Mejia shouldn’t return to New York this season until September, if then. It’s in the best interests of the organization to allow him to develop as a starter, even if winning THIS season might be more in the best interest of Manuel and Minaya. The more he’s allowed to develop this year, the sooner he’ll arrive as a plus-starter in the Majors. And it’s clear that whatever the Met’s problems may be, having another decent arm to take the ball for the 8th inning just won’t make that much of a difference.
Heck, there’s still a chance that the Mets could make the playoffs. They’ve survived without Carlos Beltran well enough, and if they can sustain a level around .500 until he gets back, they could make a run at the wild card. It’s going to require making smart decisions, like limiting Jeff Francoeur’s playing time, and not letting Oliver Perez start another game, ever, but it’s entirely possible.
The worst part about being a Mets fan is that you almost have to hope that they lose at times. Like this season now that they cooled off. If they got out and play slightly above 500 ball all year, I can see them keeping Minaya/Manuel and doing stupid moves like bringing up Mejia again. I either want to see the Mets get the WildCard or play 400 ball.
Did the Mets maybe accidentally do the right thing here?
1. Mejia gets some major league experience, and learns that he really needs to improve his secondary pitches.
2. Spending 6 weeks in relief lessens total innings on his arm.
3. The month or two back in the minors means the Mets don’t lose an arbitration year.
Well I think the entire world, except maybe Jerry, knew he needed to work on his secondary pitches before this experiment. Barajas even said during spring training he needed to be in the minors starting because he could throw his off-speed and breaking stuff there 20 times in a row. If anything it’s a bad sign it took this for the people being paid to make baseball decisions to figure it out.
Maybe I’m missing something, but where is Mejia’s PitchFX data? Surely he’s pitched enough at the MLB level to warrant its inclusion on the player pages…
Nice writeup, Joe. I personally believe that Mejia’s future is in the bullpen, anyway. He has a very slight build (6′ 160) and a limited repertoire. Starting him in the minors makes sense for added experience, but I believe his best use in the bigs would be in the pen.
Zack says:
May 18, 2010 at 2:54 pm
Shocked they actually sent him down, too bad he should have never been up
Bronnt says:
May 18, 2010 at 3:42 pm
Mejia shouldn’t return to New York this season until September, if then. It’s in the best interests of the organization to allow him to develop as a starter, even if winning THIS season might be more in the best interest of Manuel and Minaya. The more he’s allowed to develop this year, the sooner he’ll arrive as a plus-starter in the Majors. And it’s clear that whatever the Met’s problems may be, having another decent arm to take the ball for the 8th inning just won’t make that much of a difference.
Heck, there’s still a chance that the Mets could make the playoffs. They’ve survived without Carlos Beltran well enough, and if they can sustain a level around .500 until he gets back, they could make a run at the wild card. It’s going to require making smart decisions, like limiting Jeff Francoeur’s playing time, and not letting Oliver Perez start another game, ever, but it’s entirely possible.
Gina says:
May 18, 2010 at 4:01 pm
Too bad the plan is apparently to call him back up in a month to start, even when the mets get it right they get it horribly wrong.
Gina says:
May 18, 2010 at 4:04 pm
If it requires making smart decisions it’s impossible.
Franco says:
May 18, 2010 at 4:26 pm
The worst part about being a Mets fan is that you almost have to hope that they lose at times. Like this season now that they cooled off. If they got out and play slightly above 500 ball all year, I can see them keeping Minaya/Manuel and doing stupid moves like bringing up Mejia again. I either want to see the Mets get the WildCard or play 400 ball.
Mike H says:
May 18, 2010 at 5:13 pm
Did the Mets maybe accidentally do the right thing here?
1. Mejia gets some major league experience, and learns that he really needs to improve his secondary pitches.
2. Spending 6 weeks in relief lessens total innings on his arm.
3. The month or two back in the minors means the Mets don’t lose an arbitration year.
These all seem like good things.
Mike H
Gina says:
May 18, 2010 at 5:18 pm
Well I think the entire world, except maybe Jerry, knew he needed to work on his secondary pitches before this experiment. Barajas even said during spring training he needed to be in the minors starting because he could throw his off-speed and breaking stuff there 20 times in a row. If anything it’s a bad sign it took this for the people being paid to make baseball decisions to figure it out.
Devon F says:
May 18, 2010 at 5:37 pm
Maybe I’m missing something, but where is Mejia’s PitchFX data? Surely he’s pitched enough at the MLB level to warrant its inclusion on the player pages…
Omarcan'ttieshoes says:
May 18, 2010 at 5:53 pm
Haha. Mejia is not going down. Oh, the mets…
Franco says:
May 18, 2010 at 6:01 pm
I hate this team so much
Gina says:
May 18, 2010 at 6:30 pm
this. this is just ridiculous now.
Steve S. says:
May 19, 2010 at 7:02 am
Nice writeup, Joe. I personally believe that Mejia’s future is in the bullpen, anyway. He has a very slight build (6′ 160) and a limited repertoire. Starting him in the minors makes sense for added experience, but I believe his best use in the bigs would be in the pen.
bender says:
May 26, 2010 at 9:43 pm
So… did this not happen?