It is impossible to devalue the importance of having a dependable bullpen and a lock-down closer, even if you’re 10 games out of first place and 11 games out of the second wild-card spot with 66 games remaining in the season.
In other words, if you’re the Mets.
The non-waiver trade deadline looms just a week away, and there is going to be some debate about whether incumbent closer Bobby Parnell might have more value to the franchise as a trade chip than he does on the mound in the ninth inning of a winnable ballgame.
The debate won’t be about Parnell as an individual so much as it will be about the concept of the closer on a bad team … and that still is what the Mets qualify as despite improving to 19-12 over their last 31 games with last night’s 4-1 victory over the division-leading Braves in Queens — in which Parnell recorded a no-fuss, no-muss save.
You can make the argument that a strong closer on a losing team such as the 44-52 hometown heroes is as superfluous as, say, yet another backup quarterback on the Jets, and that such a commodity represents a wasted asset.
But you have to start somewhere building a winner, and even if you’re starting with Matt Harvey and Zach Wheeler, you have to be able to finish the job. And if you believe Parnell has the right stuff to be entrusted with the ball in the ninth when the team becomes a contender, then it seems folly to deal him when finding a replacement will become trial-and-error.
The Mets are further away from playing meaningful games in August and September than they would be if their bullpen had been better out of the gate. The relief corps is 13th in the NL in ERA, 13th in WHIP and 14th out of 15 in batting-average-against while winning 17, losing 20 and blowing 13-of-34 save opportunities for the third worst success ratio (61.8 percent) in the NL.
Parnell, though, has converted 19-of-24 opportunities overall after his double-K, one-two-three ninth. The rest of the pen — meaning what would become the entire pen if the right-handed power arm is dealt — is 2 for 10. And Parnell has gone 10 for 11 with Monday’s rain-soaked hiccup the lone blemish since June 4.
In that one, the weather conditions had gotten so bad Parnell couldn’t get a grip on the ball, thus the Mets lost their grip on the game. Last night, grey skies had cleared up, allowing his team to put on happy faces.
“The worst part of that kind of weather is you can’t get a rhythm,” Parnell told The Post. “You’re feeling for a spot on the ball, and you don’t have the confidence to get it going.
“But I put that behind me pretty quick. Even though it can be in the back of your head and tough to get rid of, I feel like I’ve done a good job of not allowing a rough night like that to affect me. I got out here in the afternoon and worked hard on the mound to get back where I need to be, and it paid off.”
Manager Terry Collins is resolute in his belief the relief corps has become an asset rather than a liability as the summer has evolved. It sure was last night, with David Aardsma, Scott Rice, LaTroy Hawkins and Parnell combining to spin three hitless, shutout innings.
“[The bullpen] has been pretty great the last month,” Collins said. “I think our pitching is a strength, and not just our starting pitching.”
Parnell is no whiz kid. He will turn 29 in September and is in his first full season as the Mets’ primary closer. His time has come, his numbers are his best ever, and the Mets have him under contract control through 2015.
“We know we can shorten the games down,” Collins said. “That makes you feel good.”
The shorter the games, the shorter distance between the Mets and contention.
Make no mistake. No one is confusing Parnell with Mariano Rivera or the Braves’ Craig Kimbrel or Cincinnati’s Aroldis Chapman. No one is saying that.
But he represents a particular strength for the Mets, an organization for which strengths have been anything but superfluous in the half-decade since the move across the parking lot from Shea.
larry.brooks@nypost.com