NY Mets: 5 reliever rentals who could lend the pen a hand

With just a couple of days left until the MLB trade deadline, the New York Mets are expected to be one of the most active teams in the market. A lot of the talk has been around starting pitching or Chicago Cubs’ third baseman/outfielder Kris Bryant, both of which would be huge additions. On top of that though, the Mets should also be doing everything they can to add to the bullpen.

The Mets’ stable of arms has pitched admirably this season, but the bullpen as a whole has been incredibly overworked. With all the injuries to the starting pitching, bullpen games have become commonplace as of late, and every single arm in the Mets’ pen has had to carry what would normally be more than their own weight. With over two months of the regular season remaining, it’s unreasonable to expect that to continue.

The Mets need to add some reliable arms to the bullpen that can be counted on for the stretch run. Here are five rentals who could make a difference.

One incredibly intriguing option is Mychal Givens. The long-time Orioles reliever is now in Colorado, and with the Rockies out of contention and Givens a free agent at the end of the season, there is no reason why he should be on the roster by the end of the month.

Givens is having a very nice season for Colorado, putting up 2.73 ERA through 29.2 innings pitched. His WHIP isn’t great at 1.315 and his FIP is highly suspect at 4.67, but he’s still been a very above-average reliever, and his 171 ERA+ shows that.

The most interesting part about Givens though is how he’s pitched when not in Coors Field. In 11 innings pitched outside of Colorado, Givens has given up just one earned run — that’s good for an ERA of 0.82.

His numbers at home are still solid, but he’s just clearly pitched much better when not in Coors, as a lot of pitchers do. It’s not a big sample size in the least, and it wouldn’t be realistic to expect a sub-one ERA from him if he’s traded for, but he has still seemingly turned a corner this season.

He’s pitching the best baseball of his career and should be available for relatively cheap. A reunion with former teammate Miguel Castro might not be a bad idea, and Givens slide in right next to him as another reliable middle innings guy for the Mets.