ATLANTA — When the Mets added right-handed relievers Tyler Rogers and Ryan Helsley on the July 31 commerce deadline, the reduction group collectively checked out each other with the popularity that the bullpen had change into scary good.
That hasn’t been the case on the sector. The reduction group has encountered an sudden transition interval with the brand new additions.
The membership has been desperately making an attempt to hunt solutions to the problems which have plagued them since June. The Mets received three straight this week, solely to lose two to the Washington Nationals. The one recreation they received featured David Peterson going eight innings to spare a bullpen that has been making an attempt to regulate to new roles and tackle an unexpectedly excessive workload.
Though at this level, they need to in all probability count on to start out preparing within the fourth inning.
“Everybody goes through it, and everybody has to kind of battle through those difficult times of trying to succeed and not having success that you are preparing for,” Garrett mentioned. “It kind of sucked that it got all of us, or at least a majority of us at the same time — starters, relievers, everybody.”
There was an sudden transition interval within the bullpen that was made even harder by the beginning rotation’s lack of ability to go previous the fourth or fifth inning nightly. Garrett and Ryne Stanek have been as soon as tasked with getting the ball to nearer Edwin Diaz by pitching within the seventh or eighth innings, however then left-hander Brooks Raley returned to motion after elbow surgical procedure, Rogers and Helsely have been traded to Queens, they usually weren’t traded to pitch within the center innings. Left-hander Gregory Soto was added shortly earlier than the deadline, and Frankie Montas misplaced his rotation spot and began pitching in reduction for the primary time since 2018.
“I’ve been a starter for quite a bit, right? But at the end of the day, I just want to help,” Montas mentioned. “If that’s where they think I can help the most, I’ll go to the bullpen — happily — because I’m going to have an opportunity.”
Montas has made solely two reduction appearances thus far, with the Mets clearly making an attempt to avoid him in video games they suppose they will win. He’s sought recommendation from relievers like Garrett and Raley to strive to determine easy methods to finest his pitches and keep targeted on the place the sport is and what the scenario is that he may very well be known as in for.
“The biggest challenge is not knowing when I’m pitching,” Montas mentioned. “Every time the phone rings, my heart beats a little harder. I feel like that’s been the biggest challenge, but also it kind of gives me different ways to stay ready and stay locked into the game.”
At one level this season, Helsley, the previous St. Louis Cardinals nearer, was towards the highest of the leaderboard in saves, however because the commerce, he’s allowed 5 earned runs in eight appearances. Stanek was given save alternatives earlier within the 12 months, however now he’s in peril of shedding his spot on the roster altogether after posting an 8.74 ERA within the second half of the season.
Thursday afternoon in Washington, Stanek gave up a game-breaking three-run homer to James Wooden within the backside of the eighth to extend a three-run result in six. Any likelihood of a comeback by the Mets was gone.
“When he’s ahead in counts, he’s not able to finish hitters; when he’s maybe a little too much in the strike zone, they put the ball in play,” Mendoza mentioned. “And he’s been a little bit unlucky as well, but I think executing when he’s ahead in counts, I think, has been the biggest thing. It’s making guys chase, as opposed to just leaving hittable pitches up.”
The bullpen has a 4.14 ERA over the past 30 days, and pitched 100.00 innings. They’ve struggled to include the injury when coming in with inherited runners on base, leaving solely 68.2% of them on, the seventh-worst fee in that span. That they had hoped the transition interval could be over by now, however when the starters fail to go previous the fourth or fifth innings, it makes everybody’s job harder.
Nonetheless, nobody is pointing fingers. The reduction corps sees how exhausting the starters are working to show issues round, they usually’re pulling for his or her teammates.
“I feel like we were able to realize that, hey, we had to almost tread water to get through it and rely on each other,” Garrett mentioned. “I feel like nobody in the clubhouse ever got down or discouraged. Yeah, there were frustrations because we weren’t playing to what we’re capable of doing, but nobody ever lost that sense of like, ‘Alright, I know we can do this. Let’s push through this and get through it together.”
Initially Printed: August 22, 2025 at 6:02 PM EDT
