Mets may be done adding to the bullpen which is an absolute travesty if true

New York Mets General Manager Brodie Van Wagenen sounds prepared to enter the 2020 season with the current pitching staff. If he doesn’t add to the bullpen further, the offseason will be a failure.

To their credit, the New York Mets have added three pitchers to the roster this winter. Starters Rick Porcello and Michael Wacha will both suit up for the team in 2020. In the bullpen, we will again see Brad Brach.

Unfortunately, this is all the Mets have done. And according to General Manager Brodie Van Wagenen, it may be the end.

When discussing the state of the bullpen this week, Van Wagenen eluded to help coming in the form of Seth Lugo and Robert Gsellman. He set expectations clear to the fans. This is the team they are prepared to proceed with.

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While this doesn’t mean the end of offseason moves for the Mets, it’s definitely not a good thing to hear. Less than a year ago, BVW was telling the rest of the National League East to “come get us.”

Before the 2019 Winter Meetings are even over, he’s selling an empty bottle of snake oil and trying to convince us there’s a layer of invisible liquid inside.

If there was one thing the Mets needed to do this winter it was to bolster the bullpen. This meant keeping the few good eggs from 2019—namely Lugo and Justin Wilson—while exploring ways to maybe move on from some of the duds. Out of respect to the rest of the roster, I won’t name them.

Instead, the Mets are hoping to get a lot more out of Edwin Diaz, Jeurys Familia, and everyone else. There’s a good chance we do see Wacha shift to the bullpen, settling in as a reliever and starting pitching depth option. He hardly inspires much confidence given his injury history and lackluster results in recent years.

It’s a travesty for the Mets to wave the white flag this early in the offseason. I think we all understand this wasn’t going to be a winter where Gerrit Cole, Anthony Rendon, or any other big names come to Flushing. Even while accepting this, many fans do and should feel underwhelmed by the way the team has proceeded.

Porcello, Wacha, and Brach are all fine additions. However, they far from complete this team.

We need to remember what the Mets lost. Now minus Zack Wheeler, they will have to hope for a rebound season out of Porcello to even come close to his production over the past two seasons. Wacha is a bit of a wild card and Brach is an aging reliever who was designated for assignment in the middle of last season. We can’t possibly rely on him fully.

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Call me a pessimist, but the only time I ever think BVW is telling the truth is when he delivers bad news. The latest comments about the bullpen definitely sound earnest. For as much as I appreciate his honesty, I’m also irritated by the spin he’s trying to give this half-hearted attempt to fix the team’s greatest weakness.