24
2012
Jenrry Mejia and Johan Santana Take Huge Steps Forward
An article by Hojo's Mojo
Mets pitching prospect Jenrry Mejia threw off a mound for the first time since he undergoing Tommy John surgery last May.
Manager Terry Collins watched Mejia and said he was happy to see him on the mound again. “I thought he looked good and loose. He had really good extension”, Collins said.
There’s a very good chance we’ll see Mejia back on the major league roster this season according to Collins. But the team has yet to officially say whether the former top prospect will work as a starter or reliever after completing his rehab, but it’s most likely that he will work out of the bullpen.
Of course the bigger rehabbing story for the Mets is left-hander Johan Santana who completed his third bullpen session of the spring without incident.
It’s a significant step forward for Santana because he was pitching on just one day of rest. he also has ramped up to 32 pitches as the begin to stretch his arm out.
Santana was mostly pleased with his ability to repeat his delivery and get into a groove.
“I think the consistency from the first pitch to the last one is there,” Santana said. “I’m not trying to change anything, and I’m just keeping my mechanics and trying to stay with everything I used to do on the mound. And everything is there.”
The plan for Santana is to throw at least two more bullpen sessions before facing off against live batters late next week. Terry Collins has already tabbed his ace to start the Mets Grapefruit League opener against the Nationals on March 5th, and is confident that Santana will be ready for Opening Day.
About the Author: Rob Johnson
45 Comments + Add Comment
Recent Comments
- Henry: on Byrd Homers, Marcum Still Winless, Mets Fall To Reds 4-3: Valdespin was an all-star in the minor...
- Alex68: on Things Spiralling Out Of Control For Ike Davis Offensively And Defensively: Yes. because we are fans of the...
- Henry: on Shin-Soo Choo Could Be Impact Outfielder And Leadoff Man For Mets In 2014: If Wheeler and D'Araud looked really, really...
- Mr North Jersey: on Byrd Homers, Marcum Still Winless, Mets Fall To Reds 4-3: When Byrd hit that HR to tie...
- SaltyGary: on Things Spiralling Out Of Control For Ike Davis Offensively And Defensively: Amen, unfortunately I don't have a answer...
MMO Mets Chat
Need Tickets To The Mets Game?
Check Out These Great MLB Links!
Photographs From Gordon Donovan
5370 Fans Follow Us On Twitter!
1269 Fans Like Us On Facebook!
2341 Fans Read Our Feed!
1702 Fans Subscribe via Daily Email!
The thoughts of having Wheeler, Harvey, Familia, Mejia and Santana has given the Mets some hope. Sure, health is the major element and not all of these guys will be pitching together in Citi Field, but from the pure standpoint of having this core of pitching talent has to leave even the most casual Met fan excited. With Mejia coming off TJ Sx, I would think it would be best to stretch him out slowly over time. Target him as a starter. If he falters, put him in the pen. I agree with a few posters above. Mejia could be a dominant presence in the ‘pen. I’m one of the Met optimists that thinks Collin’s club is going to be better than those outside of NY think they are.
This is good news on Mejia. I hope they decide to put him in the ‘pen and try to turn him into a closer. That always seemed to me to be the best fit for him.
While I too think ultimately he might end up in the pen, why force him there until he proves he can’t start?
It may be the best fit for him but look at it from an asset management point of view….
Do you want to draft and invest all that time on developing a reliver who might pitch an inning a game or would you rather get the most out of the player so you don’t have to go buy a starter which is very much more expensive than some guy who comes in for an inning a game!
IMO you should be developing these kids to be starters and only if they fail at that should you decide to SALVAGE the pick by finding something part time they can be used for so he’s not completely wasted!
I agree almost. Because cost does factor in, if he can be a top level closer he would be worth more than a #5/6 starter. Otherwise, yeah you let him decide his own fate.
Well remember if Harvey Familia and Wheeler are all everything everyone expects then is being a #4 or #5 starter for us really a #4 or #5 starter everywhere?
It’s all relative to what you have!
A #4 on some other team could be an ACE for us!
Relative to what we have!
