Bullpen battle to begin as Grapefruit League games start for Mets
PORT ST. LUCIE — Let the bullpen battle commence.
With Grapefruit League games beginning Saturday, the Mets can finally see how their pitchers handle hitters who aren’t wearing the same uniform. The club believes its depth is a particular strength this season, especially on the pitching side. Finally, the Mets have homegrown pitchers coming through the pipeline, a few of whom might have a chance to crack the Opening Day roster.
“We have competition over the last two spots,” manager Carlos Mendoza said Friday afternoon at Clover Park. “We’ve got options that we’ve been talking about. The biggest thing is that they’re preparing for their season even though they’re competing. It’s making sure they’re healthy and that they get through spring training healthy. Hopefully, it’ll be a tough decision for us at the end of spring training.”
The limited amount of spots open could make for a more intense competition, and two spots are open, assuming the Mets open camp with five starters and eight relievers. This may be preferable early in the season when starters don’t always go deep into games. Once Kodai Senga returns to the rotation, the Mets will probably go with a seven-man bullpen to accommodate extra rest for Senga by using a six-man rotation.
It’s safe to say that Edwin Diaz, Adam Ottavino, Brooks Raley (L), Jake Diekman (L), Pablo Lopez and Drew Smith will be six of the eight coming out of camp. Mendoza said Friday that Lopez is going to be a key part of the ‘pen, and despite Drew Smith’s struggles last season, the Mets still believe he has high-leverage potential.
Drew Smith made some mechanical changes before last season and his slider got hit hard. He only gave up seven home runs — two fewer than in 2022 — but they came in big spots. But his elevated fastball and his new slider mechanics have the Mets confident that he can be effective in the later innings.
“Our goal this offseason was to get the fastball back where it was,” pitching coach Jeremy Hefner told the Daily News. “His slider was getting really big at times, and slow. And then we tried to firm it up [last year] but it didn’t follow through. The thought is that it was mechanical-based.”
Smith went back to his old slider mechanics and saw success in his final few outings of the 2023 season.
“He’s in a really good spot now,” Hefner said.
This leaves two spots left for a big group: Shintaro Fujinami, Phil Bickford, Michael Tonkin, Yohan Ramirez, Josh Walker (L), Sean Reid-Foley, Grant Hartwig, Yacksel Rios, Cole Sulser, Chad Smith, Austin Adams and Danny Young (L).
Bickford, Tonkin and Fujinami are the leading candidates at the moment. Fujinami provides the velocity the bullpen needs and Tonkin was a candidate that David Stearns signed early in the offseason. Bickford looked like a non-tender candidate after coming over from the Los Angeles Dodgers at the trade deadline, but Stearns has a history with him in Milwaukee and the Mets like that he doesn’t give up a lot of hard contact.
Tonkin and Bickford don’t have options, but Fujinami does. Teams sometimes choose to start the season with players who don’t have options to avoid losing players on waivers early in the season.
Walker and Hartwig are great scouting success stories for the Mets. They didn’t grow up in baseball hotbeds and they were never highly-regarded prospects. Yet they both reached the big leagues last season and each had some moderate success.
“Establishment — that’s the next step for them,” Hefner said. “It’s consistency and availability. You’ve got to be healthy, and when you’re healthy and you’re out there, you got to be opportunistic and take advantage of that.”
Another wild card in this group is Nate Lavender, who could probably use more time in the minor leagues, but after excelling in Double-A and Triple-A last season, the sidewinding lefty may find his way into the conversation.
Reid-Foley, Rios and Ramirez are all trying to show that they can stick in the major leagues. They’re all on the 40-man roster, but they’re also out of options. Rios and Sulser are also out of options. Garret, Young and Chad Smith all have remaining option years.
Cam Robinson and Eric Orze haven’t made it to the big leagues yet. Orze is a great story as a COVID draftee who overcame cancer. But ultimately, it’s an uphill climb for these guys.
The one wild-card option is carrying Joey Lucchesi, a left-handed swingman with options. The Mets view Lucchesi as a starter, but without a true long reliever, there have been talks about using Luccesi in that role. It’s an intriguing option, especially given the fact that the Mets will be without their ace for the foreseeable future.