get the same exact results.

You can not rely on these pitchers.

Now, let’s go back to Sunday night in Philadelphia. In the first high leverage situation that presented itself, Mickey Callaway inserted Daniel Zamora in the game who had just been called up that day.

You may have seen the arguments that night on social media. You may have participated in said arguments.

But at the end of the day. SOMEONE BESIDES SETH LUGO OR JUSTIN WILSON NEEDS TO GET AN OUT!

Last night in Washington, the arguments raged through the night. Why was Paul Sewald brought in? Why wasn’t Seth Lugo allowed to finish the game? Where was Justin Wilson? Why was Edwin Diaz put in the game after he was hidden from high leverage situations for the last month? (Ok. That was my argument.)

The Mets had a six run lead in the ninth inning, people. Look up the last time the Mets blew a six run lead in the ninth inning. Furthermore, Seth Lugo was used today in the series finale, for TWO INNINGS!

That’s right. After Jeurys Familia coughed up 3 runs today, Seth Lugo was asked to give the Mets another two innings. (Lugo is pitching with a partially torn UCL, by the way.) What if Lugo wasn’t available today? Wheeler only went five innings. How do you secure those last nine outs?

We know what happens when Luis Avilan is pushed to give the team multiple innings. Our setup man (Familia) and closer (Diaz) can’t be trusted. Everyone else besides Lugo and Wilson is hit or miss, AT BEST.

This team is so resilient. Watching them fight back into the wildcard race has been simply amazing. Several times a week though, we are reminded how atrocious the bullpen is. And it’s a shame. 25 blown saves this year. If we had a competent bullpen, we wouldn’t be worrying about the Cubs and Diamondbacks, that’s for sure.

So, what’s the answer?

Is it Edwin Diaz? Do you trust him to be the closer next year? If not, you have to get another closer.

What about Jeurys Familia? Do you trust him to be the setup man? If not you have to get another setup man.

That’s easier said than done. You have to pay or replace Zack Wheeler. Not to mention Familia is being paid 10 million dollars, and Edwin Diaz is eligible for arbitration.

Will the resilience of the Mets come back to bite them? Will they get a few bandaids here and there and sell the fans a bill of goods? (I can see it now. “Well, Diaz was pitching through discomfort. He’s going to have bone spur surgery and everything will be A-ok!)

This is a legitimate cause for concern. The Mets traded away two first round picks but refused to truly go all in afterwards. They did the same thing at the all star break after acquiring Marcus Stroman.

So, we find ourselves at a crossroads. Will the Mets truly commit to winning? Will they realize what they have and build around it? Will they stop half assing it? Or will they just keep on hoping for miracles?

Let’s give Brodie the benefit of the doubt. The Mets made a ton of analytics hires, adding some brilliant baseball minds to the front office. Let’s hope they realize that the Syracuse to Queens carousel does not contain viable major league pitching options and will adjust accordingly.

One thing is for sure, two things are for certain. If the Mets are relying on the Syracuse to Queens carousel in 2020, they have not truly committed to winning.