Veteran left-handed reliever Chasen Shreve has been informed that he’ll make the Mets’ Opening Day roster, Shreve himself tells Tim Healey of Newsday (Twitter link). Shreve signed a minor league deal back on March 17.
This’ll be Shreve’s second stint with the Mets, and it’s a well-earned roster spot for the 31-year-old southpaw, who rattled off four hitless innings with six strikeouts against just one walk allowed during Grapefruit League play with the Mets. Following yesterday’s trade for Joely Rodriguez, Shreve gives new manager Buck Showalter a pair of experienced lefties to help balance out his bullpen.
Shreve spent the 2021 season in Pittsburgh, where he worked to a 3.20 ERA in 56 1/3 innings. However, Shreve also saw his typically strong strikeout rate (career 27.1% prior to 2021) drop to 19.1%, while his 11.9% walk rate was the third-highest mark of his eight-year big league career. The Pirates could’ve retained him via arbitration but instead chose to outright him after the season rather than pay him a raise on last year’s $1.5MM salary.
Shreve’s prior stint with the Mets was a successful one, as he tossed 25 frames during the shortened 2020 season and worked to a 3.96 ERA with a much more robust 33.3% strikeout rate. The Mets will surely hope there’s more of that bat-missing prowess on display in 2022, but so long as he notches something in the vicinity of his career 3.63 ERA (285 innings), they’ll surely be pleased with what already looks like a solid low-risk pickup.
Shreve isn’t your typical lefty specialist with gaudy platoon splits; he hasn’t dominated left-handed opponents in his career but also hasn’t been overmatched by right-handers like so many southpaws. Through 482 plate appearances, lefties have batted .222/.319/.405 against Shreve, while right-handers have posted a very similar .226/.316/.428 slash in a larger sample of 741 plate appearances. Shreve will reach six years of Major League service early this year, so when the 2022 season ends, he’ll be eligible for free agency.
*ROCHESTER RABBITS
You confuse me to no end
Aha! The Mets have something up their Shreve!
Good numbers, good addition
Normally I wouldn’t put much stock in the Mets being short on lefty relievers, but in that division it’s crucial (Harper, Soto and more). Shreve is much needed.
Except: during his time with the Yanks he always carried reverse splits. Perhaps things have changed with him. If they have not, those lefties are going to eat when he’s on the mound.
Yea. That’s going to be problematic.
He had one real nice stretch for us of about 4 or 5 months. Not much to speak of after that.
Again, I have lost track of him. Perhaps that split he was working on developed & he now has a viable weapon against same hand hitters. But it was maddening the way we kept trying to shoehorn him into a semi-loogy role & it just simply did not work. The numbers bore that out.
Is it just me or is there still some residual view that you need a lefty to get lefties out?
Plenty of righties with reverse splits getting short changed imo.
Most reverse splits are statistical anomalies. Unless there is causation (knuckleball, screwball, odd throwing motion) it’s better to go lefty vs lefty if you’re looking to play the advantage game
Oddly enough, Chapman carries reverse splits too. Which is really hard to figure. With him it has been a trend for years (as it was with Shreve.)
Raffy Devers agrees with the Chapman reverse splits.
He’s not the only one we could mention here, Mantooth. But: yeah. He does too.
Uncommon, but not unheard of.
I’d hope that if the sample size is large enough, more would consider going down that road if it makes sense:
blogs.fangraphs.com/david-robertson-is-the-phillie…
I’m mentioning this because (I think) Miguel Castro was better against lefties last year than the lefty they traded him for. Sure, could have been a blip. But made me wonder if more Robertsons were out there and if teams were unanimous in thinking about them the way the data supports rather than “the way it’s always been done.”
no brainer
Ironic since the Mets (aka Rochester Rabbits) will be Chasin the rest of the division all season
Great pick up in Shreve so why then give up Castro for nothing?
A lefty with a 4.61 ERA
And what’s your rotation now?
Eppler is a moron just like he was with the Angels!
Im sure you watched the games last year where Castro couldnt find the strikezone. If you saw the interview with Eppler yesterday, he basically said that the results werent as important as his overall strikeout to walk ratio and how he was getting the outs. Castro gives up too many walks and has poor control. We also needed a lefty and Eppler sees something in Rodriguez
Castro > Joely. If I had to guess, Cashman probably said on the phone: “can you repeat that offer please” before happily making this trade. Eppler is getting too caught up in specific metrics. Castro has electric stuff while Rodriguez does not. Castro definitely has some wildness to him, but he reminds me of a young Joe Kelly. If he can reign in his walks a little bit (under 10%), he’ll be a legit late inning weapon for the Yankees.
I actually like the young Joe Kelly comp. I see it.
“Eppler yesterday, he basically said that the results werent as important…”
Yeah that’s why he is a moron; anyone knows results don’t matter?
“Eppler sees something in Rodriguez”
I gave to get me some of what Eppler is on.
I always liked him maybe I’m wrong like people always tell me
I was expecting Shreve to be the type of LH reliever the Tigers would go after. Instead, I was stunned when they signed Chafin. Now Chafin will start on the IL. Typical for an Avila FA signing. I loved the Signing but it seems Avila is cursed when it comes to signing a pitcher.
It’s pretty likely that the Chafin signing will be a good deal in the long run
I thought that Shreve pitched pretty well last year for the Pirates and I was hoping that they would keep him.I think that they ran into a numbers problem on the 40 man with all 0f the young players that they have.
Releasing him probably also saved them $2-3M which may have been the more overriding reason.
He’ll make 6 years this season so he’s eligible for free agency? He’s a free agent every year.
We have a few lefties to keep teams honest, but honestly, having a LOOGY is no longer a necessity in today’s game. The Mets are going to bash the NL’s brains in with the way their lineup is shaping up. Let the underestimation and vitriol continue LFGM!
Love my Metsies, but no Jake? Need to send Dom to Oakland for Montas. Joely Rodriguez is a piece of baseball garbage—what was Eppler thinking? Don’t know what they can win with Cano onboard.
@alproof You act as if deGrom passed away or something. So quick to write him off. There’s no way we’re going to deal Dom Smith to Oakland. deGrom will be back before you know it, so take a deep breath and relax.
Players who have three or more years of Major League service but less than six years of Major League service become eligible for salary arbitration if they do not already have a contract for the next season.
If he did not reach the 6 year service time mark before the end of this season, he would be arbitration eligible and likely non-tendered again.
But you were just being sarcastic.
@Lee Harvey Oddball
Has Tony Watson signed yet? I thought he was a lock to get a Mets offer. Maybe he isn’t healthy or his agent is looking for too much?