I’m rooting for Jenrry Mejia to fail today.
This sucks.
Since I started writing for SNY.tv — back when I was still of prospect age myself — I’ve been singing the praises of young players, and arguing that the Mets promote from within and put faith in their prospects.
And today, I want to see their best young pitcher take the mound and crap the bed.
I wish that weren’t the case. I wish I could find a way to root for Mejia in these games, because I am rooting for Mejia. I want him to be great, obviously. I want that so badly.
But I want him to fail today, because I don’t think he should be in the Major League bullpen come Opening Day.
It’s just that I think Mejia’s best chance at becoming great involves more time in the Minor Leagues, strengthening his arm and improving his arsenal. And I don’t think 10 2/3 very good Grapefruit League innings should be enough to discredit the 44 1/3 unspectacular Double-A innings Mejia threw last season.
Simply put: I’m not sure Mejia is even ready to be in a Major League bullpen, and even if he certainly were, it wouldn’t be the best thing for his development.
But I’ve said this a billion times already and I’m not writing now to rehash the argument.
I’m writing in part to detail this weird, visceral sensation of rooting against the Mets’ top prospect.
I’m also writing because of a tweet from James Kannengieser that named the Mets’ beat writers “accomplices” to their crimes, which set me thinking.
For all the fan backlash to the team’s treatment of Mejia — and there has been a ton — I’m pretty certain the only newspaper writers that have even suggested calling him up into a bullpen role would be a bad idea are Ken Davidoff and Joel Sherman, and only the latter drummed up a full column out of it.
Some of the beat writers were using Twitter today to engage readers on the subject, and the outcome struck me as funny: Nearly all the readers want Mejia in the Minor Leagues so he can develop into an elite starter down the road, while nearly all the beat writers seem to think he should be an eighth-inning guy helping the team now.
It’s hard to doubt a contingent of men who spend so much time around the team, for sure. But then, most prospects and development experts appear to agree that Mejia needs more time on the farm.
And so I wonder, when we hear the common rhetoric that “New York is a results-based town” and “the Mets need to win now” and “teams in this market need to compete every year,” where does that talk come from? I was always led to believe it came from the people reading the papers, not the ones writing them.
I don’t think there’s anything malicious to it, though. Everyone covering the Mets in Spring Training is likely exclusively covering the Mets in Spring Training. Maybe it’s hard to see the big picture when you’re standing so close.
Mejia looks awesome, I’m certain. And probably when you’re down in Port St. Lucie, and everyone’s smiling in the sun and having fun, everything looks pretty awesome. And you start thinking, “heck, with one really good eighth-inning guy like Jerry’s looking for, this team can really put things together.”
I bet you don’t necessarily think about the Phillies and how good their lineup is or the Braves and how good their rotation is or, perhaps most importantly, how marginal a difference a great eighth inning guy really makes over a merely solid eighth-inning guy.
But the important thing for fans to remember is, it’s not any beat writer’s job to decide whether Jenrry Mejia cracks the Major League roster or not. And it’s not Jerry Manuel’s either.
That responsibility falls on the Mets’ front office, the same one I was so eager to credit with foresight in February. Beat writers are charged with relaying the details of what happens to the team. Manuel is charged with getting the best performance out of the players he has on his roster for this year’s Mets.
This decision will be all on Omar Minaya and his crew. Pay no attention to the men in front of the curtain.
Tedquarters 
Mejia throws a cutter; Rivera throws a cutter. Thus, RINGZZZ!
Here’s a question for you Ted: lets say Mejia has to make the major league club, would you prefer Mejia starting the year in the starting rotation, or as the 8th inning guy? He’d probably be more effective as the 8th inning guy but being in the rotation would allow him to throw more innings.
The powers that be haven’t thought ahead and stretched him out to go enough innings to be a viable starter.
Mets writers have been an embarassment this spring. They’re more stenographers than reporters at this point.
They’re less inquisitve than Judith Miller. Rather than ask any tough questions/write columns or stories questioning the use of Mejia, Cora, Jacobs, etc. they obsess over Mejia Mania or Reyes’ HGH nonsense.
And David Lennon, good lord. The man is spinning a perfect game of stupid on Twitter today. I used to think he was pretty decent. Am I missing something?
Davidoff is great, wish he could spend more time with the team.