I am speaking more to the fact of him being a back of the rotation level starter.
Out of a rotation of:
Sandy Koufax
Cy Young
Tom Seaver
Nolan Ryan
Dwight Gooden
Is Ryan and Gooden 4th and 5th level starters?
What does the fact they are 4th and 5th in the rotation really mean relative to their skill?
Is Cole Hamels only a 3rd level rotation guy? Maybe on the Phillies but on our staff is he 1 2 3 or 4?
LOL, stop for a second. You are missing my point. I am talking about ability level…
I really don’t even like using numbers to classify pitchers anyway. I think of 4 levels but everyone else uses 5 numbers so that is why I said 5/6 starter.
Ace, upper rotation, mid rotation, back of the rotation are my levels. My point is that IF Mejia is pitching like a back of the rotation starter, (think Pelfrey) then it might be more cost advantageous to have him be a closer.
TRS I get what your saying just pointing out that ability level is only releative to who else is in the rotation!
And to say Mejia is a 4th level starter really is not worth saying because hebhasn’t really started yet to say how good he is!
I suppose Wheelr is a 4th level starter too? Any guarantee he is an ace?
Regardless of what you think of their talent you STILL need a 4th and 5th Starter and if Mejia is better than the other starters we have (Count them! Harvey 1 Familia 2 Wheeler 3!) He still is much more useful to us as a starter than a reliever!
And until he FAILS as a starter I see nbo reason to ENSURE he fails as a potential starter just because we sold off a good closer for money considerations and need one!
I don’t know if you can safely call it a huge step but it most certainly is promising!
By the same token I wouldn’t start to panic or fret if either of them has to skip a day of workouts because they were sore.
It’s spring even the guys who are fully healthy will need a day of rest and get sore, Thats why we have Spring training isn’t it?
To comment off of Metsie’s statement:
I couldn’t agree more. It’s sad when some Met fans come to the park, see the face of the franchise playing 3B, yet boo him when he goes 0-3 3K’s and a BB.
And these are the same fans who will be calling for mutiny if/when Alderson trades him on July 31.
Mejia is working his way back from what was once considered a career ending injury. He looks good and will be given a chance to prove himself once again.
The ‘fantasy sports’ frame of mind has engulfed reality
Disposable heroes Marc!
It’s a shame!
A Player should be judged on the Majority of his work, not the last Year, Week or Day!
Wright had a horrible 2009 because the entire team did! You can’t blame a guy for not being able to carry the same weight when he had others to help carry the load!
The Whole is always greater than just the sum of it’s parts!
2010 Well he still didn’t have any Offensive help save the Rookie Davis. Beltran wasn’t even Beltran when he was finally in the lineup! Still had a decent and average season for him with 27 Hrs!
2011 He got hurt! It was his turn, players get hurt, ALL of them do at some point!
It’s the lack of meeting fan EXPECTATIONS more than anything he has NOT DONE that people knock him for! He is supposed to hit 30 HRs (Despite only doing it twice in his career with 30+HR hitter in the lineup with him!) He hasn’t lately…Disposable Hero!
Willie Randolph got fired in the middle of the 2008 season! They were one game under .500 at the time! in Third place! But he was supposed to run away with the division like the 86 Mets did because thats what the fans expected! 2006 was too far away, 2007 they choked! Disposable Hero!
Carlos Beltran made this team repectable again! Took a 71 win team and added 12 wins to it practically single handedly! Then another 14 once he got some help! But he wiffed on a nasty curveball. and then had the gaul to get hurt and mis half of two seasons! Disposable Hero!
If anyone ever wants to know the REASON why we have never been a consistent force in the NL East and Why Phillie and the Braves have?
Fans should get a Mirror and ask themselves who did you think should be replaced over that history!
Braves had Bobby Cox for how many consecutive years with anyone getting tired of them not meeting expectations and calling for the GM and Manager’s head? They had one manager since 1991! And he was the GM for 5 years before that! They choked plenty but never took it out on Cox!
