Mets still haven't replaced one key pitcher from last year

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — With most of the moves the Mets made in the offseason, drawing lines from the new players to the old ones is easy.

Justin Verlander became the immediate answer to Jacob deGrom bolting for Texas. Kodai Senga and Jose Quintana are the new Chris Bassitt and Taijuan Walker. David Robertson subs in for Seth Lugo, Tommy Pham for Tyler Naquin, Omar Narvaez for James McCann. Brooks Raley should be an upgrade from Joely Rodriguez. And it helped that Brandon Nimmo, Edwin Diaz and Adam Ottavino returned.

But the key 2022 Met they have not replaced — and whom they might not — pitched against them Friday afternoon at Clover Park: Trevor Williams.

Williams was highly effective in a utility role last year, carrying a 3.21 ERA and 1.23 WHIP across 21 relief appearances and nine starts. He pitched in easy wins and ugly losses, opened games when needed, recorded one save and one hold and generally did whatever was asked of him — which sometimes was nothing at all, with Williams pitching once a week, if that, during stretches.

And he did it all better than the Mets could have expected.

“I know our front office, the players, the teammates, the coaching staff — we know what Trevor did for us last year,” manager Buck Showalter said Friday. “And we know the challenges of finding somebody. To say we can find him, it’s going to be hard. If we can get close to it, I’d be OK with that.”

After two scoreless innings against his former team in the Nationals’ 11-6 exhibition win, Williams said: “I went out there every time and didn’t want to let the team down. My job was to eat innings. If it wasn’t to eat innings, it was to keep the team in the hunt for that day. And if it wasn’t for that day, it was to give the team enough innings to get a chance to win the next day.”

Being a good swingman requires at least two qualifications, according to Showalter: a delivery that requires minimal maintenance (because the pitcher might go many days between outings) and a level of mental “resiliency.”

“It’s as much a mental state of mind as it is physical ability,” he said. “There’s gotta be a certain mental toughness and there’s gotta be a certain — I don’t want to say lack of ego. We all have some form of ego to play at this level. Or they do. But how can I help a team? What do you need me to do?”

The Mets have several candidates to fill the Williams role, Showalter said, including Joey Lucchesi and Elieser Hernandez.

Lucchesi, who missed last season because of Tommy John surgery, has only dabbled in relief but said he expressed a willingness to team decision-makers to work out of the bullpen. Hernandez has experience as a reliever/starter hybrid but has never been particularly good at either, including with the Marlins last year, when he had a 6.35 ERA in 10 starts and 10 relief appearances. He has tossed two innings in relief in each of his two Grapefruit League outings.

Then again, the Mets might elect to not carry a swingman/long reliever at all, especially with a bunch of traditional relievers competing for just a couple of bullpen spots.

“I’ve got three or four guys that I think might carry a similar makeup to Trevor,” Showalter said. “But you still have to get people out . . . I’m not sure the way we’ll go.”

The Mets talked to Williams, who was a free agent, in December. He said at the time that he was tempted to return, largely because of their chance to win the World Series. But he landed a two-year, $13 million deal — and a full-time return to the rotation — with Washington.

So now the Mets will hope a replacement emerges.

“Every team,” Showalter said, “is looking for that guy.”

By Tim Healey

timothy.healey@newsday.com@timbhealey

Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.