Its natural to become infatuated with the shiny new toy and just focus on that. Of course, its mostly children who do that, but these are the Mets we’re talking about. The Mets management will never learn until they move the talent guys like Minaya down a notch and install someone more impartial and executive minded like the Rays Andrew Friedman as the GM.
Oh well, a 1-2-3 inning with a K. :(
From Steve Popper’s twitter: “Hey, Mejia 1-2-3 inning. (cricket sound from fans who want him in minors?)”
I’m not sure any of the beat writers took the time to actually comprehend the points readers were making today.
wow.
People like Steve Popper (http://twitter.com/StevePopper/status/10939039744) don’t realize that the game has passed them by and that most highly knowledgeable fans realize that they don’t have any idea what they are talking about.
http://twitter.com/OGTedBerg/status/10940013898
fantastic.
Hilarious.
It’s one thing to be wrong. It’s another to be a complete d*ck like Lennon.
When someone makes the completely reasonable point about getting Murphy some time at 2B he says something like, “Yeah, and I want to be president.” Because those two things are equally improbable.
Maybe the narrow-minded stupidity that infects the Mets’ FO has worked its way into the media. Just because a guy doesnt have a clearly defined role doesn’t mean you cant maxmize his value. How hard is it to understand that even if Murph isnt a long-term starter, a backup 1B/2B/OF is more valuable than a backup 1B?
Ted, I mentioned the injury factor earlier today because that had not been mentioned by anyone. Nor has anyone mentioned how this will potentially accelerate his arbitration eligibility, cause problems with the 40-man roster, and start his option years accruing.
This is insanity.
My point exactly Sherm, no one is mentioning injury factor because its not really a factor when you are talking about moving a kid to the bullpen, where he will pitch far less innings.
Lets hope you are as right about this as you are stubborn is debunking me. :) But if he blows out his arm in the pen, will you be joining me at Citifield with pitchfork in hand?
http://books.google.com/books?id=yzQDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA33&lpg=PA33&dq=relief+pitchers+burnout&source=bl&ots=tTB1VSDBhr&sig=ArKcihDctEXJoZFgeiMmep7MwBU&hl=en&ei=uD6pS6O3JMeUtgej_6SKAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CBMQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=relief%20pitchers%20burnout&f=false
Chris M., a little something for you to read. Maybe I’m dating myself (42), but I recall as a kid baseball people discussing arm injuries from pitching in the pen. These concerns are now seemingly ignored due to concerns with only pitch counts and innings total. It seems as if that now that the Verducci effect has been accepted as true, all other concerns ignored. Again, I hope your right and the kid pitches for 20 years.
Sherm,
The problem isnt that you are dating yourself, its that articles from when you were a kind in the mid 1980’s just arent relevant to todays game, That article makes some good points but is based on how relief pitchers were treated prior to that, which is just not the same as they are now. Look up the stats of all the examples they give of guys flaming out, these guys were throwing well over 100 IP in relief, some up near 150 ip out ofthe pen. Thats just not done today.
Can a guy get hurt pitching in relief, of course, they can get hurt pitching anywhere, but when they do, it would be hard to make the case that it was because they were pitching in relief and not starting. Where is the current evidence or examples of guys who have moved to a relief role and blew out thier arms? If you want to convince me, start with that.
Chris M., was Brian Cashman dating himself with the Joba Rules in 2007 which precluded Torre from pitching him on back to back days out of the pen?
Not when Jerry will have him pitching nearly every other day. The guys only pitched 41 innings above A ball. I’m not sure I’d consider him ready to handle a major league bullpen workload, especially as a set up man and when he’ll likely be the teams best reliever.
Exactly.
Some don’t seem to get that bullpen innings aren’t the same as SP innings. If they were, you might find relievers who pitch 150 innings.
You wouldn’t risk his arm any more by having him throw 150 innings this year as a SP than by trying to get him to throw 70 in the pen.
“I’m not sure Mejia is even ready to be in a Major League bullpen”
Thing is, he probably is. I think he’s probably ready to be an elite set up man. Maybe as good as Mariano. The point ought to be that this would be a waste of his talent. He’s much better as a starting pitcher.