Phillies had Ed Wade (most give Gillick credit but it was Wade who dratfed the majority of their CORE!) for 8 Years and Gillick since (Amaro worked for him)
They didn’t change managers like day of underwear. They have had 3 managers since 97! Manuel has been there since 05!
Other places don’t dispose of their heroes so quickly!
You had me until you said “If anyone ever wants to know the REASON why we have never been a consistent force in the NL East and Why Phillie and the Braves have?”
Since when have the Phillies been a consistent force in the NL East other than the most recent time period? Before this last 5 years (averaged 94.6 wins) you would have to go back 50 years to get 5 other 1st place finishes. The Mets were also dominant for a 5 year stretch but happened to be in a much tougher time to win the division. They won over 100 games twice in 5 years and averaged 97.6.
If you are talking about 2000′s on? Yeah, I agree. The Mets used a broken system of spending as much money as they could on stars and patching with crap.
very true about the phils. for the first 100 years they pretty much stunk every year, with a couple of 1-3 year spurts of respectability in there.
the Braves are a different story. they had a hell of a run. And yes, I know that winning a WS is the only measure of success, but making the playoffs (and winning the division) every year will keep a manager in his job.
and speaking of the Phils managers, trust me that if the Mets had not gifted the division to the Phils in 2007 (and the phils had lost just a couple more games), Charlie M. would have been out on his arse. Fans hated him with a passion back then.
Hell the Phillies fans have wanted him fired at least 108 times since 2007 even.
not most of them. Though they can turn fast, and one more disappearing act in the playoffs (or G-F, they miss this year) and the whispering will get louder.
“Since when have the Phillies been a consistent force in the NL East other than the most recent time period?”
That recent you speak of has been since Manuel took over! They didn’t win those first two years did he get canned? He has won one WS, lost two LDS’ and one NLCS. Still has a job right?
Braves have only made 1 playoff in the last 6 Years 4 consecutive years of missing them under Cox, Did he get canned? They had a lot of Playoffs under Cox and only managed to win the WS Once! Did he get canned for all his failure in getting the prize?
Mets in 99 and 2000 Lost an NLCS and a WS. Two years later Valentine was fired!
Mets made it to and lost one NLCS Two year later Randolph canned with a .500 record!
Davey had Two 100+ win seasons, One WS, One NLCS and was fired two years later!
Yogi Berra got to one WS and was fired two years later!
The only other guy they could have fired after succeeding was Hidges to up and died before they got the chance!
Mets have had 22 Managers since 62!
Phillies have had 18 in that time!
Braves have had 17 Managerial changes One of those guys served two seperate times (Cox!)
You want consistency, you want long term PLANS then you have to keep the plan makers THERE to see it through!
Otherwise the next guy comes in with a new plan and stops the progress!
Omar obviously had a long term plan you didn’t get to see because he got fired after his success after two years of adversity! But funny how most of his guys are the leading candidates of hope here!
IN NY you have three years and Two of them better be good because it doesn’t matter what you did three years ago if you don’t meet expectation two years in a row your OUTTA HERE!
And You will see the same thing if Sandy doesn’t get this team winning something real soon!
Regarding the Phillies and Charlie….
It was widely speculated that Charlie was probably going to be canned at the end of the 2007 season. It dominated the Philly papers and blogs that summer going into Sep.
Along comes the Mets collapse coupled with the Phillies winning in ’07 and all of a sudden, he was a genius. They’ve won the division every year since ’07 so no reason to discuss Manuel’s tenure again.
Now though the natives are getting restless – only b/c they’ve yet to get back and actually win the WS since ’08. Fans are saying his time has come and gone. Philly FO very vocal after last year’s elimination on changing the game plan to meet the situation and have to stop relying on the long ball to win all games.
Sounds like Manuel’s tenure is going to be closely tied to Phillies results in the near future.
Sure it was talked about!
But in Philly the pressure to do it is never as much as the pressure is in NY!
You know most fans at the time thought Johnson was a Horrible manager in the 80′s as well!
And as soon as he didn’t win two years in a row they got heard and thier cause was taken up in the papers!
