bobby parnell

Mets were in on Grant Balfour

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After the Tampa Bay Rays reportedly inked relief ace Grant Balfour, baseball insider Ken Rosenthal tweeted this: Sources: #Mets made offer to Balfour that exceeded #Rays’ two-year, $12M bid. Balfour preferred to be closer to his home in Clearwater, Fl. — Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) January 23, 2014 So, Sandy Alderson was interested in bolstering his … Read more

Bobby Parnell Cleared to Pitch

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According to Adam Rubin, Mets closer Bobby Parnell has been cleared to pitch: New York Mets closer Bobby Parnell, who underwent Sept. 10 surgery in California for a herniated disk in his neck, has been fully cleared for baseball activities. After attending David Wright‘s wedding, Parnell stayed on the West Coast to be examined by Dr. Robert Watkins, … Read more

Free Agent Targets: Relief Pitchers

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The MLBPA compiled a full list of players who filed for free agency this offseason. Out of those, there are several possibilities that stood out to me as players I would consider signing if I were the GM of the Mets (assuming I had a moderate amount of money to spend). Mind you, I’m not saying the Mets should sign ALL of these players – that would be impossible. But this would be the pool of players from which I would choose.

We’ll break them down by position. In the last post, I looked at starting pitchers. In this post, I’ll take a look at…

Relief Pitchers

The Mets bullpen had another poor season statistically in 2013, but a lot of their failure came from a few sources, like Brandon Lyon, Rob Carson, Greg Burke, and Josh Edgin (during his first stint in the majors).

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Link Roundup: Trade Deadline, Wheeler Strong

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The non-waiver trade deadline is scheduled to hit at 4 PM EDT today. To quote Douglas Adams, “I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.” For the Mets, the deadline will likely whoosh by without any trades being made. The Mets are in a delicate situation. Some pieces of the … Read more

Backing Up The Truck: Six Tradeable Mets

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This always happens around Labor Day with sub-500 baseball teams. Having realized that the current season is a lost cause, the hardcore fans join the team scribes, broadcasters and even some front office types in the therapeutic process of speculating about next year’s roster. Therapy started a bit early for the Mets this year, when … Read more

Mailbag: The Difference Between Bobby Parnell and Craig Kimbrel

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From the MetsToday email inbox, a reader writes:

Hi Joe,
As a Met fan displaced in North Carolina, I very much enjoy reading your insights into the club, so please continue the good work.

I wonder if you might provide your thoughts on Bobby Parnell. His inconsistency has been frustrating to say the least. His stuff is great (upper 90s fastball and a hard late-breaking slider, + other off-speed stuff) and it resembles the repertoire of Atlanta’s Kimbrel (but without the success). What my fellow Met fans down here and I can’t understand is why the Met coaches insist on having him locate his fastball ‘down in the zone’. I’ve read them say this several times in the past couple of seasons. It’s clear from watching him pitch that his fastball is essentially a straight pitch when he throws it at the knees, taking away any tailing action he gets when it’s above the belt. Hitters simply drop the bat on these pitches and he gives up more hard hit singles through the infield than any pitcher I’ve seen in a some time. If you look up all of his blown saves (or blown holds), they invariably include several ground ball singles that get through because they are hit so hard. Given the difficulty in hitting an upper-90s fastball when it’s above the belt, why isn’t he using his velocity more to his advantage? And why are Mets coaches insisting he keep the ball down? All of the good closers of the past 30 years that had his kind of velocity (e.g., Gossage, Lee Smith, Papelbon, etc.) have lived up in the zone with their fastballs. What are the Met coaches thinking? Our fear is that they are ruining him (both from a pitching and psychological standpoint) and that he will end up on another team where they will get him doing what he should and he will come back to haunt the Mets. Thanks for any insights you have on this.

Fred

Fred, thank you so much for the kind words, and for visiting MetsToday.

I share your observations of, and concerns for, Bobby Parnell. His inability to convert his God-given talent into success is maddening. Are the Mets coaches / organizational pitching philosophy to blame?

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