Mea culpa! My most
recent analysis of the potential closers for 2019 did not include former fireman Jenrry Mejia. He’s been gone for so long
it’s perhaps understandable that he’s not front of mind in consideration of the
roster options. However, it did slip my
mind completely, so let’s look at Mejia and his prospects to be the number one
arm in the bullpen.
At age 11 Mejia began shining shoes to make some money and by age 15 he was earning a living for the equivalent of
about $8 per day in the town of Azua in the Dominican Republic. He was not all that interested in baseball
until news of Pedro Martinez’ contract reached his homeland and young men began for the first time considering the prospect of looking at sport as a way out of a lifetime of
poverty.
As a very young pitcher he threw mostly gas, hitting the
upper 90s. Jerry Manuel lobbied for and
got him onto the major league roster where he was ill prepared for that step up
in competition. After Tommy John surgery
he slowly regained the velocity, mixing in now five pitches -- fastball,
slider, curve, sinker and changeup.
Unfortunately, that is about all we know about Jenrry
Mejia. For sure he had the 2.30 ERA in
2013 and a an over 6:1 K to BB ratio.
That made us think that his talent would allow him to carry the
load. Unfortunately we didn’t know at
the time that he was perhaps achieving that great success via Performance
Enhancing Drugs.
Looking at the history of his career, he went down quickly
in 2015 and then missed all of 2016 and 2017 with recurring positive tests for
PEDs. He has the dubious distinction of
being the first player to receive a lifetime ban from baseball for having
failed three tests. This past year,
however, he also set another precedent, having applied for and received
reinstatement. I guess it’s the modern
Steve Howe policy – do your drugs, but show you have the ability to put fans in
the seats and you get more and more chances to succeed (and fail).
Commissioner Rob Manfred tried to explain and justify his
decision, "Under the terms of our collectively bargained Joint
Drug Program, a permanently suspended player like Mr. Mejia has the right to
apply to me for discretionary reinstatement after serving a minimum of two
years. Upon receiving Mr. Mejia's application for reinstatement last year, I
invited him to New York to meet with me. During our meeting, Mr. Mejia
expressed regret for poor choices he made in the past and assured me that, if
reinstated, he would adhere to the terms of the Program going forward. In light
of Mr. Mejia's contrition, his commitment to comply with the Program in the
future, and the fact that he will have already spent almost four consecutive
years suspended without pay, I have decided to grant Mr. Mejia a final chance
to resume his professional career."
Mejia is saying all the right things. "I've had a long, difficult time away from
the game to contemplate the mistakes I've made both with regard to my positive
drug tests and also the false allegations I made about Major League Baseball's
investigation into my testing history, Baseball is my profession, my passion
and my life, and for those mistakes, I am truly sorry."
The question now is how well he will perform theoretically
without PEDs and under a new manager who has probably never seen him
pitch. He did join the Mets organization
this year in the minor leagues where he turned in some eye popping numbers in a
very limited sample. Over 7 IP he
delivered an average of 12.9 Ks per 9 IP and just 1.3 walks. It certainly seems
the now 28 year old deserves some consideration for a bullpen role, though
whether or not you would entrust the closer role to him is something too soon
to decide.
Especially considering his childhood struggles, I am comfortable with Mejia getting another post-PED chance. His time away from the game has been enormous, so I consider it time fully served.
ReplyDeleteIt is all up to him now - he's received redemption, can he jump back on the horse?
My favorite memory of Jenrry, besides his Predator-like pose in the picture when he saved games, was a battle he lost against Ryan Howard - he kept challenging Howard, Howard kept fouling them off, and eventually, Howard got him, similar to an at bat I recall where Gary Gentry kept pumping high heat to Hank Aaron who, on around the 13th pitch, took him deep.
Jenrry's got guts - I just hope he has the arm. It certainly is well-rested.
Morning
ReplyDeleteIs this from the X-Files?
Mejia and stomp
Going into the off-season id prefer the Mets to sign 2-3 FA guys from the bullpen! Lets leave Steve Howe out of the picture for now.
id like them to sign Zach Britton or Andrew Miller! Believe it would be Miller because of Callaways knowledge from Cleveland of Miller.
Also would like to Bring back Familia, and sign Kelvin Herrera.
Herrera is known to Dave Eiland from his KC days
Add in Gsellman Lugo Smith Blevins. gives you a good bullpen
So the Mets can leave Mejia in the minors or send him to Austrailia
Steve
Like it, Steve.
ReplyDeleteI like Steve's thinking but I can't see the Mets allocating upwards of $30 million on three arms in the pen when they still have to decide who's catching and who's on first (please withhold the Abbott & Costello jokes). If it's Bruce then you need an outfielder. If it's someone else, you need a bench outfielder.
ReplyDeleteSteve, can’t agree with your logic. Miller is getting older and hasn’t been as sharp. There must be buyer discretion there. Blevins is a free agent, and can’t get the lefties out that we need, besides Zamora has been great. Lastly, if Mejia can regain his stuff, what’s the problem? You know how many cheaters are out there? One is playing third base for the Dodgers. Also, no to Familia. He self destructs at the wrong times, see Saturday.
ReplyDeleteMr Reese:
ReplyDeleteGood Morning sir, this is different times coming upon us.
