Q&A: - Jenrry Mejia in the Pen, Reese Havens, and the Mets Pick in 2010 Draft

Q&A:

CJ asked: - I am still unsure why Meija is with the big league club besides Omar and Jerry wanting to save their jobs. He has looked good throwing primarily fastballs, but he clearly needs a secondary pitch to complement the fastball. Even if the team views him as a future closer, it seems silly to have him in games that matter with the big league club where he can't work on his secondary pitches. It is great that K-Rod is supposedly mentoring Meija in the bullpen, but Meija is not Johan Santana, Liriano, or even Joba - pitchers that had refined secondary pitches when they were eased into the big leagues in a bullpen role. I may have missed it, but I have yet to see Omar address how Meija will continue to develop into a future starter in his current role. Is there any logic to this, especially considering the glaring need of high upside starting pitching in the upper levels of the system?

Mack: There is no logic on the Mejia move. Logic doesn’t play into what comes out of some of those meetings.


Right now, I don’t think anyone wants to screw with the karma, but the fact is, Nieve and Takahashi are sort of setting the table right now in the pen. They, followed by Valdez, Feliciano and K-Rod, are getting most of the work, leaving very little for Mejia in the past 10 games.


On the other hand, the Mets ERA, is 3.21, third in the league, and Mejia’s is 1.80.


I don’t see much changing while things are going well, though someone will have to go down when Igarashi comes back. Right now that would be Acosta, but it could be Mejia, especially if the AA and A+ SP prospects don’t start turning things around.

Gary Santangelo asked: Mack, do you know where Reese Havens is playing baseball? I cannot find him on any of the Mets minor league rosters? Is he hurt? The last I heard of him he was playing in the 2009 Arizona Fall League.

Mack: Havens started the season on the injured reserve list with, as the Mets released, “an oblique muscle” problem. I have reached out a number of times to peeps I know, trying to find out what’s up but have had no response to my inquiries. As I have mentioned before, the Mets stay very quiet about injuries and I’m sure they tell their people to not respond to press questions regarding the health of their players. At this point I can categorically state that he’s still receiving a Mets paycheck. After that, it would be all opinion and speculation.

Another CJ question: - Any buzz yet on any organizational strategies for the upcoming draft? Without any sandwich picks or a 2nd round pick, the Mets need to try to compensate with at least a few guys who drop because of signing concerns. However, I feel that fairly soon we should start hearing reports that the Mets do not planning on going overslot for many players.

Mack: You seem to have figured out the Mets “non” strategy already…

I will say this. I think the Mets brass have learned from the Ike Davis pick that a quality player is tantamount to the future success of this team.

Secondly, there was a little subtle move a few months ago. The Mets gave their first pick (2nd round) last year, P Stephen Matz, an $800,000 bonus, but did not sign their next two pitcher picks, Damien Magnifico at 5th and David Buchanan at #6. LHP Darin Gorski did sign at #7, but the next pick, a local boy here named Zach Dotson, out of South Effingham High School, didn’t sign. Instead he went and pitched lights out in the off-season.

The Mets, knowing their next pitcher pick, #15 (Casey Schmidt) didn’t sign, and they didn’t have another pitcher drafted, and signed until #22 (Zach Von Tersch)… dug down and signed Dotson with a $500,000 bonus.


Not only was this #2 bonus money by the Mets, it was for an 11th rounder…

I think we may be seeing a change in drafting strategy beginning with that move.

Regarding their first round pick, it looks like SP Anthony Renaudo may fall to that pick due to an off-season injury and a poor performance against Ole Miss this past weekend. Renaudo was the lock #2 pick overall after Bryce Harper, and I’m sure the Mets won’t let this kid go if he’s there.

The other good news is it’s hard to screw up a 7th pick overall. This draft only has around 9 top quality players, all of which are either Harper or pitchers. LHP Drew Pomeranz and RHP Jamerson Taillon will be long gone, but, if Renaudo is picked in the first six picks, that leaves only two slots before the Mets, with RHPs A.J. Cole, Deck McGwire, Karsten Whitson, and LHP Chris Sale to chose from.


Believe me, none of their four suck and the Mets will definitely pick one of them.

It’s their next pick in the 3rd round, 89th overall, that’s the key to a successful draft and this might be where the Mets take a chance on a guy who has dropped due to either a sign ability problem or an injury. I would love the Mets to pick LHP relief specialist Josh Osich here, who was considered a first round pick before he went down and had TJS surgery before the season started. I’d roll the dice here.