Readers,
My name is Alex Spatt and I am one of the new writers for The Real Dirty Mets. I will be posting this intro on my first few posts to acquaint myself with you, our loyal readers, so get used to it. I was born and raised in Manhattan and am currently a Senior at Northwestern University. Like you, I love the Mets and (mostly) everything that comes with that. Unlike (most of) you, I will be writing about our boys – their ups, their downs, and everything in between. Whether you find yourself loving every word or disagreeing on the most fundamental levels, know that my ultimate goal is to provide not just an informative, but an entertaining look at the team we have all come to feel so passionately about. Your feedback is both welcomed and encouraged. On that note, let’s get to what you’re here for.
-Spatt
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At a game under .500 and nine games behind the Braves for the Wild Card, and now without Murphy for the rest of the season and Reyes for two to three weeks, a realistic appraisal says the Mets are officially out of the hunt. But, in a way, yesterday’s disaster of a game could turn into a blessing in disguise for the Mets.
The Mets now have nearly a full two months to evaluate the current roster and make some decisions about the team’s future. We will see young guys come up, we’ll see what Duda can do(da), and we’ll see what our vets have left in the tank. Look for future posts concerning the likes of Pagan, Pelfrey, and Reyes but one of the biggest potential beneficiaries of two months of meaningless baseball could end up being Bobby Parnell.
After some strong appearances following the K-Rod trade, Parnell has taken some major steps back. In his last ten appearances spanning 9 1/3 innings, Parnell is 1-3 with a blown save and a ghastly 6.75 ERA. We know he has the stuff. 101 MPH fastball, 90 MPH slider. But he has no control of either. Whether it’s mental or physical is up in the air but sacrificing 2-3 MPH on both pitches may improve his accuracy while losing minimal bite. Additionally, conventional wisdom says he needs an off-speed pitch to compliment the other two, something hopefully being worked on, but here is my suggestion.
Make Bobby Parnell the full-time closer.
For the last few years, Parnell has bounced around in different capacities and hasn’t been able to establish himself in any one role for more than a few weeks. Every baseball mind says he has some of the nastiest stuff in the league and yet, he hasn’t been able to get into the kind of rhythm that could support the idea that he is an eventual top flight closer.
So why not now? Give him the shot to close games that will, for the most part, be meaningless, that will allow him to establish a rhythm, and while Izzy is still around to impart what veteran wisdom he has to the young Parnell. As much as I love Izzy, it’s clear he doesn’t have it in him to be a full-time closer anymore and I can’t imagine he would object to grooming Bobby. The fact is that Parnell isn’t a rookie anymore and it’s time to see what he’s made of, particularly in the months leading up to what is looking more and more like a pivotal offseason for the Metropolitans. It has come time to find out, for real, whether or not Parnell is going to be a contributing part of the future of this club.
I strongly believe that, with the right coaching and especially with a veteran like Izzy around, Parnell can be what we all want him to be. You can’t teach the pitches he has. You can teach him how to control them, though. So I say teach him, coach him, and let him do some soul searching on the mound in tough, late game situations, even when things aren’t falling his way.
We’ve seen a hesitance on the part of the Mets’ coaching staff to do the same with Pelfrey and the results clearly haven’t been good. After all, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. So let’s try a new philosophy with Parnell and let him loose.
What do you think we should do with Parnell?
5 comments
Anonymous
8/8/2011-9:24pm at 9:24 pm (UTC -4)
Other than a PTBNL?
Well, once Izzy gets 300, then yeah, why the heck not try it. But I must say, if he doesn’t have the mental capacity or intestinal fortitude to handle mop up duty, I’m not so certain having the constant pressure of being a closer is going to be in the Mets or Parnell’s best interest.
And back to my PTBNL comment, it’s generally a bad rule to trade 100MPH throwers, but unless he can do what you mention, throw a little less hard and work on some control, Parnell is not what this team needs in it’s BP. And if he can slow his pitches down a little to increase control, you can try to make him a starter again. Then we’d only get sick of him once every 5 games instead of every other.
Anonymous
8/8/2011-9:31pm at 9:31 pm (UTC -4)
I like this idea. Also agree that Izzy can’t handle a real closer’s workload, but seems to be a fine mentor.
another option is to split the job between beato and Parnell. Give them both a shot to show what they can do.
who knows with parnell. Maybe he will be like Madson. Strong stuff, just took a while to blossom in a high leverage role?
Anonymous
8/9/2011-1:48am at 1:48 am (UTC -4)
don’t like this idea at all. as i said earlier, the repeated failures of parnell in these high leverage roles is only killing his confidence. let him have some success in low leverage situations (not that i think he is capable of that either).
also, allowing this guy to blow wins hurts the development of other players. winning is infectious. parnell will hurt guys like gee and other kids but bringing the morale to an all-time low.
he stinks. at this point he’s not the future closer. he’s auditioning for the back end of the pen. the guy wasn’t even any good in the minors.
TRS86
8/9/2011-2:43am at 2:43 am (UTC -4)
very true on your last point. He does have stuff and I am fine with closer by committee but no reason to give anything to Parnell until he earns it.
MetsFan4Decades
8/9/2011-3:02am at 3:02 am (UTC -4)
I usually listen to Bobby O’s analysis of Parnell on the post game if he pitches.
On that game yesterday, he said Parnell should be further along in development by now to know that you cannot throw Chipper 3 off speed pitches in a row and get away with it. He’s a HOF hitter, albeit at the end of his career, and he’ll make you pay. Maybe a pitch in the dirt, or better yet blow a 100 mph fb by him would be a better choice. Mix it up/down some.
Thole behind the plate and Parnell on the mound is almost like the rookie leading the rookie. Neither one has a good idea of pitch selection.
I don’t know what the answer is. As some have said above, I’m fine with closer by committee for now and attempting to ease him into that role.
After watching tonight’s game though I’m 100% positive Igarashi should have been DFA’d yesterday. I don’t care who else we have down there on the 40 man. They can’t possibly be worse than Iggy. I know Beato didn’t help but Iggy must be at something like allowing 40% of inherited runners to score. Just awful.