Mets reportedly planning to use Seth Lugo out of the bullpen in 2021

The “belief and expectation” is that Mets are planning on using Seth Lugo out of the bullpen in 2021, according to MLB Network’s Jon Heyman.

With the acquisition of Carlos Carrasco, the Mets have added another pitcher to a rotation to go along with Jacob deGrom, Marcus Stroman, David Peterson and Steven Matz while Noah Syndergaard recovers from Tommy John surgery.

Lugo served as both a starter and reliever last season, making nine appearances out of the bullpen before moving to the rotation for six starts to close out the season.

In his nine relief appearances, Lugo tossed 10 1/3 innings with three saves, striking out 11 batters and walking two. He pitched to a 2.61 ERA (though he did allow two of three inherited runners to score), and opponents slashed .211/.250/.342 against him. The right-hander also allowed just one home run out of the bullpen.

He moved to the rotation on Aug. 25, and the results were decidedly different. Though his strikeout numbers went up with 36 in 26 1/3 innings, opposing hitters clearly benefited from seeing him multiple times in a game. His ERA as a starter ballooned to 6.15, he allowed seven home runs and yielded a .296/.350/.556 slash line.

Lugo pitched exclusively out of the bullpen in 2019 and was lights out, striking out 104 batters in 80 innings with an opponents’ slash line of .192/.246/.316. He had 21 holds and five saves, as well.

Sandy Alderson made the case for either role for Lugo on Thursday, telling reporters "you could say he's more a bullpen piece because of what we've added in the starting rotation. And conversely you could say that he's more of a starting pitching piece because of the depth we've added in the bullpen."

Though Lugo has said he wants to start, there’s a stark difference in his results as a member of the rotation as opposed to the bullpen, and all of that points to using him as a reliever.