New York Mets: Signing Andrew Miller and Building a Bullpen

The Inefficiencies and Inconsistencies of the Left-Handed Specialist

With longtime left-handed specialist, Jerry Blevins, set to leave the club through free agency, the New York Mets have yet another hole to fill. If healthy, Andrew Miller could fill that hole and also provide the Mets’ bullpen with a dominating presence, being much more than just a left-handed specialist.

Inconsistencies- Blevins’ Struggled Against Left-Handed Batters

Not to pick on Jerry Blevins, but left-handed specialists are beginning to look like a thing of the past.

Over the last few seasons, the Mets have often found themselves handicapped with Blevins’ lack of versatility. The soft-tossing lefty was strictly a left-handed specialist.

Even with that label, Blevins’ faired slightly better versus right-handed batters in 2018, directly contradicting his role on the club.

This can be clearly seen with opponents sOPS+’s against Blevins throughout the season (sOPS+ defined). RHBs produced a sOPS+ of 92 against Blevins, while LHBs produced a sOPS+ of113. These numbers show that left-handed batters faired significantly better (as 100 equals average) as compared to right-handed batters versus Jerry Blevins.

This inconsistency would be solved with the addition of Miller. Even if Miller “struggles” against lefties like Blevins did in 2018, his role is still justified as he is on the club to do more than just get left-handed batters out.

Inefficient: Blevins’ Roster Spot was Not Fully Optimized

Since 2016, Blevins has averaged .63 innings per game pitched. Over the past 3 years, Blevins always appeared in at least 64 games while never throwing more than 49 innings.

This one/two batter type of usage is not efficient in the modern game. Another pitcher who performs well against both lefties and righties could have had Blevins’ roster spot, pitched in more games, thus providing the Mets with more value.

Add this together with his inconsistencies and we have a roster spot that did not perform to full value.

When healthy, Miller has proven to be the type of arm that could fix these problems. Since 2015, Miller has averaged 1.04 innings per game pitched. When healthy, you can rely on him to get a tough lefty out, and still pitch to the following batters.

This would then clear the need of carrying a left-handed specialist, allowing the Mets to have another arm to add depth within the bullpen. While left-handed specialists add value by winning a game or two, a deep bullpen could help win the season.