LOOGY???

The Mets currently have no LOOGY in their bullpin. For those of us who don't know a LOOGY is a Left-handed One Out GuY. The only solid left handed reliever on the Mets is Billy Wagner and he is the closer. Royce Ring is currently the only other left-handed reliever on the 40-man roster and did not impress the Mets enough to keep him on the major league team (in a very small sample size) in 2005. In 15 games Ring went 0-2 with a 5.06 ERA. However in 6.1 innings Ring posted a 1.42 ERA against lefties. This is not bad but it is a very small sample size. The Mets also have several LHPs, who are not on the 40-man rotation, that are invited to Spring Training. Names include Pedro Feliciano, Mr.Koo (Dae-sung Koo), Matt Perisho, and Mike Venafro. Pedro Feliciano will be returning to the Mets for his fourth season. He has had a career 4.21 ERA in 51 games. He was off for all of last year. In his last season (2004) lefties hit .128 against Feliciano. Mr.Koo has showed us all that he can make a nice slide into home, but can he get lefties out. Well according to his splits from last year, Koo posted a 3.65 ERA against left handed hitters in 12.1 innings. This is not terrible but it is not what you want from a LOOGY, granted this is a very small sample size. In 22 innings Matt Perisho posted a 3.86 ERA against lefties. While this is a larger sample size than Mr.Koo's it is still very small, and the numbers are not what is expected of a LOOGY. According to MLB.com Mike Venafro's ERA against lefties was 2.00 in 2004. Venafro did not pitch last year. I do not have enough information on his career splits to make an informative guess as to if he will be a good LOOGY. So as you can see the LOOGY job is up in the air. All four of these guys could get the job, but they will have to earn it in spring training. If I had to make a guess I would say Royce Ring would be the LOOGY in 2006. He is the youngest and was a former top prospect. If he could harness some of the greatness he once had he could definitely be a good LOOGY.