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By Joe McDonald Now that Aaron Heilman is gone, the Mets can walk away from the aged old question of whether he should be a starter or a reliever. The much talked about topic was a microcosm of the Mets bullpen last season. There were so many talented guys misused – for one reason or another – in different roles.
But those days are ended now with the new look bullpen, having set positions for each and every player.  Or has it?
Rookie Bobby Parnell is learning the role of bullpen specialist after a minor league career as a starter. With such a tough transition – and chaos in the rotation – the 24-year-old could argue that he should get a shot to start. No worries here Met fans, as this righthander knows his role and has no thoughts of causing any waves. “I doesn’t matter when you break it down, it’s all one inning anyway,” Parnell said. “You go out there to make three outs. I just try to take it one at a time anyway.” Thus is the story of this North Carolina native. Unlike the cerebral Heilman, who yearned for the rotation, Parnell breaks the game down in a much simpler fashion. A quiet kid with a somewhat thick skin, Parnell seems to better suited for the relief corps than the former Notre Dame hurler. “He gets it for a young kid,” said reliever J.J. Putz. “He doesn’t know the bullpen that well, being his first year out of the bullpen. So he knows it’s okay to ask questions. When I was coming up, I had some veteran guys helping me – Eddie Guardado, Jeff Nelson; the list goes on and on. Those guys are there for a reason. To answer questions on things you don’t know and don’t know why.” Putz has become somewhat of a mentor for Parnell, but with veterans like Francisco Rodriguez, Sean Green and Pedro Feliciano also out there, he has plenty of guys to lean on. And that’s what he doing now as he has shown success early this season. As of May 3, Parnell has appeared in 12 games with a 1.59 ERA. He has shown veteran poise to go along with his biting fastball. Yet that’s what the Met hoped for when he came to Port St. Lucie this spring. After a cup of coffee in September, Parnell was on the radar and the organization hoped he could help the squad this season. “Obviously I had the goal of making the majors coming into the season,” he said. “I was going to let things happen as they may and I went into the spring with an open mind. “I went through the same workout regiment. I got some throwing in and some bullpens in. I went into spring training healthy and in shape.” A 3-0 record with a 1.88 ERA was good enough to plop this small town boy into the big city. But don’t worry about New York getting to him. Parnell actually had experience while playing for the Brooklyn Cyclones back in 2005, which is something he uses now playing just a few miles up on the Van Wyck Expressway. “ The Cyclones were definitely a great experience,” Parnell, who started the NY-Penn All-Star game while playing at Keyspan Park in Coney Island. “Playing for Brooklyn was definitely a stepping stone in my career. I try to talk to the guys and keep up with them as much as I can.” Nick Evans is one of them, who was one of the last cuts this spring, which makes Parnell the only member of his Brooklyn class to be in the majors. So instead of the Kings County support network, Parnell will have to lean on his teammates. Most are just trying to get him acclimated to the big leagues, but there will be one day when he gets lit up when having K-Rod and Putz around will come in handy.“ A young guy coming up - you don’t want to put too much in his head,” Rodriguez said. “But when he has a few rough outings, we have to go and talk to him. But right now he is making the adjustment and pitching well.” And then the Mets closer warned he will have to learn “how to deal with a bad day and a bad outing. How to wipe that out and be recovered for the next day. You can tell he’s going to pick it up in the future.” And if he does, he is already one step ahead of his predecessor. |
