Who will be the 2nd Lefty...

Last year the Mets made the mistake of not having a second left handed reliever in the pen. Initially they brought in several journeyman type lefties and when none of them shined in spring training, they hoped the righties could get the job done.

Throughout the season, they continued to put themselves in bad match-ups, over use Feliciano and call-up ineffective left handed relievers. The closest they came to a second lefty was Ken Takahashi who requested his release to return to Japan this off-season.

While I've commended Omar for several of his signings that I believe will improve the pen, there's still a glaring hole for what should be a second lefty.

Their best in-house option is no longer with the team as Adam Bostick signed a minor league contract elsewhere. There are two other lefties on the forty man roster, Pat Misch and Arturo Lopez.

Pat Misch is a 28 y/o left hander who has been used mostly as a starter but last year as a reliever had an ERA of 2.89 in 15 games and as a starter his ERA was 4.69 in seven starts. The Mets grabbed Misch off the waiver wires when the Giants were forced to give up on the young lefty in a roster crunch, Misch was once considered one of the young up coming starters in the Giants deep farm system.

Arturo Lopez is a 26 y/o lefty who was given a chance last year by the Padres after a strong performance in the Mexican league. He has spent most of his minor league career as a starter but the Padres were grooming him to be a long reliever. He appeared in four games with the Pads as a mid-season call-up but gave up five runs in two innings. The Mets claimed him off waivers and he spent the year in Buffalo posting an ERA of 3.86 as a reliever appearing in 15 gms. ( 30 innings). He is currently starting in the winter leagues, in seven starts he has a 4.54 ERA and in two relief appearances he has a 0.00 ERA in which the opponents BA is .091.

Here is a list of free agent left handed relievers;

John Bale (36), Joe Beimel (32), Alan Embree (40), Scott Eyre (38), Mark Hendrickson (36), Ron Mahay (39), Will Ohman (31), Horacio Ramirez (30), Glendon Rusch (35), Scott Schoeneweis (36), Brian Shouse (41), Ron Villone (40), Jamie Walker (38)