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It struck me last night — though it's been tickling my thoughts in one way or another since the Atlanta deal — that the Mets list of reserves since the Campbell demotion and the Recker return... exists entirely of Anthony Recker. The addition of three new batsmen and the return of others from disability or infirmary has left the team in a situation where all the other hitters can consider themselves part of a starting rotation where all of them are starting more than 50% of the time.
Beyond that, it's turned the bench — a liability through much of the season — suddenly into an obvious strength. I watched last night's game knowing how tough the late inning bullpen management would be on Walt Weiss as the Mets had a bench of Granderson, Duda, Johnson, and Conforto — professional hitters all, as JC Lunchbucket pointed out. Had a righty been started, the Mets would perhaps have boasted a bench of Cuddyer, Flores, Lagares, and Uribe — pretty professional-looking also. And Laggy is hitting as consistently as he has all year.
It's really giving me CAHNfidence in the middle innings. And a bench with those kinds of threats doesn't even have to perform to be effective. A manager like Weiss can end up tying his own hands with his bullpen moves to avoid a matchup that lets those guys get a poke with a platoon advantage. Or perhaps burn his specialist relievers too early.
Let's go, Bench!
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