Indeed, there appear to be enough dependable arms that they won’t need Mejia to be the primary setup man, and the rookie was only supposed to stay in the majors at age 20 if he played a pivotal role in the pen.
So send him down now, build him back up as a starter in Triple-A and maybe by mid-June Mejia could be ready to take a spot in the rotation and make an impact.
– John Harper, N.Y. Daily News.
It looks like the newspapers are catching up with the blogosphere on this issue, and, well, great.
And it could turn out that the Mejia-to-the-bullpen experiment, if the Mets send him down and stretch him out soon, ultimately only worked to give him a taste of Major League hitters while simultaneously limiting his 2010 innings total.
Granted, relief appearances are not the same as innings thrown by a starting pitcher. And given Jerry Manuel’s tendency for overworking his relievers for stretches of the season, it’s reasonable to worry about Mejia remaining (for now) in his manager’s care without any apparent set of front-office mandated rules governing his use.
But since last we heard — per Gary Cohen, during a game on SNY a few nights ago — Manuel is the biggest and perhaps only advocate for keeping Mejia on the Major League club, I have to imagine the manager will change his tune or be voted down as it becomes clearer that the Mets will eventually need starting-pitching help. Or, you know, he’ll be replaced by someone with more of a longterm stake in the team’s success.
Tedquarters 
Why would Manuel ever have that power to begin with?
It’s one thing if it’s Jacobs vs. Carter, where we’re talking about two fringe guys. Sure, Carter is better, but that’s not a decision that affects the future of the franchise. So if it makes the manager feel better to win a debate about the 25th man on the roster, fine.
But I can think of no greater indictment of the Minaya regime than letting a lame-duck manager with a history of misusing bullpen arms decide the fate a stud 20-year-old pitcher.
that’s the real question isn’t it? I would think under normal circumstances a manager shouldn’t have that much power, let alone a lame duck one. Unfortunately Minaya is a lame duck himself, I’d say the blame in this instance falls on the Wilpons, or Jeff specifically since he’s team president. Lame duck gms/managers shouldn’t be given enough power to screw up prospects.
Agreed,
You have to keep going up the chain, to the first person who isnt a lame duck, in this case its prob all the way up to say Jeff Wilpon, and that person should have to have final approval of such decisions.
I thinks what’s changed and swayed the mainstream media is John Maine. With Maines struggles the mainstream media is now seeing Mejia as possible rotation help this season, whereas before they were seeing the bullpen as the only way he’d help the big league team this year.
Yeah, this is a good point.
makes you wonder what you’d rather have today: Ike Davis 1st baseman phenom or Ike Davis left handed starting pitcher.
I think they will send Mejia down in a week or so and bring Parnell back. I also think bringing Mejia up was smart on two levels. First sending a message to Parnell which has been heard loudly apparently.
And so Jenry gets a taste of the bigs and isn’t focused on anything but being a starter and not anxious about what flushing is like.
Maybe you’re right — but I for one am damned tired of players having to have “messages” sent to them so that they’ll do their jobs.
99.99% of the adult male population would give anything to be where these guys are, yet they have to be, apparently, babied and continually strongly externally motivated to do their damn jobs.
You’re living the dream. Stop acting liked a spoiled 12-year-old.
I don’t think they were sending Parnell a message, he just doesn’t have a major league ready breaking ball and his fastball is to straight to get away with just it even in the bullpen. I don’t see what kind of message they could send that would suddenly make his breaking balls not suck. There’s a reason he was a 24 year old in AA and a borderline not prospect. It has nothing to do with acting 12.
More than likely I imagine if Calero is healthy they’ll exchange him for Meija. Unless Parnell’s secondary pitches have made huge strides.