Mets need to stop pitching Ryan Helsley, now
With the struggling reliever costing his team a chance to sweep in Detroit, now is the time for the Mets to take decisive action...
What’s up with the Mets? ⚾️
The Mets failed to clinch the sweep against Detroit, instead falling to the Tigers 6-2 in the series finale on Wednesday afternoon (box)
RHP Clay Holmes allowed three runs - two earned - on five hits with three walks and six strikeouts across 4.2 innings
With the Mets trailing by just a run in the bottom of the seventh, RHP Ryan Helsley gave up a three-run homer to effectively seal the loss
On a quiet afternoon for the offense, 1B Pete Alonso and 3B Mark Vientos both stayed hot by driving in New York’s only runs of the game with a RBI double and RBI single, respectively
The Mets went 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position, leaving nine runners stranded on base
New York isn’t ruling out a possible minor league stint for RHP Kodai Senga, who would have to approve such a move (The Athletic)
Roster Moves 📰
LHP José Castillo, who was designated for assignment on Aug. 30, claimed off waivers by the Mariners
Injury Updates 🏥
C Francisco Alvarez (fractured pinky, UCL tear in thumb) hit a grand slam and went 1-for-4 with a walk for Triple-A Syracuse on Wednesday - he caught the entire game
OF Jose Siri (fractured tibia) went 1-for-4 with a run scored and two RBIs for Triple-A Syracuse on Wednesday
Playoff Race 🏁
Despite the Phillies also losing on Wednesday, the Mets failed to make up any ground due to their own loss. They are still 5.5 games back of Philadelphia for the NL East lead.
However, should the two teams finish in a tie, the Mets would win the NL East by virtue of the fact they won the season series against the Phillies:
Meanwhile, the Reds lost on Wednesday but the Giants won - again - meaning that the Mets are still five games ahead of Cincinnati, but now only four games ahead of San Francisco for the final Wild Card spot in the National League. But, with the Padres being swept by the Orioles on Wednesday, the Mets remain just one game back of San Diego for the second Wild Card berth.
The Mets magic number over both the Reds and the Giants is 18 (Mets own the tiebreaker over the Giants) with 22 games remaining for New York:
Per FanGraphs, the Mets have a 94.8% chance of making the postseason:
Stat of the Day 📊
RHP Ryan Helsley has now allowed 14 earned runs in 11 innings pitched as a Met (11.45 ERA) - he allowed just 12 earned runs in 36 innings pitched as a Cardinal (3.00 ERA). 13.6% of Helsley’s career earned runs have come as a Met. 3.5% of Helsley’s career innings pitched have come as a Met
Who’s Hot? 🥵
LHP Gregory Soto has now allowed just one earned run in his last five outings, while walking one and striking out five
Over his last seven games, RF Juan Soto is hitting .417/.576/.1.125/.1.701 with one triple, five home runs, four stolen bases, four walks, and 12 RBIs
Over his last seven games, 1B Pete Alonso is hitting .375/.394/.813/.1.206 with two doubles, four homers, and seven RBIs
Over his last six games, CF Jeff McNeil is slashing .429/.538/.619/.1.158 with two doubles, one triple, one stolen base, four walks, and three RBIs
In his last seven games, LF Brandon Nimmo is hitting .400/.438/.733/.1.171 with four doubles, two homers, two walks, and seven RBIs
Play of the Game 😡
So far, the Ryan Helsley experiment has proved to be a total bust for the Mets.
The right-handed reliever has struggled greatly in Queens since being acquired at the Trade Deadline, and those struggles only continued on Wednesday afternoon in Detroit.
With the Mets trailing by just one run in the bottom of the seventh, Helsley’s job was to keep it a 3-2 game and hand it back over to the offense.
Instead, Helsley showed he wasn’t up to the task from the off, allowing a leadoff single and a walk, before giving up the knockout blow in the form of a three-run homer to Kerry Carpenter with no outs to blow the game wide open.
Helsley’s fatal error made it a four-run game and, just like that, the Mets saw their chances of sweeping the series disappear.
Down on the Farm 🌾
2B Jett Williams (No. 2 prospect, Triple-A): 2-for-4, HR, 2 RBI, 2 R, BB
OF A.J. Ewing (No. 7 prospect, Double-A): 3-for-6, 2 R, SB
OF Nick Morabito (No. 16 prospect, Double-A): 2-for-5, RBI, R, SB
BOX SCORES
Single-A STL | High-A BRK | Double-A BNG | Triple-A SYR
Today’s Game 🗓️
The Mets are off on Thursday and will head to Cincinnati ready to open a big three-game series against the Reds on Friday
Ryan Helsley simply is not pitch-able right now ✍️
How do you solve a problem like Ryan Helsley?
