" He's the closer - get used to it !"
Last night I woke up at around 11:45 to find that both my wife and I fell asleep in front of the t.v with the Mets/Marlins game still on. The Mets were winning 4-2 and Bobby Parnell was on the mound to tie up loose ends. As we all know Parnell – like he has done many times of late, blew the save when he surrendered a two out, two run double to former Met, Mike Cameron to tie the game.
I in my frustration went to the bathroom, and then proceeded to fall back to sleep. Thankfully the Mets came back to win in 12 by the score of 7-4. But with that said, should we Mets fans be wary of the fact that Parnell probably is our closer for the near future ?
I say no.
When I mention the names Tug McGraw, Heath Bell, Skip Lockwood, Jesse Orosco, Jeff Reardon, Jason Isringhusen and (gasp) Nolan Ryan what comes to mind ? You probably would say some of the most effective starting pitchers and closers in the past forty years right ? Well lets just remember when these guys first toed a pitching mound they were far from dominant.
Tug McGraw didn’t come into his own until the ’69 season. Ryan didn’t achieve success until after he was traded out of the organization in ’72. The same can be said about Reardon, Isringhausen and Bell. Lockwood was originally drafted by the Oakland A’s as a third baseman, but he didn’t find himself until he converted to a reliever. Jesse Orosco was mediocre in his first four season in the Mets bullpen.
So in my opinion , to say that Parnell can never be a good to great reliever is erroneous. He has pitched a very small sample as a closer, and quite possibly may need a bit more time to mature and hone his skill. The kid has raw talent. That 100 mph fast ball is just plain nasty, but he needs to get some movement on it because a good hitter ( or even a lucky one for that matter) can hit one a country mile.
All I am saying is that we have to sit back and just relax because you never know, he may be the next Reardon, Bell or McGraw.
And with that said…. HERE COMES THE INFAMY !!!!!
Mets alumni celebrating a birthday today include:
Mets pitching coach from ’99-’00, Dave Wallace is 64 (1947) .
Reserve catcher from the ’82 season, Rick Sweet is 59 (1952). After his playing career ended, he managed one season for the Mets AA affiliate in Binghamton.
Reserve outfielder fom the ’01 season, Darren Bragg is 42 (1969) .
Quite possibly the feel good story of this Mets season, reliever, Jason Isringhausen is 39 (1972) . It’s good to see him finishing his career where it all started.
A player that most Mets fans would like to forget, outfielder, David Newhan is 38 (1973) .
One of the better middle relievers from the putrid bullpens of ’08 and ’09, Brian Stokes is 32 (1979). Unfortunately he was traded before last season started for that waste of roster space, Garry Matthews Jr !
Sadly on this date, the Mets lost 2 members of their extended family. Third baseman from ’66-’67, Ken Boyer passed away in 1982, and middle reliever from the ’67 season, Hal Reniff in 2004.
The New York Mets purchased the contract of spot starter/middle reliever, Galen Cisco from the Boston Red Sox on September 7, 1962.
The Cincinnati Reds claimed reserve catcher, Alex Treviño of the New York Mets on waivers on September 7, 1990. This ended Alex’s second – and thankfully final go round as a Met.
The New York Mets signed free agent pitcher, Guillermo Mota on September 7, 1990. Yes thats right folks, before he beaned Mike Piazza in Spring Training of ’98, before he did a decent job in the second half of the ’06 season. Before HE WAS SUSPENDED FOR STEROIDS !!!! And before he totally sucked in the ’07 season, Mota was originally a MET !!!!
The New York Mets signed free agent first baseman, Jorge Toca on September 7, 1998. Toca was one of the many highly touted power hitting prospects that the Mets had their farm system. He would only play in a grand total of 25 games from ’99-’01 ( used mostly as a pinch hitter) and batted a whopping .259 with 0 homers and 5 RBIs. He would eventually be sold to the Pirates in late August of the ’01 season, never to be seen again.
Mo Vaughn loves a good fish fry, but last nights win against the Marlins gave him agita !
11 comments
Anonymous
9/7/2011-11:25am at 11:25 am (UTC -4)
unless he can refine the slider to be a dominant pitch, or he adds another one, the FB he can’t locate well is not going to get it done. Especially if he continues (as it seems he does) to struggle a bit with composure when things go bad.
