Tom Brennan - 2026 Bullpen Thoughts; Nick? Pitcher Nibbling; Richie Allen Did It Twice
I did not add Greg Soto to my list.
You could add him to yours if you’d like.
The Mets bullpen early in 2025 had everyone RAVING.
Then the bullpen started misbehaving and caving.
39 pitchers (including 2 non-pitchers) were used out of the pen.
The final key Mets relief statistics were:
636 innings, 32-36, 40 of 68 in saves, and 314 runs allowed (earned and unearned).
Edwin Diaz was a pen genius amidst the turmoil…he was 6-3, 14 total runs allowed in 66 innings, 28 of 31 in saves.
Brilliant.
But the remaining 570 bullpen innings resulted in 26-33, with just 12 of 37 saves, and 300 runs allowed.
Bad.
The average team needed 580 bullpen innings in 2025. The Mets were higher because of starter injuries driving down innings per start.
Let’s assume the Mets target that 580 level in 2026, in a return to more normalcy.
How do you build a solid bullpen in 2026?
First, who DON’T you have for 2026?
Tidwell was traded, and Nunez, Garrett, and Kranick will miss most if not all of 2026 with injury. Montas, who might have moved to the pen, is ditto - no 2026, and the same for Megill. Montes de Oca looms somewhere, presumably. I’d count on him for zero innings - anything above that is beef gravy.
Herget, at least, has decided to opt out; his arm hasn’t dropped out.
I see two scenarios:
a) With Edwin, you have some stability.
b) Without him returning, though, Katie bar the door.
Who DO you have?
Huascar Brazoban may not have been every fan’s favorite, but he threw 10% of the team’s pen innings in 2025, and is team controlled through 2028. Pencil him in for 65 innings. There will be no ban on Brazoban.
As Mack has repeatedly indicated, I would do everything within my power to re-sign Helsley and Rogers. Pencil them in for 110 combined innings.
Christian Scott will return, at some point after opening day, most likely.
- Pencil him in for 40 innings of relief.
Mets have a club option on Brooks Raley. Exercise it, and you have 50 innings.
AJ Minter is under contract - pencil him in for 50 innings.
Dylan Ross and Ryan Lambert - hopefully, pencil those two minors fireballers for 80 Mets innings.
I would use Clay Holmes in the bullpen.
Sorry, Clay. I know you were the Mets’ best starter in 2025.
Add in 60 pen innings.
Stanek? He was agonizing at times and had a 5.30 ERA. But durable. He turns 35 next July. Will the Mets be desperate enough to keep him? He could give you 50 innings. But will it come with a 6.00 ERA?
Drew Smith will be back, and hopefully he can provide 40 innings.
The rest? Fill in from the likes of Jonathan Santucci and Jack Wenninger?
And then at least 10 other scrounged up relievers to give you an additional 75 or so innings. More, obviously, without Edwin.
Of course, you have to factor in 2026 pen injuries.
Without Edwin, and even with a rebounding Helsley staying on, and Holmes in the pen, that collection of relievers screams “average, at best.”
With Edwin, maybe you keep Holmes in the starting rotation and have a top 15, perhaps top 10, bullpen.
I’ve given no thought on who else the Mets might sign in free agency or trade for.
I am leaving that up to you.
OK, forget me….I am just spitballing here, my self-imposed time-to-write restriction will not let me do a deeper dive here…(hey, maybe Mets relievers should spitball, too).
So, you, please - yes, you - assemble your 2026 pen.
You have no self-imposed time deadline like I do. Give me your list, keeping in mind the Mets have a bloated budget already.
And Ray, I know two of your pen favorites are Ron Perranoski, who was once 16-3 in relief, and Roy Face, who once was 18-1, but both are unavailable this off-season, so don’t add them to your list.
GO!
NICK CASTELLANOS MAY BE AVAILABLE, BUT WHO WANTS HIM?
He will be 34 next year. Had a deteriorating 2025. 589 PAs, just 17 HRs, 72 RBIs, and hit better in bandbox Philly than on the road. And Nick is a mediocre career hitter at Citi Field.
Owed $20 million for 2026. Lousy fielder. But never a career error at DH.
His 2025 was not as good as that of Mark Vientos, and Nick is on the way down, while Vientos is entering his prime years.
Maybe the Mets can trade Montas for Nick, throwing in a lower level prospect. Or, if they wanted to unload Manaea and his 2 years at $25 million each, maybe a Phil’s prospect would come to the Mets.
Thoughts?
