There’s been much discussion, including in this space, on how Jerry Manuel is systematically turning his bullpen arms into gruel. So how should he be using his bullpen in the near future?

Okay, let’s start with a few stipulations.

1. Hisonori Takahashi is probably in the rotation for some time.

2. Ditto R.A. Dickey- hamstrings don’t heal so quickly, and the Mets need to be extra cautious with Jon Niese, after the gruesome injury he suffered to the same hamstring last season.

So who are the seven relievers?

Obviously, K-Rod is your closer. Pedro Feliciano, rightfully so, is the second-best option out of that pen. Ryota Igarashi, upon his return, deserves to pitch. Raul Valdes has been effective, and ought to be used to give Feliciano some time off. Why have a second lefty, only to specifically NOT use him as a second lefty at times?

Three more spots. Clearly, Oliver Perez isn’t going anywhere- not back to the bullpen, not back to Buffalo. So make him the long man. Those are your lowest-leverage innings, and that’s what he should be pitching until he shows any signs of regaining 2007-2008 form.

Two left. Bring up Elmer Dessens to pitch low-to-medium leverage innings, and get Jenrry Mejia down to the minor leagues. No, not so he can come up and start in a month. So he can prepare for the possibility of starting in 2011, or more likely, 2012. Give him time to develope command of his secondary pitches. Dessens has a fine 17/3 K/BB ration at Triple-A. He’s not outstanding. But he’s fine.

For the final spot, feel free to keep Fernando Nieve around, and see if with a normal work schedule, he manages to find decent form. But he may be burned out, so hopefully, as John Ricco told Gary Cohen, Bobby Parnell has found “it”, with “it” clearly serving now as an antonym for how Fernando Nieve has been pitching. Send Manny Acosta to Triple-A- he’s fine bullpen filler if Nieve/Parnell fail. If you lose him on waivers, well, there are plenty of Acosta-like pitchers floating around baseball.

See? Not rocket science. My bullpen isn’t going to dominate, either. But it provides useful enough pitchers to spread work around, avoid burnout, keep top prospects from being wasted, gives the team a nice lefty/righty balance, and is significantly better than Jerry Manuel’s bullpen roster/usage for precisely these reasons.

Howard Megdal is the Editor-in-Chief of The Perpetual Post. He covers baseball, basketball and soccer for Capital New York, MLBTradeRumors.com, New York Baseball Digest and has written for ESPN.com as well as numerous other publications. He is the Poet Laureate for SBNation New York. His book about Jewish baseball players, “The Baseball Talmud,” is available for purchase on Amazon.com and wherever books are sold. His next book, "Taking The Field", is available for pre-order on Amazon.com and will publish in May 2011.

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Tags: Bobby Parnell, Bullpen, Fernando Nieve, Jenrry Mejia, Jerry Manuel, New York Mets, Pedro Feliciano