29
2012
What’s Wrong With Mets Handling Of Once Highly Regarded Jenrry Mejia?
An article by 
It seems like every day we read about a new plan or a different course of action for the artist formerly known as the Mets No. 1 Prospect – Jenrry Mejia. He’s up, he’s down, he’s in the rotation, he’s not, he’s in the bullpen, he’s not, he’s a reliever, he’s a starter… Oh, and he’s only 22 years old.
In case you haven’t heard the latest, yesterday Terry Collins said that Mejia will REMAIN in the bullpen after telling reporters 24 hours earlier that the bullpen experiment was over and that the young right-hander was going back to the Buffalo Bisons rotation. It’s enough to make a Mets’ fan head spin, but can you imagine how poor Mejia must feel?
I wondered what some of the writers on our staff thought about all this yanking around the Mets have put this still-promissing talent through over the last three seasons spanning two different front offices.
Dan - I have always believed it’s a sin to mess with a top level prospect. I never understood why teams pull their top guy and stick him in the bullpen to fill a need when they’ve never given him a chance to start at the big league level. Relievers in my opinion are failed top prospect starters. I never understood what Boston and Texas were thinking when they moved Papelbon and Feliz to the pen. Of course they were going to be dominant for one inning at a time, they were dominant as starters in the minors. Relievers are guys like Nathan and Wagner who were good for a few innings and then got hit hard the second time around. Mejia IS AND SHOULD BE starting games. We still have not solidified our rotation and he needs to be in the mix. He has never proven he can’t get the job done, so why do we keep messing with him?
XtreemIcon - It seems as though Joba Rules haven’t taught anybody anything. Mejia should be starting until he proves he can’t, not until there’s a hole in the bullpen. I don’t see him as a future starter, but he has enough in his repertoire to let him prove he can’t. Best case, he proves most people wrong. If he lights up the minors, maybe he catches the eye of some team with a legit RF or C. Worst case, he appears he has the ability to be a dominant bullpen arm, which is always a crapshoot in this league via free agency.
Fonzie13 - I don’t see Mejia with his all out max effort being able to hold up as a starter, but what they’re doing to him, yo-yo-ing him like that is ridiculous and an injury risk as well. Let him start until he fails or just leave him in the pen until he succeeds. He had two bad starts at Binghamton and they advanced him to Buffalo. Made no sense.
Robert P. – Jenrry Mejia has got to be one of the most frustrating cases of player development since Generation K. The Mets envision him as a reliever because his motion is so violent (the reason he’s already had TJ surgery), but sometimes you can’t fit a round peg into a square hole. The Mets may have to decide if 3-4 years of a potentially better than average starter is a better option than career of frustration out of the bullpen. One thing is for sure, the Mets have without question retarded the progress of turning this kid into a major league pitcher. I can’t imagine he’s happy with the situation, but what choice does he have really?
Satish - I feel for the kid. I personally never believed he could be a starter, but I thought he could be a very successful setup guy or closer. I guess I never saw the crazy upside in him that everybody else did. I still think he can be a successful reliever in the MLB, but I guess the Mets want to milk him in every possible role in the minors to see exactly what he can do before he gets consistent MLB time.
Joe S. – I was against the idea of bringing Mejia up so soon when Minaya and Manuel played the desperation card a few years ago. That alone I’m sure didn’t do as much to futher his career as many would think. He needs to pitch as many innings as he can physically handle and the only way to do that is as a starter. Yes the team needs bullpen help but once again, they should not put that type of pressure on a rookie especially coming off elbow surgery.
I seriously don’t know what to make of the situation. I’m not going to tell you that Mejia is a starter or a reliever because I simply don’t know. What I do know is that he’s had success as a starter before all this craziness began. He also was having success as a starter for Buffalo this season before he was yanked by his jersey and had his ass kicked into the bullpen by the higher-ups apparently against the wishes of Bisons manager Wally Backman. I’ve never seen any organization handle a 19-year old who was arguably their best pitching prospect in the system, handled with such utter disregard for the kid’s confidence and even the potential for personal career threatening injury. It’s sad to see.
About the Author: Joe DeCaro
I'm a lifelong Mets fan who loves writing and talking about the Amazins' 24/7. From the Miracle in 1969 to the magic of 1986, and even the near misses in '73 and '00, I've experienced it all - the highs and the lows. I started Mets Merized Online in 2005 to feed my addiction. Follow me on Twitter @metsmerized.
