NY Mets Monday Morning GM: Taking a hard stance on Huascar Brazoban

The trade deadline addition of Huascar Brazoban to the New York Mets roster involved David Stearns looking into a mirror and accepting what he saw. The Mets didn’t just need a Phil Maton and Ryne Stanek. They needed depth and Brazoban’s minor league options made it so the Mets weren’t on the hook to keep him on the 26-man roster for the rest of the year.

Unfortunately, this seemingly smart trade turned bitter. The 34-year-old went from pitching to a 2.93 ERA with the Miami Marlins to a 5.14 ERA pitcher with the Mets. His walk rate almost doubled to 6 per 9. His strikeout totals fell off to less than one per inning after fanning 34 in 30.2 frames for South Florida’s most beloved National League team.

Where are we now on Brazoban? He’s under team control for several more years. Is this just another depth piece to weave in and out of the major league roster?

The Mets need to plan for Huascar Brazoban to be in the minors to begin next season

About every statistic you can look at got worse when Brazoban switched uniforms. His hard-hit percentage rocketed up from an awesome 19.5% to 31.7%. Groundballs turned into line drives with the former going from 51.3% to 40% and the latter going from 20.5% to 30%.

One thing Brazoban did well that he continued with the Mets was prevent home runs. He gave up 2 all year, one as a member of each team. Keeping the ball in the yard helped his two month stint from being far worse than it often felt.

Favorable reverse splits don’t do Brazoban much good, but can certainly give a team in need of a lefty reliever another option. Lefties hit just .150/.269/.163 in 93 plate appearances against him. A double accounted for the only extra base hit.

Of note, Brazoban was pretty much the same pitcher for the Marlins that he was for the Mets in the month of June—his first in the big leagues last season. He posted a 5.29 ERA in 17 innings. It was the 14.2 innings of not allowing an earned run in July that helped him become a trendy addition to make. It didn’t last long. After finishing off his month with a scoreless appearance for the Mets on July 31, his August debut against the Los Angeles Angels included a blown save and a loss plus the one home run he’d give up for the Amazins. It was an immediate sinking feeling. Maybe this guy wasn’t about to become a sneaky great trade deadline addition.

Brazoban has a lot to work on and shouldn’t be someone in the plans for next year’s Opening Day roster. Make him earn it back.