Sadly, I don’t have any answers to that glaring question right now. And, reading the tea leaves, I don’t think the Mets do, either.
Helsley’s all-time struggles since being acquired at the Trade Deadline continued on Wednesday after he gave up the gut-punch three-run homer that effectively sealed the win for Detroit.
As a result, New York failed to clinch the sweep and also couldn’t take advantage of the Phillies and the Padres both losing.
Additionally, Helsley has now given up 14 earned runs in just 11 innings pitched since being acquired by the Mets. His ERA stands at an ugly 11.45 over that span.
So much for that super bullpen. Helsley just isn’t pitchable at this point in the season.
For context, Helsley had allowed just 12 earned runs in 36 innings (3.00 ERA) for the Cardinals.
It is hard to fathom just exactly what has gone wrong for the righty reliever in Queens. There was talk after the game on Wednesday about Helsley needing to elevate his fastball more, in addition to getting back to basics. Helsley also discussed changes he’s made to his delivery in order to avoid tipping pitches.
However, for all the Monday Morning Quarterbacking done by player and manager Carlos Mendoza in the wake of the game, there didn’t seem to be a single concrete answer as to why Helsley has stunk so badly in a Mets uniform.
How are you supposed to fix something if you don’t know what the problem is? He’s either tipping, poorly locating, having trouble adjusting to his role, having trouble adjusting to New York, or perhaps all of the above.
If it’s one thing, fine. That’s probably fixable. But clearly, it is not just one thing even though he and everyone around him keep harping on the tipping issue.
Of course, you can make a compelling argument that Mendoza should never have put a struggling Helsley into a one-run game in the first place. It is hardly the first time this year that Mendoza has pushed the wrong buttons and failed to manage his bullpen correctly.
That’s another conversation for a different day, though.
For now, the Mets need to take decisive action with their Trade Deadline acquisition for the overall good of the team.
It is no longer good enough for Mendoza to keep stressing that he believes in Helsley. Now isn’t the time to try and figure it out with a struggling pitcher who just clearly doesn’t have it.
After all, Helsley has shown no signs of turning this around. Instead, he’s getting worse with every outing, and he’s costing his team games at a time when every single game is almost do-or-die.
This organization can’t continue to keep on rolling Helsley out there and hope that the train will magically put itself back on the tracks. That’s beyond foolish.
We’ve seen no evidence of Helsley being able to fix whatever is ailing him out on the mound. Keeping him in the heat of the fire is hardly going to help his cause.
Now, I don’t think the Mets will DFA Helsley as some fans have suggested. The front office gave up a considerable package for the veteran, and I don’t think this team will just give up on him like that.
Instead, there are two obvious paths to explore…
Put Helsley in a lower-leverage spot and in games when the outcome isn’t up for grabs. Maybe less pressure will allow the righty to fix whatever needs fixing on the fly;
If the above doesn’t work, or isn’t feasible, get him off the roster somehow
There is no doubt that Helsley has tremendous stuff. We saw that in St. Louis. And that’s why the Mets front office was willing to give up what they did for him.
However, it’s clearly just not working in New York for Helsley. Be it the pressure of pitching in a big market, struggling to adjust to a new team, or simply a mindset or mechanical issue, Helsley just looks broken, and I’m not convinced there is a quick fix here.
Even if there was, trying to make those adjustments in the heat of a playoff battle just isn’t the time or place to do it. The Mets need every single win they can get their hands on. Come the end of the season, one or two losses could prove fatal.
When you consider that San Francisco has won 10 of its last 11 games, closing the gap on New York in the process, and with a huge set of games coming against the Reds and the Phillies, the Mets can’t afford to keep putting Helsley in big spots and risk throwing away games that will have huge ramifications come the end of this month.
With October dreams on the line, now is the time to make a hard decision on the struggling Helsley, who has already fallen off the cliff.
Otherwise, continuing to keep the faith could prove costly.
Around the League 🚩
LF Yordan Álvarez went 4-for-5 with a game-tying double as the Astros came from behind to beat the Yankees, 8-7
OF George Springer finished 2-for-4 with a homer to help the Blue Jays rally from a five-run deficit to beat Cincinnati, 13-9
INF Yandy Díaz recorded his first career five-hit night as the Rays beat Seattle, 9-4
3B Matt Chapman hit a pair of homers to help the Giants beat the Rockies, 10-8
INF Jackson Holliday hit a leadoff homer in the first inning to help the Orioles sweep the Padres
What I find most disturbing about the decision to pitch Helsley late in a one run game is that Torrens was available.
"Of course, you can make a compelling argument that Mendoza should never have put a struggling Helsley into a one-run game in the first place." I've been one to defend Mendoza but this was staggeringly dumb because Helsley has been consistently and reliably bad and if you want to lose a ballgame bringing him in is an excellent idea.