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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 42 | 28 | .600 | - |
| Nationals | 34 | 35 | .493 | 7.5 |
| Phillies | 34 | 37 | .479 | 8.5 |
| Mets | 25 | 40 | .385 | 14.5 |
| Marlins | 22 | 47 | .319 | 19.5 |
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It’s called INDECISION and this FO reeks of it…
This is what happens when there is no one person guiding the team and you run via a committee and consortium of experts who all have a different opinion on what is best.
They probably never made the decision to move him to the pen it was probably more of a discussion and one side didn’t know what the other was doing because no decision was actually made yet.
Bottomline is unless the player is taking away starts from some other kid who is much more promising as a starter then there is no reason to move him to the bullpen as he can get MORE work in on his pitches and approach as a starter than he can as a reliever,
as for building up his arm strength to go everyday thats a bit premature to do with a guy just coming off surgery anyway so I see no reason why they would do that.
He is worth more in trade as a potential starter than he is as a reliever. Until such time as he is a closer and has shown he is a damn good one….
The problem with the yo yo is that they seem to be thinking a lot and changing thier minds. They seem to overthink everything they do and why they always seem to be caught unprepared when it comes time to take some action.
I don’t know who is pushing to make Mejia a Reliever and who is saying no keep him starting but Sandy had better get the two sides on the same page because if the rest of our prospects are being pulled in two different directions by the staff managing them we are going to ruin a lot more kids than just Mejia!
He is going to have to move to the bullpen eventually so shouldn’t he adjust in AAA now instead of the adjusting at the major league level in April and May of 2013?
They are going to ruin him the way the Yankees ruined Joba.
Under this front office he has already had a TJ surgery and like in lightning speed they rushed his rehab and had him throwing agin in nine months. I never heard of that before for pitchers coming off TJS. One day he’s at extended spring training, and the next he’s back on the mound throwing 80-90 pitches a game, then back in the bullpen where the goal was back to back to back relief outings, then in his last outing two days ago they told him to stretch it for two innings of relief at a time. If I were Mejia’s agent I’d file a lawsuit against the Mets for damages and also a grievance with the players union which I believe he might have a right to after accruing a little service time in 2010. But my point is this front office handles their players like hogs at a slaughterhouse.
Funny thing was two days ago when Cohen asked Darling what his take was on Mejia going back to the rotation again in Buffalo. “No comment”. LMAO!!!!
I don’t recall ever reading anywhere that it was decided Mejia was going back to the rotation but only that it was a possibility he could be going back.
Thats what it was. Collins thought it could happen and people jumped on it.
Joba 2 – Electric Boogaloo
Why cant they just make a decision and stick to it? Apparently small sample sizes do matter the front office because after 8.1 relief innings they are already scrapping Plan B.
1 Word about this FO
Brandon Nimmo….SMH
That’s 2 words plus a initialism with it’s full word equivalent of “Shaking My Head”. Using just “Nimmo” would have worked.
Lol…yeah realized that after it was posted…I figured Donal would be the 1st one to correct that but you were a close 2nd…SMH was just imagery
Salty already addressed your English failure.
So, care to elaborate on your “point”?
Better yet, don’t. You are just going to repeat the same debunked nonsense.
You guys need to somehow get Mets fan and celeb Jerry Seinfeld to say “SANDY” in the same tone as he would say “NEWMAN”. Ringtone, soundbites, even get T-Shirts mocked up. This would be a money-train for MMO.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9_8YxDQYCo
Yeah and we need to get you guys a course in writing screenplays for hollywood because you guys might just write the movie script that can make John Wayne Gacy a sympathetic figure!
Gacy should not be known for the crimes he committed but the evil acts used against him that drove him into madness. One does not want to put on clown make-up and murder children by nature, it’s the lack of nurture that brought his soul to such horrendous depths. It all started the day his father beat him with a belt….
Hows that?
I think you have a winner if you can just get Lindsay Lohan signed up for it.
How dare any of you criticize this front office???? don’t you know they are the smartest baseball people on the planet??? Stop this ok.. Sandy alderson and his crew are the best ever… Mejia’s TJS and every thing that has gone wrong with the mets is their own fault. or minaya’s fault ok.. Don’t anybody dare say anything negative about the genius or his front office crew ok…
well, if putting him in the pen was such a heinous crime that ruined the poor guy forever, that is 100% on your love God Omar.