Most of these guys have never seen the kid pitch before, and don’t really follow the minors. They have no idea. It’s only March, he hasn’t even had his best stuff yet. Seriously, in another month, he’ll be still hitting 98 in the 6th inning like he was last year. Maybe this year they’ll let him go into the 8th. And, he hasn’t had a chance yet to really get a feel for his change up, which when right is better than the curve. They think he’s this year’s Bobby Parnell, only even a bit better.
But this is all they know of him, all they’ve ever seen, is a few spring training bullpen appearances. So they can’t imagine there’s much chance he would be anything more than they’ve seen.
I’ve been watching the St Lucie Mets for 10 years. They only other guy I’ve seen with as much potential was Reyes. David Wright, Scott Kazmir, and Ike Davis were all very good, but not quite on the same level as far as star potential.
Give him a chance to stretch out a bit this year, and he’s got a good chance to be our best SP next season. Maybe that’s a high expectation to hang on a young player, but it’s the truth, and it’s better to be clear on this then have people thinking the best he can be is the next Mariano Rivera.
Exactly. This is what Popper apparently doesn’t understand, or doesn’t get what many fans are trying to say: it has nothing to do with whether we think Mejia CAN do be a valuable reliever this year; it’s all about furthering his progression towards what could potentially one day be ace starter status. Why would you want to slow that track down, ESPECIALLY considering we have a legitimate chance at a strong bullpen without him. And I don’t see why Calero can’t be our setup guy. Or maybe Nieve. Or perhaps Iggy improves now that he’s back to pitching his own way. With or without Mejia, we have the potential to have one of the better bullpens in the NL- even better if Escobar DOES come back at some point. If all other options struggle in the setup role, then fine, try the unnecessarily outside the box thinking then.
But here’s the bottom line for me, this is my concern in a nutshell (“Help, I’m in a nutshell and I can’t get out”): What is there long term plan for Mejia? Do they see him ultimately as a starter? Because if they do, and they should, what’s going to change next year? This time next year, what’s going
to be different that TPTB don’t salivate over using him in the bullpen again? How will next year be different than this year? How will 2012 be different than this year, either? Or 2013? I mean, if we really don’t need him in the pen now, and yet we STILL might see him there, what’s going to change next year?What makes anyone think all of a sudden next year the FO will put together a more solidified bullpen, with an already built in setup man? What makes anyone think that next year, the bullpen in ST won’t have the same number of givens, middle of the road guys who can go either way, and the flat out question marks? What’s to stop TPTB from repeating this year? What will suddenly be different for that to not happen? And if someone’s going to argue that he may not be needed next year, I ask, if he’s not needed as a reliever next year, why, and how’s that different than this year?
If they have a very specific plan in which to use him in the bullpen this year (and not necessarily in the 8th inning, to boot, which makes it even more puzzling), and this year ONLY, getting him ML experience, and THEN commit working towards getting him stretched out as a starter in the offseason leagues, following that by designating some or all of next year in AAA, then maybe I’d be ok with it. I mean, I’d love to see him pitch as much as anyone else. It’s just that I don’t trust this FO/management to make smart decisions with much of anything, let alone decisions on a guy like Mejia. Logic before emotion here. Logic has to rule out over excitment. We shall see.
And it just dawned on me this morning that the Mets violated the original Joba Rules with Mejia already, in a March game no less.
So, the Yankees have a young starting pitching prospect they decide to put in the pen, and their GM determines to protect him by not letting him pitch on consecutive days. The Mets have an even younger starting pitching prospect, and our GM gives our desperate manager free reign and allows him to pitch on consecutive days in March.
I was thinking last night that maybe, just maybe, Omar is going along with this charade to show ownership, the media and the fans that his farm system is not as barren as believed by many. But then Kevin Burkhardt says last night the Mejia is a “lock” to make the team, and my depression sets in again.
So if Mejia DOES start the season in the Mets bullpen for reasons I don’t get, can someone at least ask the Mets what their long term plan for this kid is? Are they playing it by ear? Are they merely killing two birds with one stone by getting him a taste of the major leagues, while also helping the team (though not sure they need it), but with the intention of eventually stretching him back out as a starter in the offseason leagues? What’s their plan? Do they have one? I’d love it if a media person could ask this question.
That’s the problem. By putting him in the pen now, they are probably converting him to a reliever without ever giving him a chance to start.