Mike Silva's New York Baseball Digest » Blog Archive » Unfortunately Mets Bullpen Needs Mejia

Unfortunately Mets Bullpen Needs Mejia


By Mike Silva ~ May 10th, 2010. Filed under: Mike Silva, New York Mets.

Jenrry Mejia had his first opportunity to grab the eighth inning and failed on Sunday. It may be hard to judge Mejia on his performance as the windy conditions wrecked havoc with just about everyone on the field, but Aaron Rowand’s wind aided homer partially was due to Mejia poor command. Walking hitters and falling behind is a recipe for disaster for any pitcher, much less one that relies on just one pitch: a fastball.  After the homer I saw twitter light up with “I told you so” comments regarding how the Mets should now send him down to AAA to work on becoming a starter. I still believe that is his future, but I am not sure the Mets bullpen can afford to lose Mejia’s arm as it’s currently constituted.

First, there is no reason to believe this Mets team won’t be in contention for a Wild Card this season. Despite their faults, they are on par with most, if not all, National League clubs. Their starting pitching will not give them enough length so the pen will be a nightly necessity. If Pedro Feliciano and Fernando Nieve are overworked now what will happen if you take Mejia out of the picture? Also, do you trust Manny Acosta? Do you believe Bobby Parnell, Kiko Calero, or recent internet phenom, Jonathan Lujan, can get big outs? Today’s outing was his first “meltdown” and I am not sure if it was more the weather, than the eighth inning, that got to him.

Bad luck with Kelvin Escobar and Calero have forced the Mets hand. What once was a luxury is now a necessity. The Mets bullpen can’t survive right now without Mejia. We are talking about pitcher abuse now with him in the equation. That will only accentuate if you send him to the minors. Also, the replacements are less than exciting. Time to face the facts and admit the Mets bullpen needs Mejia in 2010.

Mike Silva is a freelance writer and radio host since March of 2007. This website is his own personal "digest" of New York Baseball He's also hosts NYBD Radio on Blog Talk Radio and 1240 AM WGBB. Check out his sports media commentary at www.sportsmediawatchdog.com. Check out his official website, www.mikesilvamedia.com
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4 Responses to Unfortunately Mets Bullpen Needs Mejia

  1. Shamik
    May 10th, 2010 at 7:16 am

    Well Parnell has been pretty good down in the minors. He seemed to be more comfortable as a middle-inning reliever last year in the bigs, and he’s got a very similar repertoire to Mejia. I can’t see any reason he couldnt slot into the BP instead of Mejia.

  2. Mike Silva
    May 10th, 2010 at 7:31 am

    Check out that walk rate in Buffalo!

  3. DAW
    May 10th, 2010 at 5:01 pm

    Don’t forget about Igarashi. He was just given the 8th inning job when he got hurt. If he can return this month it’ll be a big boost to the pen – Feliciano can go back to being a LOOGY, and Nieve won’t be the only late inning RH.

    If Igarashi comes back and is effective, that limits Mejia’s IP. Short term, they need him in the pen, but long term, he may not get enough work with the big club to justify his presence.

  4. Ryan
    May 10th, 2010 at 8:46 pm

    I don’t know if Calero has been bad in the minors so far but what I do know is last year in 60 innings he posted a 1.95 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, one HR surrendered, 69 strikes out and only 36 hits in 67 games. I think Mejia needs to be sent down to prepare him for a starting job because lets face it, Perez is done. He’s NEVER had control but he could at least rely on a big differential between his slider, and a mid nineties fastball. That fastball is now in the high eighties, 90 is he is lucky and if it isn’t in the other batter’s box, it’s right down the middle of the plate. Also, Manny Acosta is just horrible. If there just stubborn about leaving Mejia in the pen then SIGN JARROD WASHBURN!!!!!! He had the best ERA in the American League last year till the all-star break when he got injured.

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