The tear that leads to TJ is a wear related injury. I find it hard to believe that having a guy spend a couple of month in the pen led to it happening, implying that if they had sent him to AAA to start every 5th day his elbow would be fine right now.
what they really screwed up in 2010 was taking away the development time for his overall stuff and control, then not even using him when he was here (other than sporadic mop up duty). Plus it started his option clock well before it should have
Pitchers though move from the pen to the rotation all the time. Even more so in the minors. It makes perfect sense if you aren’t sure about a guys ultimate role or are looking to keep innings down. The immediate need on the ML club is only part of it.
never mind pitchers have been starting in the pen before getting a rotation shot since the early days of BB. sometimes to break them in slowly, and sometimes purely from need (wainright?)
What I can see as the issue is moving him back and forth. Just keep him on a consistent regimen and give him all the reps that are appropriate. There is a log game in the rotation and plenty of room in the pen and if he has the ability to make the blub this year I have no problem putting him in that role. Give him the opportunity to make the club and let his ability decide if he is to get a shot at the rotation.
As for going from starter to pen and back to starter I feel that is a disservice to him. Will it have a effect on the physical nature of his ARM, I don’t think any of us can truthfully say we know because we don’t know what his regime is.
What the Mejia handling shows is that this GM doesn’t have any clue just like Omar. Sandy is letting Terry tell him what to do with Mejia just like Omar let Jerry. In both cases, they were wrong.
This organization is very hard to root for because even with 4 or 5 in-house GM’s, they still make the wrong decisions. Why is it hard to figure out that Mejia is a better starter than a reliever? that he would have more value as a starter? that he hasn’t failed as a starter?
So far the only thing that Sandy can do better than Omar is hold a press conference.
This!
you do realize that they see, or have access to the people, every pitch the guy makes, all his training results, medicals, etc.? And that they have a ton of experience in the organization looking at guys and predicting how well they hold up?
so just because they (may have) made a decision to move him into a pen role now does not make them incompetent or stupid, just because you think otherwise. They may not be right ultimately, but they have to live with the results.
and sometimes, you make short term decisions to help the big club win, since after all, hasn’t that been a big bone of contention with the anti-Sandy crowd (he isn’t doing enough to win RIGHT NOW?)
“What the Mejia handling shows is that this GM doesn’t have any clue just like Omar. Sandy is letting Terry tell him what to do with Mejia just like Omar let Jerry. In both cases, they were wrong.”
Help me out, when is Mejia’s next start?
Jenrry Mejia is a high energy pitcher. He’s often dynamite for a few innings. But he has yet to demonstrate that he has enough command of his secondary pitches to be a starter beyond once around in the batting order. Some guys develop command of their secondaries early in their careers, but others never do.
Jenrry was a guy who threw almost as many BB’s as he had K’s. He had 5.1 K/9 but 4.6 BB/9. He gave up 10.6 H/9 to accompany a WHIP of 1.692. Future projections for Jenrry are difficult to estimate.
Aaron Heilman thought he should be a starting pitcher too. Aaron was a big guy, much bigger than Jenrry. He too didn’t have enough good secondary pitches. But he was good enough to pitch at the big league level for nine years. I hope Jenrry has a long career too, even if he shares some of Aaron’s middle of the pack parameters.
Take a look at his record and era while pitching at AAA. If you want to tell me that he is a high energy pitcher who can only go about 6 innings then tell just about how many innings Santana, Young and Gee go these days. A lot of the Mets pitchers average right about 6.5 innings. Mejia was averaging about 6.
Why do you want to make a reliever out of a starter who is pitching to the tune of 1+ era?
Donal, he was in the rotation so if you are just being sarcastic, at least try to make sense.
You can argue that Mejia has a better future as a starter than Familia. Also, if the Mets need a reliever, why don’t they bring up Beato who is pitching very well out of the pen.
Santana, Gee and Niese are all on pace for 200 IP and 200 SO
The Mets (and pretty much every independent source) feel he is not capable of doing that and he is best suited for the bullpen. That, coupled with the fact the Mets have two better prospects that are almost MLB ready, means he is destined for the bullpen.
He is going to have to learn to be a reliever, just like Familia, beacuse (1) that’s where the Mets need them and (2) that’s where the scouts think they will be most effective.
When you have a pitcher in the rotation, going at least 6 innings and pitching at a 1+ era, you don’t mess with it. Even if they Mets see Mejia as a future reliever, it doesn’t mean that other teams don’t see him as a starter thereby becoming a valuable trading chip.
Mejia as a starter has way more value than as a reliever. He has pitched well as a starter but very bad as a reliever.
So if the Mets logic and yours is that you rather have a pitcher with ace potential pitching badly out of the BP because that’s where he is needed regardless of results, then you are qualified to work for the Mets.
The way I see is that Mejia in the rotation becomes a valuable trade chip even if they Mets decide to trade for proven relievers later on.