I doubt he is going to be in the role next year. Not sure who it will be, but I expect someone else (potentially a real dark horse) to end up winning the job.
Still, I don’t want to give up on Parnell. Just work on the missing pieces, and utilize him in middle relief for now. If he finally has it all click (ala Bell), then fantastic. If not, you get some more time out of a cheap arm that throws really hard (and that can be very useful in the middle innings sometimes!)
Still, very nice to see the team hang on and fight back. I give Terry major props for the way this team plays. I still hate Jerry as a manager.
Oh, back to Parnell: Warthen has to go. maybe the next PC can get him fixed up!
MetsFan4Decades
9/7/2011-12:19pm at 12:19 pm (UTC -4)
The one good thing about where the Mets are this month is it gives them the luxury of letting Parenell close games to get a good long look. So far, I’m not exactly impressed. I’ve got my doubts he’ll find that winning combination of what makes an effective closer. I don’t think they’ll give up on the idea until next year and there’s no reason they should. All depends on who is in the mix next ST.
I also think it’s time to move on from Warthen. While I can’t see blaming him for all that ails Met pitching as it’s not his fault the talent level is what it is, there’s several young arms that are and will be in the mix next year. I’m just far from confident he’s the best man for the job.
MetsFan4Decades
9/7/2011-12:35pm at 12:35 pm (UTC -4)
Watched the game in it’s entirety last night. Always love when a game start has a lengthy delay due to rain AND it goes into extra innings…..
How about that Nick Evans? The last 12 days or so where he’s finally got steady playing time he’s certainly taken advantage of it at the plate. His defense at first is nothing to be ashamed of either. He can play a good 1st and 3rd. If he can also play a passable LF/RF and keep his hitting steady coming off the bench he’ll be a very good addition to the lineup. Goes w/o saying that with the Mets tendency towards injuries he might find himself with plenty of playing time next year.
SaltyGary
9/7/2011-1:07pm at 1:07 pm (UTC -4)
You’re a better fan than me. I am having a tough time watching any baseball seeing the playoffs are pretty set. I did turn the game on in time to see Evans great pick with a poor followup throw. That was enough for last night.
MetsFan4Decades
9/7/2011-1:33pm at 1:33 pm (UTC -4)
LOL, Late, rainy night – I had nothing better to do.
Also with the Sep call-ups, the Parnell as closer experiment and the Nick Evans finally getting playing time - you never know what you might see.
Ceetar
9/7/2011-12:46pm at 12:46 pm (UTC -4)
Probably. I suspect he’ll take that next step next year and setup batters better and use his pitches better when we replace Warthen.
Ceetar
9/7/2011-12:46pm at 12:46 pm (UTC -4)
Probably. I suspect he’ll take that next step next year and setup batters better and use his pitches better when we replace Warthen.
Anonymous
9/7/2011-1:01pm at 1:01 pm (UTC -4)
Completely agree with you on Parnell, you left off Dotel, but they need a pitching coach!
Andrew Vazzano
9/7/2011-1:59pm at 1:59 pm (UTC -4)
Parnell sucks.
Darknova306
9/7/2011-6:59pm at 6:59 pm (UTC -4)
Parnell can throw a fastball really fast. That’s the extent of his pitching talent. Bravo for him. He’s shown no sense of consistency at any level of professional baseball above low-A. He has no clue how to pitch, just to throw. His secondary pitch is also usually garbage. Make him a mop-up middle reliever and be done with it, and If he winds up blooming and showing real talent, fantastic. If not, he’ll be forgotten in a couple years regardless.
Anonymous
9/7/2011-10:17pm at 10:17 pm (UTC -4)
I’m not sure where you researched your Jesse Orosco stats but in his third full year he was 3rd in CY voting. He also made the AS team in his 3rd and 4th full years. Bell had excellent stats in the minors, Nolan Ryan was younger in his first four seasons and had that incredible curveball to go with his fastball, etc. etc. and so forth.
As Kong pointed out Parnell has not had much success above low A ball and if all that is required is to throw hard then Mat Lindstrom should be a HOF closer.