NY Sports Dog: Bullpen Losses Piling Up

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Bullpen Losses Piling Up


The Mets bullpen leads the national league in ERA, and they are tied with Seattle for second (the Red Sox lead the majors in this stat with a sterling 2.90 bullpen ERA).

They are also second in bullpen losses in the National League, and tied with Cleveland for second overall.

The blown saves are down from last year--the Mets currently have 9, which is tied for 13th in baseball--middle of the pack.

Now we all know that last year the team's Achilles heel was the blown save--the Mets converted only 60% of their save opportunities in 2008. That said, 2009 hasn't been all that much better. Even with Frankie Rodriguez and his magic closer's arm, the Mets have only converted 68% of their save opportunities.

Couple that with the losses, and are the Mets really better off as a whole when it comes to the bullpen?

It's very tough to take issue with most of these guys, especially Pedro Feliciano and Frankie Rodriguez--they have been superb.

Still, there have been issues, and it's troubling that the team has had so much difficulty putting teams away.

Take a look at the stats, and you see the three "leaders" in bullpen losses: Nationals, Mets and Pirates.

Realizing of course that half of the blame for those losses can be placed squarely on the offense, it's still troubling that at this early point in the season the Mets have lost 14 via the bullpen.

By way of comparison, the 2008 Mets had 28 bullpen losses. In 2007, the bullpen had only 21 losses. In 2006, which was, in my opinion, our last great bullpen, the Mets only had 15 losses via the relievers.

So while I don't place a huge amount of importance on this stat right now, it is something to keep in mind as we work through the toughest part of the schedule.

The team is on pace for a staggering 37 bullpen losses in 2009.

Should the pace remain the same, it will surely mean this team is headed for a season barely over .500.

The below stats compare the 2006 and 2009 Mets bullpens, and below that are the current 2009 National League bullpen stats:

Mets 2006 Bullpen
NAME GP GS W L Sv Hld IP H ER HR BB SO K/9 P/GS WHIP ERA
Aaron Heilman74 0 4 5 0 27 87.0 73 35 5 28 73 7.55 0.0 1.16 3.62
Billy Wagner70 0 3 2 40 0 72.1 59 18 7 21 94 11.70 0.0 1.11 2.24
Chad Bradford70 0 4 2 2 10 62.0 59 20 1 13 45 6.53 0.0 1.16 2.90
P. Feliciano64 0 7 2 0 10 60.1 56 14 4 20 54 8.06 0.0 1.26 2.09
D. Sanchez49 0 5 1 0 14 55.1 43 16 3 24 44 7.16 0.0 1.21 2.60
Darren Oliver45 0 4 1 0 3 81.0 70 31 13 21 60 6.67 0.0 1.12 3.44
R. Hernandez22 0 0 0 0 3 20.2 15 8 2 8 15 6.53 0.0 1.11 3.48
Heath Bell22 0 0 0 0 0 37.0 51 21 6 11 35 8.51 0.0 1.68 5.11
G. Mota18 0 3 0 0 4 18.0 10 2 2 5 19 9.50 0.0 0.83 1.00
Jorge Julio18 0 1 2 1 0 21.1 21 12 4 10 33 13.92 0.0 1.45 5.06
Royce Ring11 0 0 0 0 2 12.2 7 3 2 3 8 5.68 0.0 0.79 2.13
Henry Owens3 0 0 0 0 0 4.0 4 4 0 4 2 4.50 0.0 2.00 9.00
B. Fortunato2 0 1 0 0 0 3.0 7 9 2 2 0 0.00 0.0 3.00 27.00
B. Bannister2 0 0 0 0 0 4.0 6 5 1 2 1 2.25 0.0 2.00 11.25
Philip Humber2 0 0 0 0 0 2.0 0 0 0 1 2 9.00 0.0 0.50 0.00
Dave Williams1 0 0 0 0 0 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 0.00 0.0 1.00 0.00
John Maine1 0 0 0 0 0 1.0 1 0 0 1 0 0.00 0.0 2.00 0.00
Totals 157 0 32 15 43 73 542.2 483 198 52 174 485 8.04 0.0 1.21 3.28

Mets 2009 Bullpen
NAME GP GS W L Sv Hld IP H ER HR BB SO K/9 P/GS WHIP ERA
P. Feliciano36 0 2 2 0 11 27.2 20 8 4 5 26 8.46 0.0 0.90 2.60
Bobby Parnell33 0 2 2 0 11 26.1 32 9 1 11 22 7.52 0.0 1.63 3.08
F. Rodriguez31 0 1 1 17 0 32.1 17 2 1 15 35 9.74 0.0 0.99 0.56
J.J. Putz29 0 1 4 2 10 29.1 29 17 1 19 19 5.83 0.0 1.64 5.22
Sean Green29 0 1 2 0 4 29.1 27 15 3 13 24 7.36 0.0 1.36 4.60
Brian Stokes23 0 1 2 0 1 25.0 28 10 2 7 12 4.32 0.0 1.40 3.60
Ken Takahashi14 0 0 1 0 0 17.0 15 6 2 8 12 6.35 0.0 1.35 3.18
Darren O'Day4 0 0 0 0 0 3.0 5 0 0 1 2 6.00 0.0 2.00 0.00
Casey Fossum3 0 0 0 0 0 4.0 4 1 0 4 3 6.75 0.0 2.00 2.25
Jon Switzer2 0 0 0 0 0 2.0 3 3 1 2 0 0.00 0.0 2.50 13.50
F. Nieve1 0 0 0 0 0 2.0 1 0 0 0 2 9.00 0.0 0.50 0.00
Totals 62 0 8 14 19 37 198.0 181 71 15 85 157 7.14 0.0 1.34 3.23

National League Team Bullpen Stats: 2009
RKTEAMGPWLERASvCGSHOIPQSERRBBSOBAA
1Washington615235.651000204.00128138114150.283
2NY Mets628143.231900198.00718785157.241
3Pittsburgh6210123.951700177.207882106120.246
4Chicago Cubs609114.261400175.108386108162.234
5Houston6312114.151400221.00102110104184.265
6Philadelphia6214113.721800220.009199113188.236
7San Diego6311103.901900216.2094104101171.263
8Colorado626104.891600187.2010210859150.290
9Atlanta63994.201300197.109210599173.272
10San Francisco60893.481700186.00727885149.249
RKTEAMGPWLERASvCGSHOIPQSERRBBSOBAA
11Florida651494.131400226.20104117121220.251
12Milwaukee651483.482200209.20818489185.215
13Arizona641084.881700208.1011312384173.275
14Cincinnati61773.381700197.00747996155.238
15LA Dodgers651973.362000224.20848797188.231
16St. Louis63874.131900189.20879382155.226
LEAGUE AVERAGESGPWLERASvCGSHOIPQSERRBBSOBAA
American League6310104.28150019809410289164.254
National League6310104.0517002020919996168.251
Major League Baseball6310104.16160020009310093166.252
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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great piece.

JJ Putz and his injury is a big part of those numbers.

I also think that we're over relying on Parnell.

Anonymous said...

It's what happens when you're constantly going to the bullpen early and the offense stinks.

Unknown said...

Timely article...

Dave Singer said...

Unfortunately, it was.

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