NY Mets Bullpen: The only 2 offseason moves needed

One of the major positive takeaways from the 2021 season is how well the New York Mets bullpen performed. I’m in awe of how brilliant many of the relievers performed after so many seasons of garbage.

Although the majority of players didn’t have what we could classify as excellent seasons, many posted numbers well above average. Best of all, many of these pieces will be back in 2022. The Mets have a nice solid relief core in place for at least another season.

Finally benefitting from strong relief outings, it’s imperative the Mets don’t ignore this in 2022. I don’t think they will. And it can all be done with two moves.

The Mets relievers we can expect back in the bullpen in 2022

First, let’s break down a few of the arms we definitely know are coming back.

Edwin Diaz should remain as the closer with Trevor May and Miguel Castro eating up a lot of the innings prior to handing him the ball. Seth Lugo, in his final year before free agency, should provide the Mets with even more than he did in 2021. Hopefully, we get a full healthy year out of him where he can go back to the multi-inning threat he has been in the past.

Add in Drew Smith as a “must” for next year’s bullpen and we already have five names for it.

The bullpen would still need a long man—a role we could see filled by Robert Gsellman or Trevor Williams. There are other possibilities, but I think I would be fine with either of them present to go three or more innings in a blowout.

This won’t quite complete what the Mets need to do to have a strong bullpen yet again in 2022. In two moves, they can keep us confident heading into 2022.