THE List: Top 10 Worst Mets Relievers
(From the archives — originally posted 12/12/11)
Butch Metzger (1978)
Metzger won the Rookie of the Year in 1976. When the Mets got him two years later at age 26 he was already washed up. In his one year with the Mets and his final year in baseball he had a 6.51 ERA and more walks than strikeouts. He was so bad the excellent Ultimate Mets Database does not even have a picture of him.
Anthony Young (1991-1993)
From May 6, 1992 through July 24, 1993, pitching as a starter and a reliever (mostly as a reliever), Young lost a major league record 27 straight games. His overall record with the Mets was 5-35, but with a respectable 3.82 ERA. He was a victim of bad luck, but with that record he’s got to get on the list.
Mel Rojas (1997-1998)
Rojas was supposed to replace John Franco in the bullpen. Then the Mets got a look at him and quickly re-signed Franco. Rojas had a 5.76 ERA with the Mets.
Rich Rodriguez (2000)
Perhaps the worst pitcher ever on the Mets, as his 7.78 ERA can attest. He only made it through the year because he was allegedly then-GM Steve Phillips former minor league roommate.
Jorge Julio (2006)
Remember him? He lasted half a season with the Mets after coming in the Kris Benson deal. He was flipped for Orlando Hernandez, who was effective until he went down before the playoffs. Julio sucked.
Guillermo Mota (2006-2007)
Mota was excellent when the Mets got him late in the season in 2006. Turns out he was on steroids. Without the PEDs he was terrible in 2007 (5.76 ERA).
Scott Schoeneweis (2007-2008)
God he was awful, yet it always seemed like he was pitching, Indeed, he appeared in 70 games in 2007 (when he had a 5.03 ERA) and 73 in 2008 when he was a little less awful but still crappy.
Sean Green (2009-2010)
Green somehow appeared in 79 games in 2009, and he sucked in each and every one. I hated him.
Ryota Igarashi (2010-2011)
Igarashi was pitching lights-out early in 2010 but was never the same after he came back from injury, posting a sterling 7.12 ERA for the season. He’s gone now.
D.J. Carrasco (2011-current)
But we still have Carrasco, whom Alderson for some reason thought was worthy of a two-year contract. Carrasco spent most of the year in the minors; when he didn’t he pitched to a 6.02 ERA.
Mug Shots courtesy Ultimate Mets Database
usually i think your lists are correct, but how did you leave off aaron heilman? he was more worth than schoenweis (not THAT bad, but i do agree not great) or julio (too small a sample size, in my opinion)
I had to leave a bunch of guys off to get to ten. The Mets have had a lot of crummy relievers over the years!
As far as Heilman, he was actually pretty good before he turned bad, so overall I wouldn’t say he was one of the worst.
Julio came with somewhat high expectations, which made his poor performance that much worse.
And I just really, really hated Schoeneweis!
Mark, a very representative list! In my opinion Mel Rojas (nice to see him on your list) was the worst of the worst! I remember taking a trip up to Toronto a number of years back (mid-90’s) to see the Mets and Jays. Great game – Mets came back to take a lead in the 10th. They brought Rojas in with 1 out and bases loaded in the bottom of the inning and you guessed it!!!!! 1 pitch later…….
You could have saved time on the list by just writing in the entire bullpen of the 2007 and 2008 squads. Watching them was like watching a train wreck in progress. You couldn’t take your eyes off ’em!
One more tid bit – remember the 9 run lead they blew vs the Pirates? I’m not sure if it was 07 or 08.
Nice job on the list Mark. As always don’t fret – Moises Alou should be off the DL anytime now! Let’s Go Mets!
Anyone remember how bad Paul Gibson was for us.
No mention of just as bad
Dale Murray
Rich Folkers
Darren Holmes,
Tom the Blade Hall
Felix Herida
I am missing some but there is a list of more
add Richardo Jordan to my bad list .
Wow, Ron, you’ve come up with some pretty obscure names there! It just goes to show how many bad relievers the Mets have had in their history.
Toby Borland was the worst I ever saw
Lets not forget the torture that was Alejandro Pena or Doug Sisk.
You guys are all forgetting Doug Sisk.