Three Left Handed Reliever Options For The Mets

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    Over the past two seasons, the Mets have been uncharacteristically busy. They have made trades for relievers, key hitters, signed free agents and most prominently, traded for an outfielder who ended up becoming a star. However, despite bringing the final mentioned player back, there are still moves to be made. One area of serious need is bringing in one (or more) left handed relievers. 

    Signing a reliever sounds like a prospectively easy task. However, thats when you realize the lefty market is Aroldis Chapman, and then there’s everyone else. That shouldn’t be a surprise considering this has been called the worst free agent class in years. 

    Regardless, there are a few specific players our team can target whether it is through free agency or on the trade market. I will make a case as to why each reliever would make a good fit for our club.

1st Option: J.P. Howell

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    Dan Z over at EmpireSportsZone and I talked about bringing J.P. Howell in as a buy low candidate. Howell came off a down year posting an ERA of 4.09 in 50 and two thirds innings. He may have been unlucky though, as he posted nearly identical walk and strikeout rates from last season. 

    Speaking of walk rates, this is the second straight season that Howell has kept his walk rate down. This is likely fueled by setting a second straight career high first strike %. He also has the eighth highest ground ball rate since the beginning of 2015 (90 combined innings qualified). 

    However, his high ground ball rate may actually be problematic due to how the Mets infield was among the bottom ten in the majors defensively. Their infield combined for costing the team of 34 runs compared to the Dodgers infield only costing the team 2 runs. This indicates that more of Howell’s ground balls will end up turning into hits and baserunners if he dons a Mets uniform.

2nd Option: Bring Jerry Blevins Back

    There is also the option of bringing Jerry Blevins back. He’ll likely command a larger deal than what Howell will likely get though. If Marc Rzepczynski can get almost $6 million dollars annually on a multi year deal, Blevins will likely command more than that. Blevins had a surprisingly high strikeout % and had a reasonable walk %. 

    The only issue that comes up with Blevins is that he will have a lot of suitors. This is due to him being the top lefty reliever on the market not named Chapman. This will drive his price up, and he could receive a contract around 3 years and $21 million, maybe even more. I find that to be a bit too expensive for someone who only pitched 42 innings last season. However, I still think due to him being good on a per batter basis, bringing Blevins back will likely be a high priority for the team this offseason. 

3rd Option: Trade for Sean Doolittle

    The A’s are reportedly willing to listen to offers for Sean Doolittle. Obviously this isn’t core shattering news, but the fact that Doolittle is available is an intriguing prospect. He may cost a decent amount in terms of talent, but he shouldn't cost too much due to coming off two injury riddled seasons. 

     True, the injuries he has sustained are due to shoulder issues, and shoulder issue filled pitchers are unpredictable. Still though, I think this is a risk worth taking because Doolittle would be a very inexpensive option. Not only that, but he’s also only under contract through 2018 if he doesn’t work out. However, if he pitches well, he would have a set of mutual options that would have him under contract past the 2020 season. 

     Not only is he a cheap option, but he also has been quite good when healthy. Yes, he did have a strong case of gopheritis (1.38 Homers per nine innings), but he also registered strong strikeout and walk percentages. His 23.9 K/BB% last season ranked 19th among relievers with at least 30 innings pitched. Doolittle is very much a fly ball pitcher, but that is something the Mets can deal with due to how they had one of the better defensive outfields in the majors last season. 

     He may have had homer problems over the past season, but of the 6 he gave up, 2 of them were on pitches outside the zone. As you can see from the links, if those two outside pitches were theoretically taken like they normally would, Doolittle would have only given up 4 dingers and had a far different 0.92 Home Runs per nine innings instead of the 1.38 he posted. 

     Overall, I think that Jerry Blevins would probably be a good guy to bring back. In spite of that, I believe that trading for Sean Doolittle would be the best move the Mets can make to address pairing a lefty reliever with Josh Smoker in 2017.