My wife's aunt and uncle once spent an entire summer working in a donut shop. Students at the time, they were in charge of taking culinary syringes and injecting the donuts with tasty fillings, making sure to press down on the plunger just the right amount to properly stuff the sticky snacks.
As summer jobs go, it was a great one for them because they got to eat so many donuts (usually the ones they had "overfilled"). Unfortunately for them, it also turned out to be a terrible job because ... well, because they got to eat so many donuts. By the time fall arrived, they pretty much hated pastries.
A similar phenomenon has occurred in recent years among New York baseball teams and their bullpens. In some cases, the base quality of the relievers has varied (Francisco Rodriguez and J.J. Putz are sumptuous chocolate crullers; Kyle Farnsworth and Scott Proctor were, say, boring cinnamon-sugar originals) but the end result has been the same: Too much of a good thing resulting in ugliness.
It's important to consider this concept in looking at the Mets' revamped bullpen so far this season. On its face, the Mets' Achilles' heel from a year ago has been transformed from weakness to strength: Through 13 games, the relievers have a 2.18 ERA (best in the majors) and nearly a 3-to-1 strikeout to walk ratio. It isn't just Rodriguez and Putz, either; Sean Green's early outings have been encouraging and he could end up playing in an important role in the bullpen going forward.
The problem -- or, more accurately, the potential problem -- is in the frequency. Like my wife's aunt and uncle were at the start of their summer, Mets fans have been (understandably) overjoyed with the bullpen's success. A year ago, many blamed the Mets' second late-season disappointment on the disaster that was the team's relief corps, so it's hardly surprising that everyone is eagerly stuffing his or her face with the new recipe.
But although the Mets' relievers have the best bullpen ERA in the league, they also have appeared in a combined 47 games in relief, which is three more than the National League average and tied for fourth-highest in the NL. During their 13 games, they've used three pitchers or fewer in a game just twice; they've used five pitchers or more eight times.
Obviously that isn't ideal. Fatigue among relievers was a significant issue during Willie Randolph's years with the Mets, and Joe Torre -- a manager whom Randolph coached under while with the Yankees -- was often criticized for his bullpen management. Relievers like Proctor and Tanyon Sturtze with the Yanks, as well as Scott Schoeneweis, Pedro Feliciano and Aaron Heilman are prime examples of the ups (and subsequent downs) that comes with overuse.
It's a familiar development around here: In 2008, the Mets finished with 557 appearances, most in the NL by 12, and 40 more than the third-highest team. It was also the third straight season a New York bullpen was the most-worked in its league (the Yankees were tops in the AL the previous two years), so New York fans weren't exactly shocked by the results.
How do the Mets avoid repeating their overindulgence? Not having Randolph as their manager anymore figures to be good for a reduction on its own, but Jerry Manuel needs to get more from his starters. Last night's 4 2/3-inning outing by Oliver Perez against the Cardinals has been a little too commonplace, and starters coming short is a top cause of weary reliever syndrome.
On this occasion, the bullpen (finally) faltered. Perez and Casey Fossum let the Cardinals back into the game, then Putz -- making his eighth appearance in 13 games -- gave up the decisive runs in the eighth inning of a 6-4 loss.
It wasn't how the Mets imagined it. They know what they'd like to see: A starter taking it deep, then Putz passing straight it to Rodriguez. That's the ideal scenario, and -- last night notwithstanding -- the Mets new relievers have been as strong as advertised so far. That's a good thing. It still would be nice to see a little less of them.
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