Bullpen Confidence

I was really surprised to visit Metsblog.com this afternoon and find this comment by uber-blogger Matthew Cerrone about the Mets bullpen:

"…every team in the league is having bullpen issues…that, plus knowing how October is a total crapshoot, and i believe the Mets can certainly win a World Series with the bullpen they have…that being said, like most teams, it could use a few improvements, to say the least…"

Wow. That's more confidence than I have in the bullpen. Cerrone goes on to layout his case and some of his points I can agree with. Every team in the NL has bullpen issues. The Braves might be in the best situation, but they just got rid of Wickman and Soriano has been known to blow a game or two. A good bullpen is hard to find and even on WFAN this afternoon they talked about the Mets bullpen being the "least worst" bullpen in the NL.

Is this the same bullpen I'm watching?

I don't think the Mets need to go spend millions on a bullpen guy right now, but something should have been done before the trading deadline. Also, where is Joe Smith? The Mets sent him down because he was struggling a bit? Have they seen Guillermo Mota lately? Joe Smith should be back for September call ups but I think he should have been up sooner.

Sosa has been the lone bright spot, outside of Wagner, and he's earned the job as the 7th/8th inning guy. Outside of him, it depends on what day of the week it is to figure out who's going to pitch well. I've thought about putting Pedro Martinez in the bullpen when he comes back, but with his arm I don't think he can handle pitching every other day even if it's just for a few batters.

I was planning on posting about how the Mets can cut their rotation down to 4 (or even 3) when the playoffs roll around, but I'm nervous talking about the playoffs the way things are going of late.

If the Mets take the next two, and win 2 out of 3 from the Braves, I'll feel a lot better about the postseason.