Jenrry Mejia: Was just sent up to AAA. This tells me that the Mets are serious about the potential of Mejia going into the bullpen in 2012. I don’t like this plan and am in the camp of keeping Mejia in the minors and starting throughout 2012. Now… this is a little bit conspiracy theory and the Mets could keep him a starter in AAA but I’m betting they don’t.
Mejia’s start on Thursday was a little rough. He last 5 innings gave up 4 earned runs on 5 hits with 3 walks and 5 K’s. The line isn’t awful and he exceeded his pitch count by 10 or so pitches. His fastball sat between 91 and 93 MPH on most pitches and reached up to 95 MPH once. Mejia is doing a good job of keeping the ball on the ground, and he’s throwing strikes.
The biggest issues I saw, were when people caught up to his fastball they hit it hard and on a line and that he seemed to have trouble getting his curveball over. Towards the end of the game the ball to strike ratio began to slide out of his favor.
Chris Young: Chris Young gets the win and goes deeper into the game than I expected. Young managed 6.1 innings and gave up only 5 hits. 1 hit went over the wall, accounting for the three runs scored. Normally I would be disheartened by 1 K and 0 BBs, but this is Chris Young and that seems about right. Young pitched well enough to move up, but he may want to stay in the warm weather for 1 more start.
Pedro Beato: In 3 games and 4 innings, Beato hasn’t shown flaws. Gone is the notion of stretching Beato out to become a starter again. Beato is needed in the Met bullpen ASAP. In 4 innings of work he’s given up 2 hits, 1 walk and K’d 4. He was promoted to AAA Buffalo on Friday.
Jason Bay and Josh Thole: Neither player has participated in rehab as of yet but the Mets could actually really use both back in the fold ASAP. People might disagree but I think Davis will go down to AAA when Bay returns. Also, everyone really misses Thole now that we’ve endured Nickeas and Johnson for a while.
Other Players on the Move:
Matt Den Dekker à AAA: Blocked by Corey Wimberly and others. It’s more of nobody being ready to slide over into CF should he move on up.
Jefry Marte à AAA: Blocked by Russ Adams, Zach Lutz, and Josh Satin. Mets would likely love to move Marte up so they could promote someone else.
Zack Wheeler à AAA: Blocked by Matt Harvey, Jeurys Familia, Jenrry Mejia, Chris Schwinden, Garrett Olson, Jeremy Hefner and Dylan Owen. At some point the Mets will need to send someone down to AA, I’m betting Owen and/or Olson get demoted.
Collin McHugh à AAA: Blocked by all above and Zack Wheeler. They can’t promote McHugh ahead of Wheeler… well, they could but it might not make sense.
Wilmer Flores à AA: Blocked by Jefry Marte. Are you going to let a players readiness for promotion affect your plans for other prospects? (Lutz and Marte)
Aderlin Rodriguez à A+: Clear. Aderlin’s path (if he’s going to stay on first) is clear.
Travis Taijeron à A+: Sorta clear. Puello and Vaughn aren’t REALLY center fielders and Taijeron is less like one. Taijeron should be moved up soon.
David, What is Chris Schwinden’s problem? He seems to pitch good at AAA. He has had a few good starts since being sent down. Is his stuff just good enough to be a AAAA pitcher? I really thought he would have been able to give us a few mediocre major league starts.