The Mets have just announced that righthander Jenrry Mejia will start Saturday Friday against the Washington Nationals.
Here’s some excellent insight from longtime reader Sach who writes:
Jenrry Mejia was on a major league not minor league rehab assignment which was due to end on July 29th. And after that date, the Mets either had to call Mejia up or spend and burn their last remaining option on him optioning him to AA or AAA.
Why spend and burn your last remaining option on this guy for basically 2 months the rest of this season instead of preserving that option for all of next season?
I think if Mejia shows credibly enough on Fri., he’s going to stick with the Mets the rest of the way in some capacity.
Nice job, Sach, and as always thank you for your insights and updates on our threads…
Original Post 8:00 AM
The Mets are reportedly considering promoting RHP Chris Schwinden from Triple-A Las Vegas to start against the Nationals on July 26. Yeah right…
Needing a sixth starter this weekend due to a doubleheader, the Mets apparently do not want to promote RHP Rafael Montero and add him to the 40-man roster yet. We’ve written about that ad nauseum on this site and yes, I get that, but what I don’t get is Chris Schwinden?
Schwinden is coming of a six-run pasting in his start on Sunday and was pulled after four innings. The 26-year old is 4-8 with an even 6.00 ERA in 105.0 innings at Triple-A Las Vegas this season and the league is batting .315 against him. His small taste of the majors has him at 0-3 with a 6.78 ERA in seven games and six starts in his big league career.
We are talking about a player who has been cut from three different 40-man rosters from three different organizations in the last year, so why in the world would we waste a roster spot on him again and so soon when he’s regressed as much as he has this season?
Now while I would love to get Jenrry Mejia a start, there’s a 40-man roster crunch coming for the Mets in three months. Steven Matz and Jacob deGrom must be put on the 40 in order to protect them from the Rule 5 Draft. While there’s no rush on Matz who is still in Single-A Savannah and isn’t an option to help the Mets, deGrom is holding his own in Triple-A Las Vegas and we HAVE TO put him on the 40 man roster anyway.
DeGrom currently sports a 3.00 ERA for the 51s with a 1.21 WHIP in six starts, and has already been promoted twice since beginning the season for Advanced-A St. Lucie. I’m not sold on his MLB readiness at this stage of the game, but he would make far more sense than Schwinden.
I still believe that Mejia would be best prepared, having already pitched at this level, and it would make for a nice story to see him make it back from Tommy John Surgery and other assorted maladies and setbacks that he has dealt with along his comeback trail.
Mejia, still only 23, has made six starts in rehab and boasts a 2.55 ERA with 26 strikeouts in 24.2 innings while walking 10. Now in Double-A Binghamton, the former top Mets prospect has tossed back-to-back gems, most recently a superb 8-strikeout performance. He has a 0.82 ERA for the B-Mets with a 0.90 WHIP.
I understand the need to put deGrom on the 40, hell we were the ones who first bought it up back in April, but that doesn’t mean he’s ready for a start in the majors. To jump three levels from Single-A to the majors in four months with his stuff? Umm, sorry, I don’t think so…
Mejia may not be the optimal choice either, but I think he gives the team a better chance for a win and he wouldn’t be fazed by the jitters of a major league debut… He’s long past that after making his debut in 2010 at 20.
So there’s my take on this… In a day or two we’ll find out what Sandy’s take on it is…
(Photo credit: Gordon Donovan)
