New York Mets: Mickey Callaway with curious strategy with bullpen

The New York Mets are making a curious choice in going without a closer to start the 2018 season.

Whenever a new manager comes to town, change is a front. It is no different right now for the New York Mets. A new staff comes to join the manager. For the pitching staff, that means Dave Eiland. It means new offseason strategies and new concepts as they move into the new season. Callaway being a former pitching coach has his feelings on how to handle the staff as well.

Once in a while, those new strategies can break from the norm. They might even be shocking. Look at what Callaway told MLB.com (via ESPN):

"“I don’t think we’re going to name a closer to start the season,” Callaway told MLB.com. “If there are three left-handers coming up in a row, we can use Blevins. We want to make sure that everyone is pitching when they have the best chance to be successful. I think we have four options to close games.”"

Those options are Jerry Blevins, Jeurys Familia, A.J. Ramos and Anthony Swarzak. Of the four, only Familia and Ramos have the extended work as closers. We know the work Familia has done in a Mets uniform. Ramos was an All-Star as a closer for the Marlins. On the other hand, Blevins, for example, has five career saves.

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They say that those who are different can bring about the greatest change. When you deviate from the norm, you take on the biggest risk but have the chance of much greater reward. That is what we are seeing here with this idea by Callaway.

Going without a closer is a boom or bust concept. On its face it makes a lot of sense. If all four of these pitchers are used equally they can all be tough in any situation. If it’s possible to see Blevins in the 7th, 8th, or 9th you don’t know what is coming at you.

Imagine an effective Familia setting things up on a particular night when Ramos is closing. This concept has the potential of helping the Mets bullpen become very good.

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The biggest concern with this, to me, is Familia. The article indicates that they are going to give him appearances with multiple innings during spring training to adapt his arm to different bullpen roles. What if his arm can’t handle it? What if he loses velocity? Being a setup man is very different from closing. This is the “bust” potential. It could ruin an actually very talented closer.

Something similar was tried with Joba Chamberlain on the other side of town. They took it one further by trying to make Joba a starter. Who was the pitching coach? Dave Eiland.

Let’s hope Familia doesn’t move backwards in a similar format.

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