Is Pedro Beato the New Duaner Sanchez?

It seems like we’ve seen this before — a Mets reliever is pitching lights-out, gets injured, and then is never the same. Remember Duaner Sanchez (not to mention the franchise-altering trade that followed)? People forget Ryota Igarashi was pitching extraordinarily well early last season before getting injured — we all remember the horrible performances afterwards. Now it’s Pedro Beato’s turn.

When Beato went on the DL with elbow tendinitis, his ERA was 0.00. He’s appeared in nine games since his return — he has allowed runs in five games, three earned runs in three of those games. His ERA now stands at 4.10.

He entered Wednesday night’s game against the Brewers in the eighth inning with the Mets leading 6-2. He mananged to get only one out, allowed three runs, and by the time the inning was over the score was tied at six. Newest bullpen retread Dale Thayer allowed a run in the ninth, and the Mets went down 7-6 — another bullpen meltdown, another disappointing loss.

It’s unclear if Beato’s elbow is still bothering him, or if he is just pitching poorly. Either way, it’s starting to look like yet another promising reliever unable to regain his stuff after an injury.

This one is particularly disappointing since Beato was such a good story — a local kid pitching for the team he rooted for while growing up in Queens. The Mets can’t send him down to the minors to work things out because he was a Rule 5 guy, and has to stay with the Mets or be offered back to the Orioles.

Hopefully this is just a setback and he can turn things around. The Mets need a feel-good story this season, in addition to a reliable reliever, of course.