All the TV Stations, All the National Media, All the sports networks and the largest number of cable subscribers in any one place in the country and the media pressure makes TALK into an ACT real quick!
I don’t recall Davey taking heat from the Media. From Cashen maybe or once in a while about his “Club Met” atmosphere but 1984 with 90 wins (his first season), 98 (his 2nd) 108 and a World Championship (his 3rd) No he was in pretty good shape at that point. Almost bullet proof. A disappointing 4th year but still 92 wins, including Gooden’s first suspension wasn’t placed even close to entirely on Johnson and a 100 win 5th season and another Division. No, he was looking pretty good at that point, maybe a slight under achieve considering the talent level but it still came as a surprise when Davey got fired a year and a half later and that was more attributed to personal differences between he and Cashen.
Yeah their might have been the odd Davey’s on the hot seat here and there but no one was calling for his toenail let alone his head until late ’89 at the earliest and even at that, most people felt Cashen was all wet on the firing when it went down in ’90.
Took TONS of it!
Second Guessing him almost on a daily basis!
Teufel instead of Backman
Mookie and Dykstra
This move instead of that move or Not making a move etc…
Bunting, Not Bunting!
There was always some story second guessing him!
Agee,If you remember when WFAN started back in 1987,that station was all Davey,all the time. They routinely killed every move he made that didn’t work out. It got so bad that Davey hung up on a couple of interviews. One of them was with Steve Sommers. Darryl and Davey were the 2 most popular topics on the FAN the first 2-3 years. If we didn’t come back in Game 6. Davey would’ve gotten killed for taking the bub=nt off HoJo in the Bottom of the 9th with 1st and 2nd,no out.
OK Metsie and Fonz,
I couldn’t get the Fan back in those days during the daytime and it was all I could do to make my own games at night and read the Post in the AM. Probably watched more weekend games then weekday one’s so you guys probably know better.
I stand advised.
LOL no sweat there dude but You saw much of the same thing with Torre I bet!
The guy won how many WS titles and still got fired?
The press pretty much started all that talk and Hal ran with it!
It’s the city that does it! That doesn’t happen elsewhere look how long Earl Weaver got and he didn’t even make the playoffs all that much!
Also the Phillies are famous for disposing of their heroes… Ask poor Mike Schmidt who was never good enough.
disposing? Schmidt played his entire career there. he was, however, under appreciated for most of it. Phillie fans never really did take to him.
And now, they lock up all their popular guys into their retirement age.
I am looking at it more on he is saying that they throw the hero part away. Example right now with Wright. Not necessarily that they kicked them out of the clubhouse.
Also I think Boston has shown you can do that too and be successful.
Metsie — Great post. Great insight.
Wright actually had a good 2009. the only thing that dropped was his HRs 9some of which got converted into 2Bs though). BA, OBP, stayed almost identical.
and 2010 was pretty much a normal year, with just a bit of dip in BA (to .283, still not shabby) and OBP. pretty much the price he paid to “adjust” to citi has his home park.
2011 never actually happened…
Wright’s 2010 was not bad once you take a look at his OPS and OPS+. His 2009 power numbers certainly hurt his overall performance numbers.
how can 310 10 72 be good for a superstar stud 3rd baseman who before avg 311 29 112 and 42 doubles per year the previous 4 years???? ohhh, i know, he didn’t have beltran nor delgado as the studs in the middle of the lineup and reyes at the top to drive in runs.. yep..
ohh, and 2011 DID HAPPEN…
“Here I come to save tha Day!!!!!”
LOL, 2009 was not a great year for Wright. However, if it is considered one of your down years you will do OK for sure.
you even said, the only thing that dipped was HRs. A .310 BA and .390 OBP is still pretty elite. and his 2B rate actually went up. I would take those numbers from every guy on the team.
and he missed some time, so had fewer PAs. Plus probably came back way too early from the beaning, and that accounts for some of the RBI drop. the rest was, no one on base to drive in most of the time.
Lots of good points in there Metsie. I’d add John Scherholtz for Atlanta. 25 years affords a plan a lot of time to be successful.
