The Mets are in an enviable position. While teams throughout the league will struggle to throw darts at a moving vehicle, the Mets will be safe and secure with their bullpen. The most up and down position in baseball, there’s never a guarantee about anything when it comes to relief pitchers. What the Mets know is that they have four pitchers that are all capable of closing out games in Vic Black, Jeurys Familia, Bobby Parnell and Jenrry Mejia. Only one of these guys should be the opening day closer and his name is Jenrry.
In 2013, Parnell became the closer for a Mets team that would go on to win 74 games, just five more than the 2014 Mets have right now. He appeared in 49 games last season, saving 22 games and pitching to an incredible 2.16 ERA. Mejia has had a very similar season in 2014. He’s appeared in 48 games as a reliever, saving 24 games with a 3.21 ERA.
On Opening Day of 2014 Parnell injured his arm and soon after underwent Tommy John Surgery. Now he’s on the way back and the Mets front office is looking at a stacked bullpen heading into next season. The real question is who should be the closer?
The old adage that you can’t lose your job to an injury should be thrown out in this instance. Parnell was not the established closer of this team and should be competing for the job when he gets back to work in the spring. While the two young guns, Black and Familia would be really fun to watch as closers, Mejia needs to win the job from the start.
Unlike Black and Familia, but very similar to Parnell, Mejia has been jerked around a lot by the Mets. He was a starter, then a reliever, then a starter again. He underwent Tommy John Surgery in May of 2011. Since being installed as the closer after a few starts in 2014, Mejia has settled down. He’s started to learn how to pitch in the 9th, instead of just throwing.
Instead of just using incredible stuff like Parnell does, Mejia seems to feel the moment. He throws the right off speed pitch to the right guy and always knows when to revert to the fastball. When he reacts at the end of a game you can feel the energy. The bigger the save, the bigger the celebration. If you think any save has been big this year, just wait until next year.
The real reason Mejia needs to remain the closer heading into next season isn’t about his post-game celebrations. It’s because he’s got the job right now. There’s no way to know how Mejia would react to setting up for any of the other three. He might slip back on old habits and the Mets can’t afford that. We know that Black and Familia know how to pitch in the 7th and 8th. Moving any of those parts creates a recipe for potential disaster.
Only Parnell should be able to truly challenge for the position. If he comes back healthy, he and Mejia will likely battle for the spot. Similar to the Jets quarterback situation this season, I would guess that Mejia will have to lose the job, as Geno Smith would have had to, as opposed to Parnell (or Mike Vick) winning it.
Here’s a toast to having these types of problems moving forward! Let’s Go Mets.