OTHER WAYS TO LOOK AT METS’ STARTING PITCHING IN 2025
People constantly moaned that the Mets starters were not going very far into games, and that is a correct observation. Starting pitchers for the Mets averaged 16.93 pitches per inning, ranked 28th out of 30. Likely, they were nibbling a lot, in fear of allowing long balls, and the nibbling drove their pitch counts up. The starters, despite being 23rd overall in innings, were 28th in walks with 324.
Was there a bright side to that? Seemingly, yes.
The starters allowed the 3rd FEWEST home runs (83).
The entire staff (starters and pen) was 3rd highest in baseball with total pitches (24,160), and pitches allowed per game (149). And was 2nd best in fewest HRs allowed (also 149).
Walks, the Mets pitchers were 7th overall; and the Mets pen was league-average on walks, coming in at #16.
How many of those high numbers of walks resulted in runs? I don’t know. But very low HRs obviously prevented runs.
Was it an unwritten club policy in 2025 to nibble to keep HRs low? Perhaps. But nibbling got Mets starters out of games quicker, and the resulting negative effect might have been more bullpen arm injuries due to overwork.
Given how much time bullpen pitchers can miss with major arm injuries, and the instability a constantly juggling bullpen (personnel-wise) can cause, I think it wiser to have a policy for starters to throw fewer pitchers per inning and go deeper into the games by less nibbling, even if the downside of that is more HRs allowed. Less stress on the bullpen, less arm injuries.
I hope I am being clear here. If not, nibble somewhere else.
RICHIE ALLEN DID THIS TWICE ON JULY 31, 1972
Did what, you ask?
Well, if you must ask, he hit 2 homers off of Bert Blyleven on that date.
Yeah, so? Blyleven gave up 430 home runs. What’s two more, you ask?
Well…
Both of them were inside-the-parkers.
Only time ever? No.
It was written at the time that “Allen became only the seventh player in major league history to hit two inside-the-park home runs in a game and the first since 1939.”
It had to be those massive old parks…Yankee Stadium, for one, was 463 in left center and 461 in dead center. Oh, and 457 in right center.
Aristotle said, “wow, that’s really deep.”
Polo Grounds? “….450-foot distances to deepest left and right center (the gaps); (and) the base of the straightaway centerfield clubhouse stood 483 feet from home plate.”
Get it by the centerfielder and have it go all the way to the wall there, and most guys go inside-the-park. Of course, if Daniel Vogelbach did that, it would have been a bang-bang play at second. YER OUT!
Baseball has a million great tidbits, like the above Allen/Blyleven one.
I did not see Allen do that, but I did see him another time on TV at Connie Mack Stadium (in the late 1960s) crush a fly ball to dead center 447 feet, only to be caught by Agee right in front of the wall. Next time up, he crushed another one, resulting in the exact same thing, snagged by Agee for a 447 foot out to dead center.
Next time up, though, Allen was likely ticked - and he showed it - he easily cleared the 20 foot high fence at the 447 mark, with the ball traveling an estimated 500 feet.
1,400 feet on 3 blasts, resulting in 2 outs and one HR.
Another tidbit:
Little Hall of Famer Jesse Burkett hit 75 HRs in his career from 1890 to 1905, but the 5’8”, 155 dude “is credited with the most career inside-the-park home runs (IPH) with 55”. He added 182 triples. No doubt the fences were deep, or missing altogether. He hit over .400 twice, too, thank you for asking.
One more tidbit:
“Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field (1909-70) was a large park where relatively few homers were hit until after World War II.
Many of the great triple hitters on that club, such as Tommy Leach, Honus Wagner, Owen Wilson, Max Carey, Pie Traynor, Kiki Cuyler, Paul Waner, and Arky Vaughan, also hit a fair number of IPH in their particular eras.
“In 1925, the year that Cuyler hit 26 triples, he also hit eight IPH, the best season total in at least the last 60 years. When Cuyler was traded to the Chicago Cubs after the 1927 season, his chances for a high career total of IPH were sharply reduced. Wrigley Field was one of those parks (and still is) where it was extremely difficult to achieve four bases without hitting the ball into the stands.”
Yes, dimensions do matter. Just ask Kiki Cuyler.
StatCast has metrics on park factors, so I looked and, for 2023-2025, the Citi Field factor was 98 (median = 100) and they ranked 21st. Which does not sound too limiting to Mets hitters, until one realizes that teams 22 thru 29 ranked at a 97 score, just one point lower.
Move the fences in 5-7 feet, and 8 feet in center, and voila! The park more likely would be ranked 12th to 15th. (100 or 101).
I would take that in a heartbeat. Fair is fair, and HRs OVER THE FENCE are fun.
https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/leaderboard/statcast-park-factors