A lot of Phillips success came from work done by Harazin and Mcilvaine. a lot of Minaya’s success came from work done by Phillips and no doubt a lot of Alderson’s success will be dependent on Minaya’s work. It’s just the nature of things that a GM’s efforts don’t pay off before the 4th or 5th year and we’ve had six GM’s since 1991.
Wade looked real bad after busting on all the FA’s he signed but in retrospect Rollins, Hamels, Howard, Utley, Ruiz, Victorinno. All his. plus some of the prospects used to get Lidge, Blanton, Lee ect. so you just can’t say for 10-15 years but one thing you can say is continuity is vital. Coming up with a proactive long term plan and only deviating from it in special circumstances and resisting short term pressures gives the team the best chance to win.
It wasn’t wade. they had (have actually, I think he just got promoted too) a really strong scouting director that found these guys. Of course the GM gets credit, but frankly, the FAs are really on his head way more than these prospects.
Agree.
The Moral to the story is:
When your a one team town (and a smaller town than NYC) and all there is to root for and go see you don’t get the same pressures regarding performance and anger from those fans as you get in NY!
NY fans look at the Yankees success and they seethe despite the fact we had those three straight years of pretty damn good baseball!
It’s not as good as the yanks so it isn’t good enough! And if it isn’t good enough in NY it’s CRAP!
The Media is all about writing stories the fans want to read and hear!
The Fans wanted us to make a splash in FA, the Media caught onto that tiger and Jason Bay deal is born! Yes Omar was a fool to listen but if he had not listened he probably gets fired mid season as opposed to the end of it!
Can’t win! Only thing that could have saved Omar was a playoff!
The fans were down on Randolph because of the choke! Forget the playoffs he got us two in two years of service only rmembered the failure from the last year!
the media and the fans in NY act three times quicker and have three times shorter the attention span of other cities!
And having the Yankees playing well doesn’t help that because the failure gets thrown into your face everyday!
I have never called for Sandy to get fired but I see (and have said) anyone who thinks a long term plan is the way to go has obviously not been paying attention to NY way of life and past history of what happend when you don’t win in NY and win quickly!
He got his year of grace last season and was not raked over the coals by the media for cutting the salary!
See what happens if Wright get traded though because it’s year two and if he doesn’t win something by next year it will be time to change the underwear around here again!
Not because I said so buty because we will be on Sandy Deathwatch almost from the start of spring!
All because we live in NY and you get three years from nothing and two years after success or your yesterday’s news and tomorrow’s unemployed!
Let’s find out if he can start first then if not, send him to the bullpen, same with pretty much holt and even my man crush FAMILIA…
Who’s Holt? Oh yeah I remember now.
holt has already failed as a starter and has been banished to the bullpen
It almost feels like Mejia has become an afterthought. Plenty of pitchers have comeback from elbow surgery and pitched well, and in some cases better. I do feel Dan Warthen was right all along though and that he may be best suited for the bullpen. Maybe he could work his way into the setup or closer role by 2013?
Welcome to NYC! The “What have you done for me lately?” Capital of the World!
I have worked all over the country (World in fact) and NYC just operates with a much different clock than everyone else! About 3 times the speed!
If you haven’t done anything significant recently you are forgotten as quickly as you were noticed!
Out of sight out of mind!
Not fair but that is what exists here!
Also why we never seem to have any consistency in GM’s Managers even players!
If your not meeting the expectations fast enough in NY your quickly forced out in favor of someone who can satisfy those IMMEDIATE needs!
Very short attention span here!
Actually I think a lot of it is big brother syndrome too. The Angels did not start to make amends with this issue until they finally decided they could not be the Dodgers and started being the Angels.
people think mejia doesnt have a good starting pitchers body because he’s only 6′ tall.
but he’s got thick powerful legs and built like a bull. dont believe those 160 pound listings you still see floating out there. that was like 5 years ago. he’s a solid 200 pounds now
this kid has starters stuff. his secondary stuff is already more advance than harvey, wheeler, and familia.
if mejia didnt get hurt and pitched most of the year in buffalo, he would be the mets #1 prospect on every list out there