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.

The Mets need to re-sign Aaron Loup

Re-signing Aaron Loup is a must for the Mets. There’s no excuse. Nobody is going to make him the richest reliever in MLB history. Chances are, nobody makes him their closer or gives him a private island. Loup was as perfect as you can expect a reliever to be for the team in 2021. Mutual interest should keep him in Flushing for another year or more.

I don’t expect Loup to do anything close to what he did in 2021 with the team. Things just seemed to always go his way. For as much criticism as Luis Rojas got for his bullpen management, he seemed to use Loup in the best possible opportunities. The numbers defend this.

Loup was the main lefty the Mets had in their bullpen throughout the year. Until Brad Hand arrived in early September, he was the lone wolf for those big outs versus lefty hitters. Hand is a consideration for next year’s club, but he’s one of two arms I would take or leave for the 2022 roster.

Another successful reliever in 2022, Jeurys Familia, is a consideration but not the second move the Mets need to make to have a deadly bullpen. I think it’s time to move on from Familia. The club needs some fresh blood and a little more control with the final piece to the puzzle.