Buck Showalter felt it was important for the Mets’ relievers to meet.
The season was 24 hours away from beginning. But questions of how the Mets would end games this season were on the manager’s mind.
As if by macabre coincidence, the Mets were in loanDepot Park in Miami at the dawn of the season. Two weeks to the day earlier, Edwin Diaz had crumbled on the infield grass at that ballpark after he tore his right patellar tendon while celebrating Puerto Rico’s WBC upset of the Dominican Republic.
The shock, despair and reality of it all had enveloped the Mets. As Adam Ottavino noted of what was lost: “He might have had the best relief season ever [in 2022].” So Showalter, pitching coach Jeremy Hefner and bullpen coach Dom Chiti gathered the Mets’ other relievers in the visiting coaching room in Miami following a workout on Wednesday, March 29, a day before the season opener.
“It was the no-[expletive] category, Edwin is not going to be here,” Showalter said. “But if we can trust each other and sacrifice [it will be fine]. … Players just need to know what’s going on. What drives them crazy is the unknown. You let players know what is going on and what’s coming. ‘This is what we are going to do.’ ”
The seeds of the Mets’ 5-2 victory Wednesday were planted that day. Showalter let the relievers know, Ottavino said, that he valued them, would prioritize keeping them healthy and would keep them aware of how they would be used. And the relievers basically told their manager they did not care about roles. They offered as close to an all-for-one, one-for-all statement as possible.
And in winning two of three at Citi Field this week over the Padres — which they could not do in the playoffs last October — the Mets relied heavily on a malleable bullpen. David Robertson, the titular “closer” in place of Diaz, got the biggest outs, in the eighth inning of the Mets’ series-opening victory on Monday and in the seventh inning of the rubber game Wednesday. Ottavino finished both games.
“It really doesn’t matter to me,” Robertson said of when he is deployed.
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Diaz had spoken to reporters Wednesday for the first time since the injury and subsequent surgery. He offered the potential of a late-season return. But that is 1) unlikely and 2) a long way from here to there.
In the moment, his absence could have derailed the Mets. Instead, the pen has been the least of Showalter’s concerns. The Mets have an uneven feel so far, but they have avoided the potential five-alarm panic that would have ensued if they were blowing late-inning leads early in the schedule.
It isn’t that Mets relievers have been flawless during the 7-6 start. It is just that the worries — for now — are elsewhere.
The rotation lost Jose Quintana and Justin Verlander, while two weeks in Carlos Carrasco has raised the specter he might be done and Max Scherzer has shown signs he might be down a grade. The offense has failed to hit much, particularly with runners in scoring position.
The Mets scored five runs Wednesday, but that felt like the least possible considering San Diego walked seven and committed two costly defensive miscues, the Mets stole three bases and Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso homered. Thus, the Mets could never fully shake the Padres.
Tylor Megill, as he did last April when Jacob deGrom was lost, has valuably stepped in. He gave up a 453-foot, two-run homer to Juan Soto three batters into the game, but nothing more through five innings. But that left 12 outs for the pen.
Brooks Raley, the Mets’ first reliever Wednesday, continues to be shaky (lefties are now 5-for-11 off of him this season). Showalter theorized that between the WBC and a March injury, the lefty is still in spring training mode. Drew Smith bailed out Raley in the sixth by whiffing Austin Nola with two out and two on. Robertson then did the same for Smith in the seventh by getting Soto to fly to left with two out and two on.
Showalter had deployed Robertson in the eighth inning in the series opener for the same reason: that was the save without the actual designation. The Padres had the top of the order due, which included two lefties, notably Soto, plus Manny Machado. Brandon Nimmo noted that a combo of a cutter that moves laterally without sharp downward break and a curveball that does dive makes Robertson hellacious on lefties; so much so, Nimmo said, that he lobbied Showalter and others last year for the Mets to obtain the veteran righty at the trade deadline (Robertson went to Philadelphia instead).
Robertson also is deploying his changeup again, evolving as he passed his 38th birthday earlier this week. Ottavino, 37, also worked on his changeup in the offseason to increase his arsenal versus lefty batters. The two, to date, have combined for 11 ¹/₃ innings of one-run ball with one walk and 15 strikeouts.
It may not conjure “Narco” and trumpets. But it has provided relief — on and off the field.
