The Morning Report 4.13.2015 | Mejia Suspended, Wright Pissed at Mejia, Concern for Syndergaard, Faster Pace of Play

Joseph Muller: Are the Mets going to shop for a top tier possible closer now that Mejia is suspended? What's it going to cost us? Is Rafael Soriano a candidate?

• In case you missed it, CL Jhennry Mejia was suspended 80 games for a positive steroid test. That said, the Mets still have PLENTY of A) right handed bullpen as well as B) closer potential depth. Even before testing positive for steriods, Mejia had his detractors within the Mets organizing. Especially since there are a number of front office reps that feel that Juerys Familia's stuff is better than Mejia's and that HE is the closer of the future for the club. In addition both Bobby Parnell and Victor Black started rehab assignments this weekend and should be ready to go within 2 weeks. So no, the Mets will not be interested in a guy like Rafael Soriano.

Matt Cerrone | Metsblog- David Wright doesn’t have much sympathy for Jenrry Mejia, who was suspended 80 games by Major League Baseball Saturday for using the banned substance Stanozolol. “It’s obviously disappointing, “Wright said. “Not only do you cost yourself 80 games and don’t get paid, but you’re hurting everybody in here. You’re letting down your teammates and I think that probably means just as much, if not more, than hurting yourself. As much as it hurts, as much as we love Jenrry as a teammate, you make mistakes, you need to be punished,” Wright concluded. “Once Jenrry serves his punishment and comes back, we’ll welcome him and do whatever we can to make him feel like he’s part of this team. For right now, he messed up and he needs to be punished.”

(Chris Soto: Oh boy....sounds like Wright is PISSED. Let's not forget that even with Harvey's star power, this is still David Wright's team and he showed that a few times during Spring Training. If Wright is unhappy with Mejia, the front office is going to take notice. If Familia can take the closer role reigns and find significant success....all of a sudden Mejia and his $2.6M becomes a non-tender candidate at the end of the year.)


Adam Rubin | ESPN New York- Top prospect Noah Syndergaard is not due to start for Triple-A Las Vegas until the club's fifth game of the season, on Monday at Sacramento. New York Mets manager Terry Collins said team officials were just being cautious in waiting until the end of the first turn through the Pacific Coast League team's rotation. Apparently, Syndergaard had dealt with forearm stiffness during spring training, although Collins said it was nothing alarming.

(Chris Soto: While it made to sound that it's just a precautionary hold back....non-impact injuries to the forearm/bicep/tricep area are always massive concerns for pitchers. While the club can probably still afford to have 1 more arm go down thanks to Matt Bowman and Steven Matz emergence, losing Syndergaard would be a massive "mental" blow to the organization.)


Associated Press | New York Times- Baseball games have indeed been finishing faster this year. The average nine-inning game took 2 hours, 54 minutes through Saturday night's action. That's down from 3:05 through the first six full days of the 2014 season, according to STATS. "I don't think there have been any significant issues that have popped up to where umpires have been having to play the policeman," Oakland manager Bob Melvin said. "I think everybody sees the clock and therefore there's some understanding just because of the clock, and hopefully that's all it takes."

(Chris Soto: Good...Faster games means more "casual" fans tune in. For what it's worth though, the MLB did announce that they would NOT be enforcing penalties for pace of play violations during the 1st two weeks of the season instead opting for warnings so that 2:54 time per game stat could drop a bit further.)

LETS GO METS!