On today's Mets broadcast Gary Cohen talked about the bullpen being the Mets only major weakness. While it's somewhat reassuring to consider that the Mets are second in the league in runs scored and when healthy have the deepest starting pitching, it's still frightening to consider how much damage the team's relievers coud do in a pennant race. Off the top of my head I can think of one great example of a team winning with only a dominant bullpen--the '02 Angels who prayed every night that the starter could make it to the 6th inning. On the other hand, everyone remembers that the '01 Diamondbacks won the title that year on the backs of Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling--two starting pictchers. One of the keys to Arizona's run was Johnson'd shut down performance out of the pen--something Bob Brenly didn't trust his normal corps of relievers to do. Remember Byun Hyung Kim? My point exactly.
Can the Mets win with a terrible pen? I say yes, but that assumes they even make the playoffs. I think the bullpen is much more critical in the pennant race itself where Jerry Manuel will need to mix and match nightly. In a playoff series there will be any of number of variables--with a shortened rotation the Mets would be able to plug a starter into a relief role (hello John Maine or Petey Martinez). Similar to RJ's performance this could reduce the need for the usual suspects to perform at the most critical times. Unfortunately, unless the Heilman and Co. get it together ASAP we may never get to find out.
