D.J. Short on Jenrry Mejia

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Of course, the jury is still out whether Mejia can actually be a starting pitcher in the major leagues, as his secondary pitches need some work, but that’s exactly why he should be in the minor leagues right now. I can’t wait for the irony of seeing him pitch in a game in which the Mets are getting pounded because their starting pitching has let them down once again.

With this decision, Omar Minaya and Manuel are officially “Thelma and Louise,” as far as I’m concerned, tying their short-term fate to the organization’s most promising right arm. Let’s just hope that Mejia isn’t the car.

– D.J. Short, Hardball Talk.

As they say here on the Internet, “this.”

9 thoughts on “D.J. Short on Jenrry Mejia”

  1. As a Mets fan Ted I really really hope they know what they are doing. Most of the players though seem to want him too.

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    • I’ve got no problem with the players wanting him up, since the players have been justifiably impressed with what they’ve seen this spring and the players want — like they should — to win as many games as possible this season. Same for Manuel, truth be told. It’s only the GM’s job to balance long and short-term goals.

      That, my friends, is why you never want a GM who knows he’s got an axe hanging over his head.

      Reply ↓

  2. What’s funny is they sent Parnell down to work on his secondary offerings, but can’t seem to grasp the concept that it might make sense to do that with Meija BEFORE it becomes a major problem like it did with parnell.

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    • The thing is Parnell’s fastball isn’t as unhittable as Mejia’s.

      The problem with Mejia is that his offspeed is far too slow from his fastballs and he lacks control with his curve.

      I truly believe players can learn to be a starter in the bullpen look at Nolan Ryan or recently Wainwright.

      The point is when you have a player that has an elite pitch that’s practically unhittable you can make him an elite closer or try to pound him into and starter. Either of those can still happen whether in Buffalo or with the club. If anything learning from the bigs can be more valuable.

      If the kid is the next Mariano though it wouldn’t be a waste.

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      • even if he’s as valuable as Mariano, if he could have been the next Pedro it will still be a waste. Not to mention he’s not going to get work on his off-speed pitches if his manager is already saying things like he doesn’t want him throwing the off-speed stuff because his fastball is enough. Plus Wainwright was 24 and had 800 minor league innings before they put him in the bullpen. Meija is 20 with only 200 minor league innings, only 41 above A ball. There’s really no comparison between the two. Parnell might be a good comparison to Wainwright but not Meija in anyway.

      • In fact I can’t think of one example of a player with as little minor league experience (who wasn’t a college draft pick) with secondary offerings as raw as Meija’s that was put in the bullpen and ever become a starter or at least a useful. And does it really matter if our closer is Mariano Rivera if we’re relying on the likes of Maine/Ollie/Pelfrey to get the ball to him? How many championships were the Yankees winning with Rivera when they had 0 starting pitching?

      • Listen, I’m not saying I like it, I’m merely looking for the silver lining here. Also it’s not like he can’t go back down. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s down and Parnell is up by late April.

        if giving him a taste helps him a bit and helps Parnell screw his head on better then who knows?

        Maybe we’ll get lucky and Kunz will “figure” things out as will Holt and the Mets will have young pitchers up their their armpits.

        One can only hope at this point…

      • Kunz will apparently be starting in AAA this year, I’m not really sure what their plan is with him. And Holt is the player I was hoping they’d needlessly rush instead of Meija, just because his age makes his celing a bit lower and window to become a starter smaller. But apparently they were upset at him for not showing up to some work outs which is why they didn’t even invite him to ML spring training, so I’m worried he might get the Nick Evans treatment.

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