Sports

Mets being closer-less is more than a tactic: It’s an attitude

This could wind up being more about a mindset than a method.

Then again, the Mets sure could benefit from a psychological reboot after last year’s debacle, right?

Their new manager, Mickey Callaway, conceded Tuesday, at a breakfast with local columnists, that he could envision Jeurys Familia getting the bulk of the 2018 Mets’ saves. Yet Callaway has no intention of anointing Familia as his official closer because it contradicts the culture he’s trying to institute.

“We wouldn’t name Wilmer Flores as our Wednesday infielder and then start him even if we’re playing against Corey Kluber,” Callaway said. “So why name a closer and put him in a situation where he doesn’t fit?”

No logical soul would argue with that, especially when we’re discussing it in the context of the Mets’ personnel. If you have a Craig Kimbrel or Aroldis Chapman on your roster, then maybe you have to think about going the traditional route. The Mets employ neither man.





Familia, once an All-Star closer, is coming off a 2017 remembered more for injury (a blood clot in his right shoulder) and discipline (a 15-game suspension for violating baseball’s domestic-violence agreement) than his actual performance (a 4.38 ERA in 26 games). AJ Ramos, the owner of 99 career saves to Familia’s 106, has averaged 4.8 walks per nine innings over six seasons, so he’s hardly Mr. Automatic. Lefty Jerry Blevins and new signee Anthony Swarzak have earned the right to be included in the same contemplations as their bullpen mates.

Callaway first disclosed his intentions on this matter at the winter meetings last month, and Tuesday, he expanded on his thinking. He said there would be “about 50” different factors behind every day’s bullpen choices, from the opposing lineup to the opponent’s bench options to his pitchers’ recent workload. He said that he and pitching coach Dave Eiland would work to notify every reliever, before each game, of their thought process going into the action.





For instance, Callaway said, while Cody Allen led the 2017 Indians with 30 saves and Bryan Shaw finished second with three — not quite an even distribution of opportunity — there were instances when Callaway, as Cleveland’s pitching coach, felt that Allen would be best served as a setup man. In 69 games last year, Allen entered in the seventh inning three times and in the eighth inning 13 times. In Familia’s All-Star 2016 campaign, he never pitched in the seventh inning in 78 appearances and appeared six times in the eighth inning.

Those subtle yet meaningful differences speak to an open-mindedness, if not quite a free-wheeling approach; Allen may have been the functional closer, but he didn’t own the title.





And for Callaway, they tie back into culture. He and the Mets connected so well in his interview last October, Callaway said, because they landed on the same wavelength. They both wanted to talk about leadership and culture more than the Xs and Os of baseball.

It isn’t so much that Terry Collins didn’t build a culture in his years as Mets manager. It’s more that the culture evaporated when last season’s injuries led to the flurry of July and August trades. And now it’s time to rebuild that culture.





For the holidays, Callaway sent many staff members a copy of the book “Legacy,” by James Kerr, which tells the story of the All Blacks rugby team and the organizational culture behind its success. Callaway also has sent surveys to his players to get a better feel for what they’d like to see under this new regime.

It could wind up that the Mets’ closer-less bullpen goes swimmingly, only for there to be few leads to protect if the starting rotation can’t stay healthy or the offense lacks depth. Callaway can do only so much brilliant cooking if the groceries he receives are subpar.

As a leadoff at-bat, though, the bullpen gambit is bold. It’s the right mindset for a team hoping to prove that last year, rather than the two prior seasons, was the exception.





Share this: