Garrett started off in a legendary fashion. But by the end of the year, I hated seeing him come in. No lead could be trusted. The run of greatness lasted all of a month-and-a-half and 17 games. From April 4 to May 19, he was untouchable. 25 IP. 41 K. 0.72 ERA. Wanted a win when no one else could lock one up? Garrett was your man, as he was 5-0 at that point.
Then, just like that, the wheels fell off. On May 22, he gave up a run in an inning of work against Cleveland for his first loss of the season. On May 24, he allowed five runs against the Giants for his second loss of the season.
From May 22 on, he was 3-5 with a 6.12 ERA in 36 games. Batters had a .803 OPS against him.
ERAs by month—April: 0.57. May: 6.08. June: 3.60. July: 9.00. August: 4.50. September: 3.86. He didn't allow a single run in 13 games from August 22 to September 21, bringing his season ERA back down to 3.18. But just as he was about to redeem himself by going out on a high note, he blew it in his final appearance, surrendering four runs to shoot his ERA way back up to 3.77—typical Garrett!
I couldn't watch the guy. He would get hyper fired up over getting a K or a key out when the issues he was trying to get out of were of his own doing. Don't get fired up over an out when the team is in the shape it's in because of YOU.
And even when he was good, it was all an illusion. He was getting lucky. He walked guys like crazy and surrendered hits like crazy and was just able to finagle his way out of things for a while. Look at that WHIP for the season—1.395. That's awful. Even when his ERA was still below 3 (on May 30, when it was 2.54) his WHIP was 1.341. He was pitching better than his actual skill level for two months. Then the luck ran out.
For most of the season, he pitched like the Garrett that played for the Mets in 2023 (5.82 ERA) and for his entire big league career (7.11 ERA).
You could tell he was overmatched most of the time because he always had this derpy, lost, bewildered, overwhelmed look on his face.
I wasn't around when Doug Sisk was a thing, but I can only imagine the way Garrett made me feel is what Doug Sisk made Mets fans feel in the 1980s. They're even similar statistically—fair ERAs but lots of hits and walks and terrible WHIPs.
Then Garrett went and blew it in the NLCS, posting a 9.64 ERA 4 appearances. I knew the Mets weren't long for the playoffs because they were relying so heavily on guys like him.
Well, that's all I got. All I can say is this post was very cathartic. Sorry Reed, you sucked. Hope to see you with the Long Island Ducks in 2025.