1st base is taken care of! its not like the olden days its gonna be more than 1 cat that plays? Smith-Alonso-Bruce they are all gonna be playing some games there. The OF has enough guys to mix n match aswell. Nimmo Conforto bruce Lagares Smith until Cespedes (maybe) is ready to play.
So the only position that needs to add depth 1st is behind the plate?
Grandel or Ramos?
Texas Gus I agree about Miller's age but I don't believe he'll cost as much as Britton? Britton is my choice by the way! I just believe Callaway will bring him to Queens? Bringing back Familia doesn't have to mean he is the closer? He can setup Herrera
Reese I think if they are aggressive and sign these guys early they can all be around 7-8 million not 10 per player!
add in the catcher around say 37 or less
STEVE
I did bring up the name of this guy this week in a comment as an option next year, so I guess I should add what I think should be done with him
ReplyDeleteNO ONE should be given this many chances to break the same rule over and over.
Release him regardless of any need we have for pen help.
You teach all the wrong things to the youngsters if you make them sit next to this guy in the pen
He does have a glorious "mane" going on.......he would challenge Thor in that department, no doubt.
ReplyDeleteHey Mack, he could also be the modern day Steve Howe with his "nine baseball lives"!
I have mixed feelings on the matter, but at the end of they day, if he can be an effective reliever, it would be tempting. Just don't count on him playing a full season, I guess.
Get the best of both worlds...let him set up the closer and then flip him to another club and let them have the headache and bad influence problem.
ReplyDeleteIt's really called desperation and we've been here WAY too many times.
ReplyDeleteWow...
ReplyDeleteBroken outfielders... junkie reliever... dumb shit owners...
This is my team.
Barking Mad Donkeys
ReplyDeleteEveryone understandably still a little perplexed by the Mets bullpen last night again.
Here's my take...
Lugo, Gsellman, Zamora, and Bashlor come back. Need three more. So maybe now is the right time for the NY Mets to take a look at what is in the minors more. Probably Eric Hanhold, Ryder Ryan, Gerson Bautista, and lefty AA reliever Dave Roseboom. (More)
On some outside the organization potential signings mentioned, I'd say this: "Be careful, very careful."
I like guys like Phillies' catcher Wilson Ramos and Cleveland' lefty closer Andrew Miller, but both have had relatively difficult 2018 health seasons. Ramos had a serious ACL tear in 2016, missed three months in 2017 with. Had a hamstring issue in June 2018 and has been on the DL three times this season alone. Miller has a shoulder impingement, which is not usually a good sign. The other injury was right knee inflammation.
What normally causes hamstring pulls and tears?
Often, it can be the lack of proper stretching before strenuous use. What can prevent it? Stretching before use and then also modest weight repetitive leg lifts on a machine, especially right before a game and then too all winter long to start building the hamstring muscles up for the start of Spring Training. I've done both and they work.
Is there a better idea or two out there?
Gerson Bautista. He has something rare, an amazing 100+ mph fastball that has us NY Mets fans wanting Gerson here closing. Maybe bring him into Winter Ball?
I'd also see where Jenrry Mejia is at this off season. No really. Maybe he can pull it all together for 2019 Spring Training? How's that?
2019 Mets Bullpen: Lugo, Gsellman, Zamora, Bashlor, Roseboom, Mejia, and Bautista. All from in-house too.
But if the NY Mets management could get them all optimal and in great shape, wouldn't it be something? This is my off season short dream list. The NY Mets team will need two more homerun hitters added in for 2019. But if the Mets kept Peter Alonso (as opposed to trading him to Miami for Realmuto) then the Mets have accomplished the magnificent. They have added three for the bullpen (Roseboom, Mejia, and Bautista) that they needed and added in a true homerun bat more into their offensive equation (Alonso). And then would only need to go outside the organization to add in probably Y. Grandal to catch.
I see this: 1B Alonso 2B McNeil SS Rosario 3B Frazier and Gimenez platoon LF Cespedes/Bruce CF Nimmo RF Conforto C Grandal
What should one possible trade idea be after adding in Grandal? Possibly another really good lefty starter to go with the three righties here now. So in summation, the Mets bring in free agent Grandal to catch and make a trade for another good lefty starter to balance out their rotation. Someone like a JA Happ maybe.
Anonymous
ReplyDeleteYou need to post up your comments on TODAY'S post by Reese
Mack:
ReplyDeleteOr I need a strong tonic?
I am not certain that anyone on planet earth ever agrees with me on anything I write, I probably wouldn't, but it is great fun talking about it anyway. I just figure with the Mets normal budget constraints and remaining bad contracts, that if they can make good on their best organizationally developed players, it would limit the trades and free agent signings to a more attainable level for them.
In this hypothetical case above, really just like a Grandal catcher and a solid lefty starter (along the line of a veteran JA Happ) would essentially be all that is needed for 2019.
A lot of Mets fans will understandably disagree. But they disagreed when I suggested to bring up Jeff McNeil back in May 2018 too. So who knows?
Finding affordable answers from within does make some sense here.
You be good Mack!
Mack:
ReplyDeleteI re-read the Reese post of recent again. That boy is smart!
How about this Mack, the three of us enter our name in the "Who wants to be the new GM Contest" and if we won, we will let Reese do all the work while you and I go play some dam golf!
We could be the new "Holy Trinity" (the father and two golfers) of the NY Mets! What do you say Mack? You in or what?