NY Mets: Three early surprises from the 2020 season so far

Dellin Betances is as bad as the rest

I thought for sure bringing Dellin Betances to Queens would be a good idea. In many ways, he was the biggest addition of the offseason. Brodie Van Wagenen knew the Mets needed to upgrade the bullpen. They did so—at least on paper—when they inked Betances to a one-year deal.

Betances hasn’t been the same dominant reliever he was during his best years with the New York Yankees. In four games, he has made it through 2.1 innings. The results are worse than imagined. He has a team-worst 15.43 ERA. This is higher than every other pitched who has stepped on the mound for the Mets in 2020.

The biggest concern with Betances might be his health. He missed nearly all of 2019 and seemingly looked ready to return to action in 2020. There hasn’t been any information about his failures having to do with a past or fresh injury, but I have to question if maybe there’s something mental going on.

Like with every judgment we make after nine games, we have to reiterate how early it is into the season. Every reliever will have some bad outings. Unfortunately, Betances is getting his out of the way early.

The trouble with Betances struggling is that so are many of the other relievers. Edwin Diaz looks like he’s going to have a repeat of 2019. Seth Lugo, the guy I think we all trust the most, hasn’t exactly gotten the job done either. One man can only carry so much of the load.

The Mets needed a better performance out of their bullpen this year. After a week and change, Betances has done nothing to help the situation.