Again? Really? What are the relief pitchers eating/drinking/smoking/putting in their rectums that the starters are not?
Santos' struggles have been well covered. Farrell is standing behind his closer, which he should. Early struggles with moving to a new team, new mound, new catchers.... I get it, it can happen. That can explain Santos' playing cricket with his slider out there I guess. And as far as Cordero, who gave up a 2 run shot to Nolan Reimold today to lose the game in the ninth, same deal. Plus being moved into the set up man position maybe doesn't get his blood pumping like it used to. Adjustments to be made there.
I hope that is all it is for those two guys, but I truly wonder. Much was made of Fat Frank Francisco and Long Jon Rauch's struggles here last year. I wrote it off to Francisco being a little washed up and Rauch just being real tall without great stuff, but maybe there is more to it. Both are certainly having early success with the Mets. Let's look at some possibilities...
1) Playing in Toronto.
Maybe guys feel a bit like... who gives a shit. I'm in Canada. I might expect this from veteran US players, but the Franciscos (Frank and Cordero) are Dominican, so I wouldn't have thought it would really be a factor. Maybe the fact that so much attention is paid to the god awful hockey team in this town means that guys who thrive on the spotlight feel unmotivated. Seems a little farfetched, but....
2) Our bullpen coaches suck.
This might be more to the point. If there is any other way to judge a bullpen coach than how the bullpen performs, I'm all ears. Pat Hentgen stepped down last year after our BP (bullpen, not batting practice, although we seem to get those two things confused in the late innings) blew 25 saves for the most in the AL, citing family reasons, but probably would have been fired otherwise. Let the former star player save some face I guess. Now we have another former Jays chucker, Pete Walker, out there getting the reserves ready. The guys that have come in here have been guys that had success elsewhere. Santos was pretty effective as the closer in his gig with Chicago last year, Cordero has been solid for years in Cinci, Oliver had been aging like fine wine in Texas. Geez, Dotel and Rzep left us last year and went on to be crucial cogs for St. Louis' World Series win. For whatever reason, guys in the bullpen definitely seem to underachieve here and maybe it could be as simple as they are not as mentally prepared as they have been in past stints, and that falls squarely on the bullpen coach. Maybe in the offseason next year instead of giving out millions to bring in new parts for a car, we change the driver... lure someone away who has had big league success as a bullpen coach. Don't bring in Juan Guzman. Although that would make me smile.
3)The daunting AL East.
The toughest division in sports. Maybe guys look at the last 18 years, maybe they look at the payrolls, maybe they look at the talent of the other teams and a little voice in the back of their head says "We have no shot at making the playoffs". Once again, you would hope guys making this much money would be above this, but we all know that's not the case.
4) JP is overly focused on the starters.
Arencibia is a young catcher, and a lot of new arms have been rolling through our bp over the past couple of years. And veterans too, not guys that will defer to a catcher's game calling, especially one as green as JP. As a pitcher myself, I can tell you that familiarity with a catcher makes a world of difference. It's frustrating going through 2, 3, 4 signals out there on a regular basis and sometimes it makes you second guess what you want to throw, or even worse, you go with a sign you don't have total faith in. Those pitches have a way of going very far. And even beyond game-calling, you need to know that if you bury your deuce in the dirt (sounds filthy), he's digging it out for you, keeping it in front of him. Maybe JP needs to put in more time with those guys before games, in practices, in spring training, watching video, getting a feel for what each guy wants to do up there. I have actually been very impressed with Arencibia's defence this year, he looks like he has a bit more of a feel for the starters, he's been blocking very well, and he's been gunning down base runners, even when they are getting great jumps. He's throwing from his knees a fair bit, which I think he will find a very successful tactic for him. He's just too tall to pop up super quick, it kills his release time. A slightly slower ball out much quicker is going to get runners more often than the alternative. But anyway, he seems to be off rhythm with the relief staff and that can't help them at all.
So there are a few thoughts on why our bullpen looks like a pigpen over the last couple of years. Honestly, when was the last time we had a steady, solid closer? I know thats a luxury item for contending teams, but boy oh boy it's been awhile. I'm hoping these are just some early jitters from the new guys, and just some poor early luck from guys like Jannsen, but if this year turns out like the last in this regard.... it's time to start digging a little deeper for a solution.
What do my millions of followers think? Is it the players? The coaching staff? Is there beer and fried chicken being consumed out there too, ala BoSox? Holler at your boy.
Ughhhhh. I hate losing to Baltimore....
