Pre-ASG Break Thoughts - Mack Ade

I got back from my ‘weekend retreat’ where I was without internet, newspaper, other media, and Morse Code. The first thing I noticed when I got online was the statement that the Mets were unhappy with the relief work Jenrry Mejia was doing, so they were going to return him to a starter, so he could become a better… relief pitcher.

I turned the computer back off.

Things aren’t working out for the Mets regarding their pitching prospects. Both Mejia and Jeurys Familia seem to have stalled in their attempts to command the zone. I got a chance to watch a couple of replays of Mejia and it seems to me that his ‘go-to’ pitch keeps winding up below the strike zone. There is no reason for an opponent batter to swing if you do this consistently.

Everything seems to be hunky-dory with both Matt Harvey ad Zack Wheeler and I would expect that TC will begin to put some pressure on Sandy Alderson to rush one of these along. Remember, Sandy is paid to worry about the future. Collins is paid to make this year’s playoffs.

Things are heating up in the division. Washington looks like the real deal and Atlanta, behind the bats of Jason Heywood and Michael Bourne (oh, Sandy…) look like they’re on their way to catch the Nats. Trust me. The Braves will makea big splash deal before the trading deadline comes to a close. The Mets won’t.

I also noticed that Frank2 went down. Wonderful. Boy, those were two great signings for Francisco and Ramirez, weren’t they?

Folks, Bobby Parnell is not a closer.Mejia isn’t ready. El Ramirez may never get his head back on straight. Josh Edgin is getting killed in AAA. Speaking of great off-season signings, Jon Raush is, at best, a mess. And, there’s no one left on the farm to take on that role.

This isn’t as simple as converting a guy like Miquel Batista or even Dillon Gee to a reliever. This is A CLOSER. You know, Charlie Sheen… The Bird… Rivera. Someone with that special moxie.

There’s probably one more guy in the system you could try in this role and that’s Fernando Cabrera, but he’ll probably make the DL on the plane.

The next ten days will represent a period in which Alderson will define what is his top priority. I’m sure he can pry away some half-ass closer on a bad team for two or three secondary prospects. Or, he can just give the ball to Mejia and let him work out the kinks in Queens.

The one thing he isn’t going to do is tell Terry to stop trying to win. Not that TC would anyway.

Every LA bat seems dinged and the Mets go into tonight’s game a half of a game out of a wild card slot.

Hold on folks. We may experience some turbulence.