A small victory for the long-suffering Jenrry Mejia
Jenrry Mejia. Mets.com
9:25 am Sep. 25, 20121
Jenrry Mejia has been victimized, and his development stunted, by the turmoil above him within the Mets' organization.
So it was nice to see Mejia pitch five strong innings, getting his first major league win, in a 6-2 Mets victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The performance doesn't prove anything on its own, coming as it did on the heels of Mejia's absolutely dreadful start against the Brewers. Also, the win came against the collapsing Pittsburgh Pirates.
Still, it would be nice to think the Mets finally have a plan for Mejia. Rewind back to 2010, when Mejia was just 20 years old with a handful of appearances above Single-A, and the Mets were having a "daily debate" about his future.
Then-manager Jerry Manuel insisted he needed Mejia for his 2010 bullpen, and got him, then used him mostly in mop-up duty. The Mets finally sent him down in June, bouncing him between starting and relieving until Mejia blew out his elbow, requiring Tommy John surgery.
While the Washington Nationals have treated their pitchers coming off of that surgery with care, putting together specific plans and innings limits, the Mets have ... taken a different approach. Mejia was a starter in 2012, then a reliever, then a starter again. He relieved for the major league team, then started, then relieved, then started again last night.
Because of all the stopping and starting, Mejia's thrown just 103 2/3 innings in 2012. So even if the Mets wanted him to provide starting pitching depth, they'll be hard-pressed to push him beyond 140-150 innings next season, thanks to their own internal preferences not to work a pitcher for that many additional innings, year-over-year.
Then again, the rules protecting a young pitching prospect have never seemed to apply to Jenrry Mejia. Maybe they'll just throw him out there every fourth day until his arm falls off. Worryingly, the Mets describe the debate over Mejia's role as likely to continue "for years to come."
Elsewhere in New York sports:
YANKEES
Yes, the Andy Pettitte and four home runs approach is a good one. The Yankees lead the Orioles by 1.5 games, after the Orioles split a doubleheader.
KNICKS
If Rasheed Wallace is coming to the Knicks, it will be up to him.
JETS
Darrelle Revis is out for the season with a knee injury.
GIANTS
Ahmad Bradshaw and Domenik Hixon will return to practice Tuesday.
lets see Metsblog completely ignore Paul Depo's recent comments...or rather the potential disasterous results of flip-flopping someone over and over...
notice how the sox had papelbon convert to a closer out of necessity...then he just remained there....
notice how the rays had price convert to a closer out of necessity...then he QUICKLY went back to being a starter...and REMAINED there...
notice how the rangers converted CJ Wilson out of necessity...and he remained a starter...
notice how the rangers flip-flopped felix out of necessity...and he quickly BLEW OUT HIS ARM
the lack of logic is mindboggling