MILWAUKEE — Sunday afternoon in Miami, with Kodai Senga on the ropes in the first inning against the Marlins, the Mets phoned the bullpen and told right-hander Stephen Nogosek to get up and to get on the rubber with a ball, but to hold off on warming up.
This is something Showalter does often with his relievers. It serves two purposes: It prevents the pitcher from throwing superfluous pitches and putting unnecessary strain on the arm, as well as it serves to get relievers mentally engaged.
“It lets me know it’s time to rock and roll,” Nogosek said.
Nogosek later came into the game and pitched two innings. Senga ran up his pitch count in the first inning and wasn’t able to go as deep into the game as he or the Mets would have liked, but Nogosek absorbed a few. With four games left before an off day, Nogosek’s outing proved big for the Mets. Tommy Hunter’s two innings in Friday night’s game were helpful as well.
“Nogosek had one of the biggest outings we’ve had out of the bullpen,” manager Buck Showalter said Monday at American Family Field before the Mets opened up a series with the Milwaukee Brewers. “Pitching those two innings and staying away from everybody really got us back on our feet today. We were prepared to do whatever it took to protect our bullpen if it went in a direction. Those are little things that mean so much during the season. He did a very (Trevor) Williams-like role yesterday.”
The Mets’ rotation isn’t exactly at full strength to start the season with Justin Verlander and Jose Quintana on the injured list, meaning the team might have to lean heavily on some long relievers. Last season, Williams played an important role as the long man and as a swingman who made nine starts and regularly pitched multiple innings in relief. Williams threw two or more innings out of the bullpen 10 times last season and became an invaluable piece of the pitching puzzle.
But Williams departed New York as a free agent over the winter to sign with the Washington Nationals, and the Mets never replaced him. In these early days of the season, the Mets will try to figure out which middle relievers they can rely on to eat innings when the starters fail to go deep.
Hunter and Nogosek are the early candidates, but that comes with the acknowledgment that they won’t be able to replicate what Williams did for the Mets last season. Hunter was a starter earlier in his career and he did start one game for the Mets in 2021, but that was his first one since 2012 when he started 20 games for the Baltimore Orioles. The Mets like Nogosek’s ability to go multiple innings, but his pitching profile is different than that of Williams.
“A long reliever is a guy who can pitch more than one inning — let’s face it,” Showalter said. “I think he could go three if he got the right rest. But the thing that Trevor could do was the starting part of it and I’m not sure if we’re there with Nogosek.”
Showalter has worried about feeling the impact of Williams’ departure on a few occasions already. The Mets will find out over the next month or so if they need to acquire someone like him.
Stolen goods
The Mets swiped four bags over the weekend in the series against the Marlins and it’s the first time they have stolen a base in each of the first four games of the season since 1993. Expect them to be busy on the bases all season. Between the larger bases, the rules limiting pickoff throws and the Mets’ station-to-station offense the club sees speed and base-stealing as a way to generate more run production.
Parting ways
Verlander (teres major strain) and Quintana (bone graft surgery) returned to New York instead of making the trip to Milwaukee. Quintana will continue his rehab in New York throughout the season while Verlander waits on new imaging to be done on his shoulder.
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