Far better idea to draft starting pitchers who could slide down into the pen if they fail to command a 3rd or 4th pitch depending on how good/great their primary offering is.

When a college reliever busts it’s like a 2nd basemen, there’s no place left to go.

I’m really tired of this over reliance on the slider too since they never develop into swing and miss stuff and increase the chances of injury. What ever happened to the CB, cutter and split finger? Why is the change so difficult for our prospects to master?

You realize this is the second year in a row we have totally rebuilt our Bullpen and if you ask me, making your previous draft picks into Pen arms is just as bad if not worse than drafting a guy to be a pen arm!

If your drafting or developing for the SITUATION your not going to succeed…
UNLESS you know that situation is going to be key in every game!

You should draft and develop for the everyday not the happenstance!
Cause the happenstance might never happen and if you have all these situational guys your sorley lacking the regulars you need everyday!

I know full well WHY they are and don’t really agree with it…
It’s not about their development it’s about their value as a trade chip!

They are going to send them back down to face lesser talent because if they show some adversity or hardship against MLB talent they will be worth less in trade and lose their PROSPECT status!

Sending them down to me is all about getting them away from all the scouts who are at ST looking to make book on the pitchers our competition might face when they play us!

They should all get another start now that the MLB nerves have been dealt with.
And after that start if they need the starts for the regular players they can send them down to play with the other MiLers.
At least then they will have some MLB experience to guide what they are going to work on ndown there!

As for focus on the BP this off-season, I am willing to bet that one of those 2 signed is traded by the deadline baring injury. I think he signed both knowing that it would allow him to trade the other.

Develop those guys into starters and then as a last resort put them in the pen.

Just to point out though it wasn’t so much this new FO that went bullpen crazy. Yeah they picked up a few FA’s and made a trade and a rule 5 selection but that was more because of a lack of arms in the pen they inherited.

It was the prior FO that spent 2 first round draft choices on FA closers and spent a supplemental pick, two second round picks and 3 third rounders on college relief pitchers, traded away 7 guys for an injured relief pitcher and took Mejia out of the rotation and put him into the pen while instructing him to throw just one pitch, his cutter.

Despite the heavy investment in college relief pitchers we still had to go out and find adequate arms for the pen because they all busted, except for the guy we traded away. The combination of all those 1st, supplemental and 2nd round picks given away, not taken back or wasted on college relievers has an awful lot to do with the fact that we have 4 first basemen in our starting 8.

Regarding Mejia….was it Warthen who first expressed doubts about him sticking as a starter?
I also remember Strawberry being impressed with his stuff, comparing him to Mariano Rivera. Not sure if he meant ‘lights out closer’ but just that same nasty pitch.

I don’t. Let the kids compete for God’s sake. Didn’t they do this premature crap last year?
I agree that most likely those 2 will go to the minors when the rest of the team comes north NEXT MONTH but can they let the kids compete for awhile before making these decisions so soon?

Familia should remain a starter, if he needs more Pitches TEACH THEM thats what all those coaches down in the Minors get paid to do…DEVELOP TALENT!
They don’t get paid to just watch them and say Oh well thats all he is!

MAKE HIM SOMETHING MORE!!!!!!

Same thing with Mejia!

Wait till they get to the MLB, FAIL as starters before you try and salvage them as relievers!

And this crap about lasting 6-8 innings well I got news for you, no one in our rotation save RA Dickey does!
Enforce better conditioning!
Get them on a treadmill and make them build their stamina!
If you have to teach them to use more leg drive so they do not get the arm fatigue trying to throw 95+ with just their arm!

I really wish this management would stop SURRENDERING to the situations they are confronted with and start DEALING with them by developing the players to remove the issues they are so easily given to accepting with a hearty OH WELL!

I’m getting tired of all this talk about Familia especially being put in the pen. The guys got the frame and poise to pitch 7-8 innings for you he just needs a couple more pitches which would only make him more effective in the pen if that’s where he winds up anyway.

If Familia were to just be a FB/slider guy that would be a poor job of development by the Mets here 6 years after he’s been in the organization.

One of the biggest reasons teams win divisions is the number of starting pitchers that throw 200 innings. There is no reason other than a lack of development for Familia not being one of them for us.

But, best as I can recall, maintaining his stuff throughout a game is not an issue with Familia. If he was one of those guys that could only maintain his bif FB for say 2 innings, then it could be a different story.

so to me, it sounds more like projecting based on assumptions like “he won’t develop his breaking pitches enough”. And those are things that you have to wait and see on.

And dang….who is it down on the farm that recently said he’d rather be a reliever, but the Mets want to take one last look at him as a starter? Can’t remember his name right now. That’s more the unusual, I’d say – mainly b/c there’s usually more money in it for them as starters than relievers.

Bottom line, an effective SP (even a back of the rotation guy) is worth way more than a relief pitcher. So I just believe in keeping a guy starting until he proves that it just isn’t going to work.

On one hand, you should see if they can indeed succeed as starters. You don’t want to throw away any option, especially in the Mets’ position. Also, sometimes, guys have to figure out for themselves what they aren’t. You can’t just tell them.

On the other hand, if the coaches and evaluators and scouts all truly believe that their bodies couldn’t handle going 6,7,8 innings at a time, then you are risking their futures by pushing them to. Also, if they fail as starters, what might that do to their mentality when they get sent to the bullpen?

If down the road he (for whatever reason) isn’t doing well as a starter, then consider making the move.

I hope though that they at least give Mejia and Familia the opportunity to prove they can or cannot be successful as starters before they turn them into relievers.

and also why a guy should stay in the minors, even if the resutls on paper look good, if they are still working on what they need to have to excel at the next level.

so even if he can dominate with say FB and change, if the breaking pitches need work, leave him down working on that.

But once he has it where it needs to be, if the complete package (including control is there), then bring him up.

and at this pace, may not take long.